dare to dream - heanor sewing group

Fabulous and proud!

It's been a pleasure to spend time in the company of the Heanor Sewing Group who meet on Tuesday mornings at the Infinite Wellbeing Community Centre in Heanor. This is their generous contribution to the Derbyshire Makes Dare to Dream mass participation project.

The group invested many hours into their individual patches, and Allison (3rd from right) arranged the patches into the group banner, hand stitching a ribbon of black roses to complete the work. 

A couple of the group away when this photo was taken, so not everyone is represented here. Well done all!

dare to dream pillowcase banners 🙂

The weekend of the 5th & 6th of April served sunshine in a brilliant blue sky! We were so fortunate!

It was wonderful to share Dare to Dream, the mass participation element of Derbyshire Makes: an opportunity to stitch hopes and dreams for the future in Derbyshire using sustainable fabrics from the Play & Recycling Centre - Derby.

15 participants kindly left their work to be added to the pillowcase banners, shown below - stunning! Some wrote down the motivation and thoughts behind their stitches, and I added these to the work using a wooden typeface set - wise and generous words. There are more textile patches out in the world, taken home to be treasured and worked into - I like to think of these as 'siblings' of the textile patches below, becoming part of everyday life, mementoes of a shared expression of hope in Heanor.

Unity, Derbyshire Makes - Heanor

All Roads Lead to Derbyshire, Derbyshire makes - Heanor

make

Photo by Karen at Make/Shift

Dare to Dream

Derbyshire Makes Festival - Heanor

5th/6th April 2025

derbyshire makes festival - Heanor

What a brilliant weekend. Heanor market place was buzzing with fun, connection, creativity and positive energy. 

I had a blast running Dare to Dream, the mass participation element of Derbyshire Makes: a chance to stitch hopes and dreams for the future using sustainable fabrics from the Play & Recycling Centre - Derby.

We were blessed with gorgeous weather, and it was lovely to see Heanor create, play and stitch together. 

A MAKEFESTO!

Young maker

First stitches

All roads lead to Derbyshire

Dare to Dream - tolerant people

Generations

Stitcher from Portugal

Friendship

"Friendship is so important, a smile, a friendly nod can mean so much. Don't be afraid 

to talk to someone, you might be the only person they connect with all day."

derbyshire makes festival - heanor - dare to dream

YESSS! I'm all prepped for the Derbyshire Makes Festival - Heanor this weekend (5th/6th April), programmed by Make/Shift 🖐️🪡🧵

'Dare to Dream - Inspired by Heanor's rich textile and making heritage join artist Karen Logan and create a unique hand stitched textile patch to share your stories and hopes for the future. Pin your precious patch to the Dare to Dream repurposed pillowcases and take a selfie. At the end of the festival the patches will be stitched to the pillowcases to create stunning flags showcasing hope in Heanor. Let's fly the flag for Derbyshire!'

FREE. Drop-in, no booking required. All materials provided.

Scrap fabric from Derby Play & Recycling Centre

Cotton reels & threads from my stash & Derby Play & Recycling Centre

Dare to Dream map - research on the manufacturing history of Heanor & Langley Mill - will anyone recognise names & faces?

movers & shakers community fund

Amazing news! My application for the first round of MAKE/SHIFT Movers & Shakers Community Fund was successful! 

My project - People, Place and Plants celebrates the power of plants and is inspired by the varied native and medicinal herbs taking root around Heanor Market Place, part of the sites recent update. People, Place and Plants engages local people with place through observational and expressive drawing and the creation of herbal tea blends and artwork inspired by the site. I’m curious to see if memories of local plant folk-law could be sparked and what we will share and learn. 

Click on the links for more information about Make/Shift and the fund. Applications will open for the Spring 25 round of funding on Wednesday 19th March 2025. Details on how to apply will be available nearer the time.