- Visitors
- Organisers
- Exhibitors
The Festival of Quilts, Europe’s leading patchwork and quilting event, opens at the NEC in less than 24 hours.
Reuniting the quilting community, the live event takes place from 29th July-1st August 2021. The Festival organisers remain committed to creating a great experience for all and across four halls of the venue, rather than the usual three, to give significantly more space for social distancing and will operate under the guidance set by Public Health England after 19th July 2021 and in line with the industry’s All Secure Standard – a comprehensive set of guidelines for exhibitions and events. For enhanced safety and peace of mind, there are additional measures and everyone in attendance will be asked to adhere to a COVID Commitment.
This year’s Festival of Quilts competition represents a true celebration of quilting with over 450 hung quilts from the UK and overseas on display , including a new category for Complete Beginners and new overlay awards. Winners will be announced at the Festival’s lunchtime Awards Ceremony on Thursday 29th July. Visitors can also enjoy over 400 workshops, Academy classes and demonstrations by artists in a live studio environment, exceptional galleries by acclaimed textile establishments, artists and groups, and more than 100 specialist craft retailers all under one roof. An extensive talks and lecture programme will take place in the Festival Theatre, featuring leading textile experts including modern machine quilter and YouTube star Angela Walters from The Midnight Quilt Show, Dr. Susan Marks and Jenni Smith. At the Festival’s Innovation Station, there will be free demonstrations of the latest patchwork and quilting products.
Fans of historic quilts are in for a treat with an exhibition of 100-year-old Amish quilts from the International Quilt Museum, Nebraska. The exhibition spans the dark, classic geometric patterns of the Pennsylvania Amish to the pastels and bright colours of the Midwest. Other gallery highlights include Ebb and Flow, a new exhibition by members of SAQA, Fantasy Abstraction, an exhibition by Californian-based improvisational artist Sheila Frampton-Cooper, and FOUND, a new exhibition by Art Quilts: Made in Britain, plus many more. Shortlisted entries for the third Janome Fine Art Textiles Award, the international juried exhibition that recognises the creative talents and skills of high-calibre textile artists producing gallery-quality fine art, will be on display alongside 2020’s virtual award winners.
Anna Baptiste, Event Director for The Festival of Quilts, said: “We simply cannot wait to see the wonderful quilting and textile art community in person again this summer after we sadly had to postpone last year’s event. Seeing hundreds of beautiful quilts spread throughout four large halls is going to be quite an experience. The safety of our visitors, exhibitors, contractors and staff is our highest priority, and visitors can have full confidence in the wide-ranging measures that we and the NEC are putting in place to deliver a safe and enjoyable experience and truly fantastic Festival of Quilts.”
For more information on the event, please visit: www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk.