Day out: Threads Festival at Farnham Maltings

Last Sunday I went to the Thread Festival at Farnham Maltings with my Instagram (and now real life) friend Mim. It was a glorious day with blue skies and bright sunshine. Perfect for a day out, to a part of England I've never visited before. From what I saw of it, Farnham looks quite pretty, lots of old buildings. The Maltings itself used to be a brewery and, well, maltings.

Now it is being used for arts and cultural events, like the Thread Festival. And Unravel, a festival of knitting. There were quite a few stalls selling fabric, haberdashery and other sewing related materials. Maybe a bit more than I expected. But there were also independent designers, which were really interesting to discover. I wish there had been more designers, actually.

Hand embroidered textiles designed by Sophie Pattinson, and embroidered by women in Bangladesh as a way to make an income. These just blew us away. So beautiful. From a distance this bed spread (I think), looked like it was printed, the stitching was so consistent. I love the effect of the black on white with little pops of colour.

There were several stalls selling fabrics. Of course we had to ooh and ahh over these Liberty fabrics. ;-)

I really liked these printed and embroidered cushions by Jen Moules. Such great colours, bright and bold. And I thought the use of the stitches was really interesting, very unusual.

I absolutely fell in love with the jewellery made by Judith Brown. It's not that obvious in my photos here, but they are made from vintage haberdashery! Such as hooks & eyes, zipper pulls and more. Along with wire that Judith stitches into shape. Really beautiful and intricate work. I could happily have taken several pieces home with me. :-)

Alas, the budget only had room for this pair of earrings. Love. Them. :-) I also bought a couple of fat quarters.. how could I leave that Japanese Dala horse behind? ;-)

And I picked up a few vintage bits too. A craft magazine from the '30s, an apron with a fun embroidery and some adorable strawberry buttons. So cute.

I don't wear aprons, so I think I'm going to use that embroidery on a cushion or something. It was just too sweet to leave behind.

Eeep! Strawberry buttons!

Doesn't it look pretty at the Maltings?

I'm not 100% sure, but I think Thread will be back again next year. If you're partial to a bit of crafty shopping, beautiful handmade things and the odd bit of vintage thrown in the mix, set in pretty surroundings, I think you'd enjoy it. :-)

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