The Victorian Hand Workshops

Take part in these exciting research and making sessions exploring hand work with the Quilters Guild collection in York

I’m really looking forward to these workshops, which are part of my project artist work for the Victorian Hand. In these sessions we’ll look at hand-stitched quilts and work on elements of a tactile textile sculptural artwork to be included in my project exhibitions next year.

Workshop tickets are free, read more below and book your places.

If you can’t make these, there will be other opportunities to take part including exclusive activities for my Maker Membership.

Call for Participants!

The Victorian Hand: Emotions, Embodiment and Identity project (University of the Arts London and Lancaster University) invites you to take part in The Work of Mending; a new series of creative, research-led workshops exploring the meaning of hands and handwork from the Victorian era to today.

Hosted at The Quilters’ Guild in York and inspired by its remarkable collections, these (free of charge) workshops offer a rare chance to explore historic quilting up close and reflect on what stitch can reveal about identity, skill, care and wellbeing. Through historic objects, guided making and shared discussion, we’ll consider how handwork shapes personal, professional and social identities. Participants will also collaborate with artist Ruth Singer on a piece of work for the 2027 Festival of Quilts.

The series includes three themed workshops:

• 27 March 2026 – Skilled Hands: exploring virtuosity, mastery and pride through intricate patchwork and quilting. Older or experienced makers welcome.
• 15 May 2026 – Mending: focusing on repair as care and creativity, and the stories told by visible and invisible mends. Participants with caring responsibilities or health issues welcome.
• 16 October 2026 – The Sense of Touch: examining rhythm, wellbeing and the connection between hand, mind and body in a technological world. All makers welcome.

The workshops are hands-on, reflective and discussion-based, and are open to quilters/sewers of all backgrounds and experience levels. Each session lasts around three hours, and participants must be over 18.

If you’re curious about the histories held in quilts, the emotions stitched into cloth, and the lasting importance of skilled hands, we’d love you to join us.

If you’re interested but can’t attend these dates or location, a parallel workshop series will run at the Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons of England in London. For more information, please contact victorianhand@fashion.arts.ac.uk
Please share this email with anyone you think might be interested, whether they are able to attend the workshops or not, as the project develops there may be alternative ways to get involved. 

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