.... did you know?.....

So did you know that coming up in Paris this month (goodness, are we in March already!) is a small but delightful textile fair called Aiguille en Fete Pro situated at the Porte de Versaille?  Not as commercial as some of the larger exhibitions we may be used to in London or the big cities, but well worth a visit for that reason, especially if you fancy a jolly in Paris before the spring crowds arrive.  In the past, my favourite regular exhibitor has been Craftica - not the most hi-tech or sophisticated company in the world but come an exhibition and they throw off their gloves and have buckets of one-off fabrics, left-over rolls and general haberdashery to thrill the enthusiastic stitcher, whether you be a dressmaker or patchworker.  Booking my train ticket now....

The extraordinary (and sometimes unsettling) crochet work of Cecile Dachary will also be on display at Aiguille.  I have long been an admirer of her work, and hope to have her lead a workshop for us one day.

As some of you keen knitters may have noted, this October we will be hosting the first Åsa Tricosa workshop.  Åsa Soderman has a wonderful blog chock-a-block full of brilliant knitting tips, patterns, mixes of colour and news, all illustrated with her impressively clear and beautiful photographs;  her joie de vivrepractically jumps off the screen.  You can find her latest, exquisitely stylish design - Ma Non Troppo, which, I believe translates as "but not too much" - uses her specialist, top-down technique, and can be found on Ravelry.  Seamlessly Clever, her workshop with us, has steadily been filling up as aficionados of her work get word, but we still have a couple of places remaining if you move fast.

  

For those of you more interested in mixed textiles and stitching, a place on Janet Bolton's workshop, Narrative Stitches, has become available.  Janet's workshop is always very popular so do contact Susie as quickly as possible to find out what accommodation option is available if you are interested.  Janet's latest book, Fabric Pictures, has recently gone to print and can be pre-ordered on Amazon. We suggest you put it on your Wish List as copies run out very quickly and soon become collector's items.

On the subject of fabric, I came across an interesting Californian cooperative of young and exciting textile designers called Cotton and Steel whose designs are probably more accessible to purchase if you live in the States.  However, well worth a visit to their website to get an idea of their unusual cotton prints and feel sure they would export to Europe if postage and tax aren't too prohibitive.
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Happy March mending.