Lancashire Community Craft Project - Needle Felting & Hand Stitching Session - Blackburn Cathedral

Take part in an exciting community project and learn needle felting and simple hand stitching techniques.

Inspired by the Table For The Nation at Blackburn Cathedral, we are inviting schools, community groups, craft groups, churches, businesses and residents across the region to come together to create a spectacular artwork.

800 individually handcrafted panels - each one telling a story of Lancashire - will be stitched together, to create a stunning 13m Community Table Runner.

Your completed work will contribute to this community project and will be displayed at the Table For The Nation at Blackburn Cathedral in the Spring of 2027.

This is a relaxed workshop suitable for beginners and your completed work will form part of the project.

The workshop is led by Sue Jeffries, Community Horticulturalist with Lancashire Wildlife Trust also an experienced and qualified teacher who has delivered a range of nature-inspired crafting workshops and co-ordinated community projects. Members of the Fellowship of Church Needleworkers will also be providing support.

During the workshop you will see the Table for the Nation - the stunning 13m Black Oak table made of 5,000 old bog oak currently on display at Blackburn Cathedral. You will then be guided by experienced tutors as you create your own handmade piece inspired by the peatlands and landscapes of Lancashire.

Needle felting is a relaxing, tactile technique which is perfect for creating the hummocks of moss you can see on the peatlands. You may also wish to recreate the creatures that live in bog habitats such as dragonflies, curlews, lapwings, tardigrades, roundworms, butterflies, lizards, frogs etc.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust is actively involved in peatland restoration projects across the county, which will have a positive impact on climate change by increasing carbon capture, reducing flooding and recreating bog habitat for a wide range of specialist plants, insects, birds and mammals. Their community growing hub at the Greenhouse Project in Witton Country Park, Blackburn is growing Sphagnum moss and other bogs plants to be replanted on nearby Darwen Moor as part of our ‘Growing Recovery’ project. You will be able to see some of the bog plants during the workshop.

All materials and equipment will be provided.

This event takes place in the Crypt at Blackburn Cathedral and entry is via Cathedral Square, BB1 1FB, next to Checks & Greys café.

This event is one of a series of unmissable monthly crafting events where we welcome differentexperts each month to bringhigh quality, friendly, crafting sessions to the Cathedral. Learn more about Cathedral Craft Club.