Last week I visited the Stitch Festival in London for a browse around all the stalls and a workshop on English Paper Piecing patchwork. EPP is a craft that I’ve never had the opportunity to try before so when I saw it on the workshop list when I was booking my ticket for the Stitch Festival I knew I had to give it a go.

The workshop was hosted by Timi Nicholson of Scattered Bobbins and we made a cute fox pattern. We were provided with pre-cut paper pattern pieces and a variety of fabrics to make up the fox motif. Using the paper as a template we cut out the shapes leaving a seam allowance and then glued the edges of the fabric to the paper pieces to help hold the shape as you sew them together.

Once the piece is all sewn up you can remove the paper pattern pieces and give it a good press with the iron. It’s such a straightforward process and I can definitely see how a person could get a bit addicted to it! Choosing the fabrics, making interesting patterns, and the mindfulness of sewing it all together would be extremely satisfying! The workshop was only an hour and a half so I had to finish the fox off at home but the process was so easy that I didn’t feel intimidated by that.

There was so many amazing stalls at the festival selling all kinds of kits, patterns, and supplies for every textile craft you could think of. I had a great time browsing around and seeing what’s currently trending in the stitching community at the moment. I also really enjoyed the gallery section, getting to see other people’s amazing artwork, looking to see what materials they’ve used and chatting to the artists to find out about the work. It was especially great to see pieces in real life that I’ve only seen online before.

It was a lovely day out and I think the Business Design Centre is such a great venue. There’s plenty of space and it’s so easy to get to. Now I just need to decide what to do with my EPP fox…