On Friday I booked myself a ticket to attend The Stitch Festival at the Business Design Centre on Upper Street in London. I’m not sure I’ve ever been to this show before but I really fancied trying a few workshops and buying some craft supplies. The workshops booked up really quickly so I was only able to book two – Italian corded quilting and making a fabric badge.

The Stitch Festival 2024

The Business Design Centre is a beautiful historic building in the heart of Upper Street. Once the Agricultural Hall, built to house the Smithfield Cattle Club Show, it has a huge single-span roof, perfect for large-scale events.

The main hall featured lots of exhibition stands, and it was great to see some of my favourite designers. The workshops were held in smaller rooms off to one side.

My first workshop was Italian corded quilting. I was going to learn all about it in one hour! I was given a group of supplies and introduced to this kind of quilting. It was soon time to start work and I quickly stitched around the outline of the shape through two layers of fabric. then I inserted a piece of wool into the channel I had stitched. The effect was pretty.

After a short break it was time for my next workshop, making a fabric badge. This was a slightly longer class but we were given a little fabric pack to layer up a badge, with recycled denim, calico and Liberty lawn.

The lady taking the workshop made the loveliest badges and I loved the way she displayed them in this fabric folder. I really want to make one to display all the little things I have made!

I didn’t finish my fabric badge but I learned a few different stitches to make the flowers, so I can work on this.

I was getting hungry by the time this class finished but there were limited food options on site. Instead I visited all the stands, picking up some stickers, a new tote bag and some gorgeous bags of Liberty Lawn (you can never have enough!).

Then I headed out on to Upper Street for some lunch. You could get your hand stamped if you wanted to go back in but it was super busy and I was happy to head home.