Join the Knit + Stitch Show in Northern Ireland from the 13th to the 16th of November at the Eikon Exhibition Centre.
Stock up on quality craft supplies from over 100 exhibitors, explore Textile Galleries featuring world-renowned textile artists, a vast array of workshops, talks & lectures,and more. Whether you’re a seasoned crafter or just getting started, there’s something for everyone.
Feltmakers Irelandguild member Sandra Coote of Crafts of Ireland will have a booth there!
When: Thursday, the 13th, through Sunday, the 16th of November.
Discounted Entry
The Knit + Stitch has kindly given Feltmakers Ireland Members (and friends) a discount code to save £2 at checkout. Use the code FELTMAKERSIR
T&Cs: £2 off standard adult/concession tickets only. Offer not valid on VIP, Child or group tickets. Offer expires Sunday, the2nd of November 2025. Booking fee applies.
For more information about the exciting events, textile galleries, workshops, and vendors at the Knit + Stitch Show Northern Ireland, or to book tickets with the above discount code, visit the website using this unique link –
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
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Questions: For content-related questions, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
If you can, please bring a home-baked good to share and a travel mug (so we can reduce our use of disposable cups).
And as this is the season of coughs and sneezes, please do not come if you feel unwell.
Zoom Access to the Sunday Session:
On Friday, the 7th of November, we will email a Zoom link to all members for those who wish to attend virtually. Please check your email that afternoon.
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For content-related questions, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
The Golden Fleece Award was founded in 2001 through a bequest by Irish artist and weaving educator, Lillias Mitchell (1915-2000). She created our friend organisation, the Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers. The mission of the Golden Fleece Award is to provide resources for practising contemporary visual artists and makers to innovate and develop their artistic vision.
The annual award supports artists working in all forms of visual, craft and applied arts at critical junctures of their careers. Applicants should reside in, or originally from, the island of Ireland. Since its inception in 2002, over 100 applicants have been shortlisted for, or have received, a Golden Fleece Award.
This year, there are two main awards worth €10,000 each, along with smaller Merit or special awards:
Category 1: Visual Art
Category 2: Craft + Applied Art
Despite the Award being open equally to creative practitioners working in all forms of visual, craft, and applied arts across the two categories, historically, the majority of applications for the Golden Fleece Award have been submitted by visual artists. While the Trustees of the Award welcome these, they are also keen to continue encouraging applications to Category 2 from craftspeople, designers and makers.
For 2025, just under 290 applications were received for the 2025 Award.
165 for Category 1: Visual Art and 122 for Category 2: Craft + Applied Art.
For 2024, just over 240 applications were received for the Award.
197 for Category 1: Visual Art and <only> 45 for Category 2: Craft + Applied Art!
One can also read past shortlisted Golden Fleece Award submissions from individual artists and craftspeople to gain an understanding of the judging. It is fascinating and inspiring to see. https://www.goldenfleeceaward.com/artists
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
Feltmakers Ireland-West is a growing regional subset of Feltmakers Ireland dedicated to promoting the art and craft of felting across the western counties. We are predominantly based in County Galway and therefore meet up there. We enjoy a variety of activities, such as needle and wet-felting workshops and skill-sharing. Feltmakers Ireland-West aims to provide a supportive space for both beginners and experienced makers to develop their artistry, experiment with texture and colour, and celebrate the rich heritage of Irish textile traditions in a fun and inclusive environment.
Recent Meet Up
Most recently, we were delighted to attend a fleece scouring session in Tuam, with guild member Katarina Hruskova from Woolstore Ireland, where we learned to process beautiful Irish wool from raw fleece to fluffy clouds.
The work is quite involved and begins with ‘skirting’ the fleece, which means removing any clumps of waste before moving on to scouring. Scouring is the washing process that can involve several soaks in soapy water for a very dirty fleece—the trick is not to felt the wool, so water temperature and touch must be carefully controlled.
Once clean and dried, the wool is ‘picked’ to remove any vegetable matter such as hay and straw before the fibre is ‘carded’ with combs or a machine to produce the batts and roving we all love.
Attendees from the Feltmakers Ireland West – October Meet Up. In the foreground, Karena. From left to right: Katarina Hruskova, Corina, Sandra, Belinda, and Patricia.
Through her business, Woolstore Ireland, Katarina offers the following wool-processing services: skirting, washing, opening, and carding. To contact her, visit her website- https://www.woolstore.ie/
Next Meeting in Co Galway
The next meeting of Feltmakers Ireland-West will be on 23rd November in Gort, Co Galway.
If you have questions about Feltmakers Ireland West, you can contact committee member Belinda Reid at the following email: chasingdreamsfeltart@gmail.com
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For content-related questions, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
Arts Thread — an international online platform that showcases emerging talent in art and design — is hosting its annual Global Creative Graduate Showcase. Among the featured designers is Ireland’s Sarah Dowling, whose innovative work highlights the potential of sustainable, homegrown materials.
Designer Sarah Dowling has created traceable, carbon-free, biodegradable garments made from felted and crocheted Galway Wool and deadstock Irish linen.
Dowling’s work emphasises slow production and the beauty of the craft within the textile history in Ireland. One standout piece, her crochet jumper (Báinín Geansaí), includes a stitch which mimics the knitted Blackberry Aran stitch. This traditional stitch is the only one which cannot be replicated by a machine. Fittingly, crochet can only be done by hand.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For content-related questions, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
Feltmakers Ireland West will hold a meeting for members in TUAM, Co Galway, THIS Sunday, where guild member Katarina Hruskova of WoolstoreIE will give a talk about processing Irish wool. If you are travelling to Co Galway during the three-day holiday weekend, you are most welcome to attend!
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
The Wise Wool Project will have its 2nd Annual Woolly Celebration at Kate Kearny’s Cottage on Saturday, the 8th of November.
They invite the community to come together with local fibre artists, sheep farmers, and others interested in finding solutions to the current wool waste dilemma.
Attendees will be welcomed for an afternoon of workshops, storytelling, demonstrations, and a panel discussion exploring the future of wool.
Feltmakers Ireland guild member Sharon Wells will be teaching a needle felting workshop for adults.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
By Loli Cox, with additional reporting from Deirdre Carroll
On Saturday, the 18th of October 2025, Feltmakers Ireland took part in the Dublin Fibre Festival at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Dublin.
Opening at 10 AM, a queue formed at the door as excited visitors waited to enter the hall. Throughout the day, a steady stream of attendees arrived eager to view the various crafts, textile materials, and fibre artists on display. According to the festival’s organiser, Mira Isan, over 750 people attended the event.
The hall at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham at IMMA provided a stunning and inspiring backdrop, brought to life by the festival’s vibrant creativity and the presence of Feltmakers Ireland at its centre. Our two tables welcomed visitors to discover the captivating art of felting.
Felting Demonstrated
Siobhan and IrinaEva, Kelly, Adrienne, and Loli
At our first table, skilled volunteers wove magic with their hands, demonstrating the arts of wet and needle felting. Using wool blended with other natural fibres, they transformed fluffy tufts into sturdy, vibrant fabric through rhythmic kneading and precise needlework. The gentle splash of water and the earthy aroma of wool filled the air, drawing onlookers into the tactile alchemy that binds fibre to form.
Irish Wool Displayed
Panel with samples of wet and needle-felted Irish-raised wool
Our second table was a tribute to Ireland’s pastoral legacy, showcasing ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’, the guild’s cherished book born from a 2021–2023 community research and wool sampling endeavour, which was led by our former treasurer Annika Berglund.
This lovingly crafted volume explores forty of the island’s sheep breeds, from the silken Cladóir to the hardy Galway, and details the wool’s textures and felting potential. It offers practical wisdom on sourcing, cleaning, and dyeing wool, alongside heartfelt stories of the shepherds who tend these flocks.
A large panel, adorned with felted wool samples, invited touch, revealing each breed’s distinct character—coarse, fine, or delightfully springy.
The festival buzzed with curious visitors, their eyes wide as they watched wool transform and their fingers itching to explore the tactile samples. Many lingered, asking about our guild’s mission to champion sustainable felting and the diverse sheep breeds grazing Ireland’s green hills. The wool samples were a revelation, turning abstract knowledge into a sensory journey as hands traced the difference between a Donegal Horn’s rugged locks and a Wicklow Cheviot’s delicate strands. Conversations flowed, stitching connections between craft, culture, and land.
Artwork Displayed
Eva and KellyAdrienne and LoliKelly’s samples and amazing tools
Nearby, Feltmakers Ireland members’ artwork sparkled: elegant scarves, cosy gloves, soft slippers, and intricate jewellery like necklaces, bracelets, brooches, and earrings. Whimsical creations also abounded—lush landscapes evoking misty hills, and three-dimensional treasures like cheeky gnomes, plump pumpkins, playful puppets, pea pods, embellished vessels, and mischievous seasonal figures of ghosts, witches, and black cats.
In Summary
The day was a triumph: Several copies of ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’ found new homes, and a handful of inspired guests joined Feltmakers Ireland as members, eager to dive into this woolly world.
Members Exhibiting
In addition to the guild’s display at the Dublin Fibre Festival, four of our members were vendors at the event: Fiona Leech of @feltathome, Juliane Gorman of @felthappiness, Sandra Reynolds of @sandystitchedup, and Christine Jordan of @roughcirclestudio
Fiona
Juliane
Sandy
Christine’s display
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the Dublin Fibre Festival for including us in this year’s event. We greatly appreciate their efforts in making a fibre festival in Ireland a reality, as well as the help offered by their volunteers throughout the day.
Lastly, a heartfelt thanks to our volunteers—Eva, Kelly, and Siobhan —for their warm enthusiasm and skilful hands, and to committee members Adrienne, Deirdre, Irina, Loli, and Lorna, for their tireless work in sharing the beauty of felting. Together, they spun a day of learning and inspiration, celebrating the timeless craft born from Ireland’s woolly heart.
Join us next time at the Dublin Fibre Festival to explore felting’s endless possibilities!
The Festival of Botanical Colours is a textile event which includes workshops and demonstrations, including the following: indigo dyeing, land art, ink making, Fair Isle knitting, spinning, storytelling, block printing, solar dyeing, pigments, peg loom weaving and more
When: From Friday, the 24th, through Sunday, the 26th of October.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
A bit late, as it is happening NOW, but still of interest: Dutch Design Week has the theme of Wool (RE)Discovered!
The week-long event in Eindhoven, Netherlands, showcases wool’s regenerative potential and reimagines it as a dynamic, living material. From raw fleece in the hands of designers to workshops, demos, and mending sessions, and a variety of talks are scheduled throughout the week.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
