Last week I spent a day at The Stitch Festival at the Business Design Centre in Angel. Living in London means I am spoilt for craft shops and creative workshops, but I can’t resist seeing everything under one roof.

The Stitch Festival 2026

As well as my ticket, I also booked my workshops in advance – choosing punch needle, adding embroidery to knits and a sashiko class. I love the opportunity to learn something new and thought these three classes would be fun.

The punch needle class took place before the festival opened, so I had a very early start from west London. I made the class on time, and managed to squeeze in a quick breakfast pastry on the way. The Business Design Centre is moments from Angel station and a good venue, with plenty of space for the main shopping area, as well as exhibition space and workshops.

I’ve previously bought a few punch needle kits but not managed to even thread the needle. I knew I needed some face to face tuition and the workshop gave me that. I tried three different punch needles and three types of fabric.

It was great to have time to play around and my thread stayed in the hessian!

I tried the different materials and compared the three next to each other. They all look pretty similar but I came away with some knowledge of which material I preferred and worked for me. Whilst not my favourite craft, I’m hoping I can make the craft kits I have at home.

My second workshop was embroidering on knits. This was the most disappointing workshop as the group was given one small flower pattern to embroider. The flower was drawn onto a water-soluble stabilizer with a self-adhesive, fabric-like backing. The idea was to apply the pattern to a piece of clothing and embroider it. I’ve used this kind of transfer paper before but I was hoping to learn something new. The class lasted 90 minutes but I left early as it was so basic.

I did some shopping in the main hall before heading to my final workshop, embroidering a sashiko pin cushion. I love sashiko stitching, a Japanese technique which uses a running stitch to create decorative geometric patterns.

This is one of the most relaxing forms of embroidery and it was fun too. I learned lots of new techniques thanks to a great teacher, and although I didn’t finish the panel I had a lovely time stitching. I finished the pin cushion when I got home.

I enjoyed my punch needle and sashiko workshops. Have you ever tried these crafts before?