I’ve just spent a wonderful week in Marrakesh learning more passementerie skills from Elizabeth Ashdown! The trip was organised by Creative Experiences, a company run by the lovely Nadine and Mark who take care of all the logistical details (excluding flights) so you can just enjoy your crafting week. This was actually a bit of a spontaneous trip for me. I saw it advertised a while ago but the dates didn’t work out. However, my plans changed and when I was browsing the website a couple of weeks ago I saw to my delight that there was still a space left on this trip so I quickly booked myself on!
The craft for the week was passementerie taught by Elizabeth (Libby) Ashdown. I have been on one of her courses before at West Dean and thoroughly enjoyed it (see the blog post here). In that course we just focused on the weaving part of trim-making, but this week in addition to weaving we also made rosettes and tassels. We had four full crafting days which took place at the hotel (Radisson Blu) in the business centre. The room was spacious and bright, just right for crafting. The staff also made sure we were never hungry with a constant provision of tea, coffee, and some of the loveliest cakes I’ve seen and tasted!
I found the rosettes the most challenging technique, particularly making the collars (the loopy bit around the edge) as there was a lot of pulling the cord through in different directions which got me in a bit of a muddle for the first one I tried! Once I mastered the technique though I was fine making the second one.
The tassels were the most fun. I loved making the large tassel. Picking the colour combinations and making the cord for the snailing on the tassel cup was so fun! Making the tassel skirt was a lot more complicated than I expected it to be but was very satisfying when it was finished. We had some extra time on the last afternoon so Libby let us make mini tassels on a string and even showed us how to do silk shading on a tassel cup.
The other days on the trip that weren’t taken up with passementerie were spent taking tours around Marrakesh. The first day we went to the souk to get inspiration ahead of our crafting days. We had a local tour guide who was very knowledgeable about the history of the city and the geography of the souk which I was very glad about because if I had been there on my own I would definitely have got lost! There were so many amazing stalls filled with interesting produce and you could see people making their products as you walked around, particularly in the metalwork and leather areas.
The other excursion we took was to the Jardin Majorelle and the Yves Saint Laurent museum. The gardens were wonderful, full of cacti and restful water features; I really loved it there. At the Yves Saint Laurent museum we had a guided tour. The tour guide told us that the exhibition is changed every season and it was currently showcasing all the work Yves Saint Laurent did in theatre and film. You weren’t allowed to take pictures inside which was a shame because there were some very sparkly dresses!
During the trip we ate some wonderful food. We mainly ate at the hotel where alongside the constant supply of cakes we had delicious lunches and dinners of grilled meats, tagines, salads and dips. We also went out for some great meals too. We ate lunch at the souk and the Majorelle Gardens, then a couple of nights we went out to rooftop restaurants with amazing views of the city. All the other guests on the trip were fabulous too and it was a real pleasure to spend the week with a group of people who are just as enthusiastic about textiles as I am!
I had such a brilliant experience that I’m already checking the website for another trip! I’ve got my eye on a couple so watch this space…