Weald and Downland Living Museum Ticket Portal

Saturday 19 July 2025

Use shimmering fabrics with metallic threads and beads, to create a stunning dragon-fly hovering over water. Learn to combine traditional stumpwork techniques, including padding and wire-work, with modern materials and methods. The course will provide all the required materials plus a choice of threads and beads.

Saturday 06 September 2025

An opportunity to try out Victorian Crazy Patchwork. This patchwork technique was a favourite of the Victorians. A showcase for carefully hoarded scraps of choice fabrics, this is a chance to let your imagination run riot with embroidered decoration and beads. We will make traditional pincushions or needle-keeps, or you can just start a piece that can keep on growing to become anything you can imagine!

This course is suitable for beginners, and teaches both patchwork and embroidery.

Monday 11 August 2025

A hands-on day using wooden blocks and learning a method that is different to printing on paper.  Ink pads, dabbers or brushes are used to apply inks, the wood blocks are positioned on the fabric and pressure is applied by hand or by striking with a wooden mallet to print repeat designs onto linen, calico or cotton.  Learn also about the development of textile printing up to Victorian times and William Morris.

Sunday 05 October 2025

Quilting has been used for thousands of years to add extra warmth, protection and decoration to clothing and household items. Simple in concept, yet amazingly versatile, spend the day exploring simple techniques including shadow, corded and stuffed quilting (also known as boutis or Marseille and trapunto), in this relaxed and informal setting, gaining an appreciation of the versatility of the craft. Quilting lends itself to everything from clothing to Christmas tree decorations.

Saturday 4 October 2025

In this workshop we’ll cover about the basics of spinning wool on a medieval-style notched hand spindle. Included is a brief talk on the history of hand-spinning and information about wool and fleece. The latter includes the basics of sorting (skirting) a fleece, washing (scouring) and fibre preparation (carding and combing).

Participants will learn how to handle/twirl their hand-spindle, which is a bottom-whorled spindle, using the ‘direct hand’ method.  They will practice spinning initially with a small section of wool so that they learn to draft and creating a twist.

Once people feel confident with their spindles, we’ll add distaffs: how to dress them and spin from them. We’ll finish up the workshop with information on setting the twist and plying the yarn.

Students will get to keep the spindle and distaff they use during the workshop and will be given a small booklet on the basics covered in this workshop.