Published: 20 Sep 2023
Leicester Textiles Festival
We celebrated Leicester Textile’s Festival last week. We had a great time highlighting and raising awareness of Leicester’s textile past, present and future!
In this section
- Leicester Adult Education’s Rebrand
- Multiply Hub and Drop In Sessions
- Let's Be Frank - Art Exhibition
- The Start of a New Chapter - Access to Higher Education
- Volunteers' Week 2023
- Love for Learning Italian
- We Present: Leicester Adult Education
- Stitching Serenity – How Sewing Courses Supported Avani’s Wellbeing
- Employability & Digital Courses: Sally's Career Boost
- Lifesaving Skills Learnt on our Family First Aid Workshops
- Changing Paths: Nail Technician to Business Administrator
- Going Back to School: Hayley's Determination
- Spanish Beginners to Confidently Talking to Locals
- Saturday Summer Art Courses
- From Employment Skills Learner to Entrepreneur
- Multiply - Maths Changed My Life
- Fast-track Level 1 & 2 English and Maths
- Julijana’s Dedication to Learning: ESOL to Level 3 Learner
- Family Learning Competition
- Welcoming our new neighbours - Fashion Technology Academy
- REMIT Fundraiser for World Mental Health Day
We celebrated Leicester Textile’s Festival last week. We had a great time helping to highlight and raise awareness of Leicester’s textile past, present and future!
There’s been so much for everyone to get involved with, even in our college. This included community events, a textile takeover, the textile trail, community yarn bomb, textile open exhibition, love note to textiles and Leicester Look Up! Learn more on the Leicester Textile Festival website.
Two of the community events took place in our Old Library Café. On Thursday 14th September, John, the Programme Manager from Leicester Textiles Festival, delivered an engaging talk that explored the key roles that textiles had in Leicester’s global reputation.
We learnt so much, especially from the 5 objects that John used to illustrate his talk which are pictured above.
. Atlas - published in 1957, the book contained an infographic map demonstrating the UK textile market being worth £986.5 million in 1949 – that’s more than iron, steel, and mechanical engineering! We spoke about this was impressive not too long after the war and how much of this would have come directly from Leicester.
. ‘Leicester in Parade!’ a VHS videotape that shows Leicester residents in so many items of clothing. We spoke about how many of the outfits would have been made in Leicester.
. From the Shannon to the Soar - A film-documentary by local Large-Scale Films, featuring seven residents of Leicester, who were born in both The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, telling their story of why they left their home and how they came to settle in Leicester. Working in Leicester's textile factories would have been one of the first job openings on arrival as Leicester was known for employing both men and women.
. Leicester Museums brochure with their current photography exhibition by Kavi Pujara, we spoke about all of the shops on the Golden Mile and the role of the female workers, working in textile factories in Belgrave.
. John’s Uncle, Kenneth’s, funeral of service booklet – a personal one that John shared with us. He spoke about selling ladies nightwear on Deptford Market in South London, and realising many years later, his uncle had drove up to Leicester every Tuesday to purchase these items.
On Thursday 21st September, as part of the Veterans Hub that John regularly runs with Loughborough Wellbeing Café, we learnt to knit. Kerry, our Head of Service taught us.
We all thought the knitting was really therapeutic, maybe because we really had to focus! Thank you for Kerry for her patience, it was great to learn something new.
We also got involved with Leicester Look Up!
Adding onto the Textile Trail, which certainly filled the city with an abundance of playful and colourful fun, is Look Up Leicester!
Our Textile Tutor, Sally, created a fantastic patchwork hanging basket which is proudly hung up in our window.
Sally said:
“Patchwork, colour and embroidered text are what I return to again and again. I enjoy using fabrics that have been discarded alongside interesting scraps of material. I decided to include different phrasing around the word ‘hanging’ and this was how it turned out! I wanted the hanging basket to appear bright and breezy on the surface. However, the words to have a slightly carefree and more thoughtful tone.”
Another part of the textile’s festival that resonated with us, was ‘Love Note to Textiles’.
Leicester has a rich history with the textiles industry. Alongside this, Leicester Textiles Festival believes that “the city’s unique diversity can be celebrated through their personal connections with textiles.”
And so, they’ve been inviting people to share their connection to textiles through a love note. We asked our Curriculum Coordinator, Rebecca Carter. Here’s what she said:
"I remember my mum teaching me how to knit when I was 5. The wool was yellow (my favourite colour at the time) and I used to keep all my wool in a beige & brown knitting bag which had cats sat in a basket next to balls of wool on the front (a classic 80s knitting bag!) I was given my Auntie’s knitting needles; she’d recently passed away and I remember thinking I just had to use them to try and stay connected to her. After many hours, and most likely months, I had created a rather holey scarf for my toy bear. But I loved it because I had created it with my mum using something that was my Auntie’s.
From then on, I was hooked on making things. I borrowed my sister’s hand crank sewing machine, and she helped me make clothes for our Sindy and Barbie dolls. I made so many presents for people – needle cases, aprons (sewn rather wonkily) and mini bags. I suppose I always had the crafting bug from when I was little and I have my mum to thank for all her patience and time, showing me how to make things.
I love the variety in what you can create in textiles and how you can make items personal. I studied a sewing course over a decade ago with Leicester Adult Education and learnt how to make my own bodice blocks and patterns. It has been a joy to pass on these life skills, through education as a Textiles teacher and teaching my own children. Although, I must admit, choosing the hottest day of the year to teach my daughter how to sew clothes for her She-Ra doll probably wasn’t one of my brightest ideas!"
Here is Rebecca's daughter and her She-Ra doll:
We've had a great time celebrating textiles and Leicester, so thank you to Leicester Textile's Festival!
If you've been inspired to learn textiles and sewing as a new skill, why not explore our courses? They're designed for beginners and for those with a bit more experience.
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