Woven Worlds: A Story of Creativity and Conservation
2025-04-28 09:00 - 2025-04-29 17:00 (Europe/London) | Casa Hotel Conference Centre, Chesterfield, Derbyshire
Celebrate the international significance of the 16th century Gideon Tapestries at this specialist symposium.

In July 2023, the re-hanging of the last of the thirteen, 16th century woven tapestries, depicting the biblical story of Gideon and the Midianites, marked the end of the longest textile treatment project ever undertaken in the National Trust’s 130th year history.
Receiving High Commendation in the Museum and Heritage Awards, the project went on to win the illustrious Europa Nostra Award for the Conservation and Adaptive Re-use.
To celebrate this milestone of international recognition, Hardwick Hall and the National Trust’s Textile Conservation Studio have organised a symposium ‘Woven Worlds: A Story of Creativity and Conservation’ which will take place on the 28 – 29 April 2025.

Event Details

Speakers
Themes presented at the symposium will include tapestry patronage, impact and content around display, collaboration, research, discoveries made through conservation treatments, highlighting new perspectives and advances in general practice.

Helen Wyld, Senior Curator of Historic Textiles, National Museums of Scotland, previously Paul Mellon Fellow at National Trust 2007 – 2011, author of ‘The Art of Tapestry’
Historian David Adshead, previously Head Curator at National Trust and editor of ‘Hardwick Hall, A Great Old Castle of Romance’
Emma Slocombe, Senior National Curator (Dress and Textiles), National Trust
Pierre Maes, Director, Kononklijke Manufactuur De Wit, Belgium
Dr. Mark Webb, Researcher and editor of ‘The St Mary’s Hall Coventry Tapestry: Weaving Threads Together’
Ksynia Marko, former Advisor for Textile Conservation at National Trust, and author of ‘Woven Tapestry – Guideleines for Conservation’

In additional, conservators from Historic Royal Palaces, the National Trust and specialists from private practice will also speak at the symposium.
Tickets will be available February 2025. There are two types of tickets available for the symposium, online and in-person – please check this page on the National Trust website for further information about tickets and how to book.

Do Ho Suh: Walk the House
2025-05-01 10:00 - 2025-10-26 18:00 | Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG, United Kingdom
Enter the captivating world of leading contemporary artist Do Ho Suh.

Do Ho Suh’s large-scale installations, sculptures and drawings invite visitors to reflect on how we understand the home. The Korean-born, London-based artist explores themes of identity, belonging and displacement through intricate fabric architectures and life-sized replicas of past and present residences.
Moving between Seoul, New York and London, Suh’s work examines how personal and collective memory shape our understanding of space. The exhibition also features his delicate works on paper, early installations and new site-specific pieces. This comprehensive survey showcases three decades of Suh’s practice, offering a deeply immersive and thought-provoking experience.

Event Details

Soft Power: lives told through textile art
2025-05-16 10:00 - 2025-08-10 17:00 | Royal West of England Academy (RWA), Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1PX, United Kingdom
This exhibition celebrates the skill and craftsmanship of textile artists with a series of spectacular and intimate works that tell stories about our lives and connect people across time and place.

The exhibition is curated by internationally-renowned textile art pioneer, Professor Alice Kettle, with curator of international textiles Professor Lesley Millar MBE.
Exhibiting contemporary artists
Anurita Chandola, Mona Craven, Sarah-Joy Ford, Enam Gbewonyo, Shelly Goldsmith, Kani Kamil, Sabine Kaner, Alice Kettle, Reiko Koga, Phillipa Lawrence, Lise Bjorne Linnert, Lasmin Salmon, Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui, Kari Steihaug, Susie MacMurray, Erin Riley, Maryam Wahid.

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Celebrating Stitchcraft
2025-06-14 12:30 - 2025-10-18 16:30 | Chertsey Museum, The Cedars, 33 Windsor Street, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 8AT, United Kingdom
The display features the embroidery of talented textile artist, Darren Ball alongside selected items from the Olive Matthews Collection of dress and accessories.

When Darren was given access to the Museum’s archive he found inspiration in a wide range of objects. These included a beautiful 1912 theatre coat attributed to designer Paul Poiret, a glittering pair of evening shoes, intricately decorated 19th century bags and purses plus a wonderfully quirky yellow knitted bathing suit from the 1920s. These and other pieces from the Matthews Collection are displayed alongside Darren’s vibrant, intricate and original works of art. They allow visitors to draw comparisons and find new and exciting connections between old and new.
Darren Ball trained in Fashion Textiles, specialising in hand knit. His embroidery reflects his love of textiles and the visual qualities present in fabric and thread. He uses a domestic sewing machine to appliqué and free embroider personal narratives or ideas, inspired by memorabilia or his collection of vintage ‘Stitchcraft’ magazines. He aims to draw and paint with textiles, his mark making is achieved through sewing, contrasting surface qualities and embellishment.

Event Details

Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection Open Day
2025-07-12 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-11-08 10:00 - 14:00 | Britannia Mill, Britannia Road, Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, HD7 5HE, United Kingdom
Find out more about the objects in the Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection, and how they are cared for and stored.

Drop-in and meet the Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection volunteers, find out what they do to care for the objects housed at Britannia Mill and view the objects too. If you’re interested in joining the Collection Team as a volunteer, this is a great way to find out more about what’s involved as well. This event coincides with the Spectrum Yarn sale, so do pop along to both!
Free to attend. All welcome.
NB. Access is up some steep steps and then stairs.

Event Details

IKEA: Magical Patterns
2025-07-18 10:00 - 2026-01-17 17:00 | Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LT, United Kingdom
IKEA Museum’s ‘Magical Patterns’ exhibition comes to Edinburgh, celebrating 60 years of innovative textile design.

Magical Patterns explores six decades of groundbreaking textile design by IKEA. The exhibition features 180 iconic fabrics that showcase the rich history of the Swedish furniture retailer’s commitment to innovation, collaboration, and experimental design.
From the early days of bold patterns introduced by textile artists Bitten Højmark and Inger Nilsson, to the revolutionary works of the Swedish design collective 10-gruppen, Magical Patterns highlights how IKEA has supported the creative visions of some of the most influential textile designers, including Zandra Rhodes, Marimekko, and many others.
The exhibition provides a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process that has defined the iconic patterns of IKEA. Visitors will have the opportunity to discover the playful and vibrant designs that have shaped Swedish design, from the famous stripy RANDIG BANAN to the bold, colourful ANNIKEN broccoli motif. Featuring both vintage and contemporary fabrics, Magical Patterns offers a unique opportunity to experience how design trends and cultural movements have influenced the textile collection from IKEA.

Event Details

Warped and Wasted
2025-08-23 10:00 - 2025-10-11 17:00 | ACEarts, Market Square, Somerton, Somerset, TA11 7NB, United Kingdom
This ambitious exhibition will showcase an experimental, large-scale, collaborative art installation, made with 100% waste, existing second-hand or biodegradable materials.

This collaboration between 14 seam collective artists is an ambitious project which will highlight the issues surrounding textile waste and care for the environment.
The Warped and Wasted exhibition will be supported by Textile Talks, a one-day symposium on Friday 3 October 2025, both online and in-person. seam collective invites the public and their peers in the fields of textiles, visual arts and sustainability to join the conversation as they, and invited speakers, discuss issues of textiles and sustainability and add to the critical dialogue around sustainable arts practices locally, nationally and internationally.

This project is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and has been made possible by the many individuals who donated to the seam collective Crowdfunder.
Warped and Wasted will be an inspiring experience, which will provoke thought, conversation and action around the complex issues of textiles, sustainable art practices and the climate emergency.

Event Details

Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection Open Day
2025-09-16 10:00 - 16:00 | Britannia Mill, Britannia Road, Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, HD7 5HE, United Kingdom
Find out more about the objects in the Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection, and how they are cared for and stored.

Drop-in and meet the Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection volunteers, find out what they do to care for the objects housed at Britannia Mill and view the objects too. If you’re interested in joining the Collection Team as a volunteer, this is a great way to find out more about what’s involved as well.
This event is part of Heritage Open Days 2025.
Free to attend. All welcome.
NB. Access is up some steep steps and then stairs.

Event Details

Marie Antoinette Style
2025-09-20 10:00 - 2026-03-22 16:30 | V&A, Cromwell Rd, London, SW7 2RL, United Kingdom
Explore Marie Antoinette’s enduring influence on fashion, art, and culture.

Discover the captivating world of Marie Antoinette, the most fashionable queen in history, at the V&A’s groundbreaking exhibition. With over 250 years of influence on design, fashion, and the arts, this exhibition offers a rare chance to explore the origins and enduring legacy of her iconic style.
From opulent gowns to immersive audiovisual installations, visitors will experience how the queen’s distinct elegance and notorious life continue to inspire today’s cultural landscape. Don’t miss the chance to engage with fashion, film, and art that transcend centuries of creativity and historical significance.

Event Details

Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop
2025-09-26 11:00 - 2026-03-08 18:00 | Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3XF, United Kingdom
From ‘A Room with a View’, to ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Peaky Blinders’, explore some of the most famous costumes from film and television.

Cosprop has changed the way that costume is designed and created. Founded by Oscar and BAFTA-winning costume designer John Bright in 1965, legendary London based Cosprop specialises in period costume for film, television and theatre. Through his work as a costume designer, a costumier, maker, advisor, collector and historian, Bright’s intelligence and eye for detail is in thousands of film, television and stage productions.
This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition features many costumes never seen in public before and is a celebration of sixty years of Cosprop’s creativity and a unique opportunity to see behind the scenes of this celebrated costume house. Through stunning costumes, accessories and sketches, the visitor will learn the design and making process from script-to screen. Leading costume designers and actors will share their thoughts on favourite costumes, showing how Cosprop brought these magical moments to life.
Costume Couture, will be accompanied by a beautiful, richly illustrated book celebrating sixty years of Cosprop, written by former V&A film curator Keith Lodwick, and with a foreword by Dame Judi Dench.

Event Details

Textile Talks
2025-10-03 10:00 - 16:00 | ACEarts, Market Square, Somerton, Somerset, TA11 7NB, United Kingdom
Join the conversation and discuss themes of sustainability and regeneration in textile art at this one day event

As part of the Warped and Wasted project, seam collective are hosting Textile Talks: Textiles, sustainability and collaboration, a one-day symposium on Friday 3 October 2025, both online and in-person in Somerton. seam invites the public and their peers in the fields of textiles, visual arts and sustainability to join the conversation as they, and invited speakers, discuss issues of textiles and sustainability and add to the critical dialogue around sustainable arts practices locally, nationally and internationally.
The speakers are:
Judith van den Boom, our host, leads the MA in Regenerative Design at Central St. Martins in London and she has been mentoring the Warped and Wasted project. Judith’s talk Warped and Wasted: A Collective Process to Practice Life, explores how we can understand sustainability not as a passive concept, but as an active, living-learning practice.
Paula Orrell, the National Director of CVAN England (Contemporary Visual Arts Network), will speak on the role of the visual arts, including textiles, as vital cultural infrastructure and as a driver of social and economic growth.
Helen Carnac with seam members Lou Baker, Oliver Bliss, Nina Gronw Lewis, Angie Parker and Nicola Turner in-conversation. Helen, an artist and curator who has also been mentoring seam, will lead the in-conversation, asking the members to reflect on the Warped and Wasted project and how it is changing their approach to sustainability in their collaborative and individual practices.
Becky Earley, a designer, researcher and educator whose work concerns the climate crisis. Becky set up a print design studio in London in 1995, curated the Crafts Council’s Well Fashioned: Eco Style in the UK survey in 2005, and in 2020 she co-founded World Circular Textiles Day 2050 to highlight advances being made in circular textile design and production.
Read more about the Programme, Speakers and Talks here, and the Warped and Wasted project here.

Event Details

The Rooted Textiles Festival
2025-10-05 11:00 - 16:00 | Madderty St David’s,, Crieff, Scotland, PH7 3PJ, United Kingdom
The Rooted Textiles Festival is a one-day event celebrating the roots and sources of clothing and textiles.

The festival includes a natural textiles marketplace with produce from Angora goat (mohair) yarns to embroidery kits and beautiful sheep’s wool blankets. There is also a grease fleece market celebrating the diversity of sheep and wool (all Scottish wool grown, shorn and hand selected from Scottish farms in 2025). The festival includes talks on sheep shearing, nettle fibres and more and a stay & create space for attendees to enjoy the rural setting of the festival.
We are the Madderty Hub for Sustainable Fashion Week and part of the Campaign for Wool’s October Wool Month celebrations.
All welcome. Please see our website and social media channels @rootedtextiles for more information and to book tickets. https://rootedtextilesfestival.square.site

Event Details

Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World
2025-10-09 10:30 - 2026-01-11 18:00 | National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE, United Kingdom
Explore the glamour and innovation of fashion photography defined by Cecil Beaton’s creative legacy.

Discover the world of Cecil Beaton, a visionary artist whose groundbreaking fashion photography defined the glamour and sophistication of the 20th century. Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World celebrates the creative genius behind iconic portraits, from the Jazz Age to the golden years of Hollywood.
This unique exhibition shines a spotlight on Beaton’s transformative role in fashion, film, and portraiture, revealing his influence on both royal and celebrity imagery. Curated by Robin Muir, this is a must-see celebration of Beaton’s lasting impact on culture and style.

Event Details

The Bristol Tapestry: A Stitch in Time
2025-11-03 10:00 - 2026-12-31 17:00 | Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RL
The Bristol Tapestry was made by a group of local stitchers in the 1970s. It depicts the history of Bristol.

The Bristol Tapestry was the idea of Mrs Jean Tanner and Mrs Marjorie Bleasedale in the late 1960s to record important events from the city’s past.
By 1976 the project was complete, having involved over 90 local people. In fact it’s not a tapestry at all, but includes many different embroidery stitches, appliqué techniques and screen printing.
The four panels, which total 22 metres in length, depict nearly 1000 years in 27 scenes. In 1999 the Tapestry came to its present home at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. The events chosen and the story they tell reflect the time at which the Tapestry was made.
You can find the Bristol Tapestry on the ground floor of the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, to the right of the main hall (follow the signs to the lift).

Event Details
