Quickthorn books

30/08/2024

These are just some of the brooches from Beyond Darning by cult Japanese darner Hikaru Noguchi , now available in English from Quickthorn. These are all made using mending and darning techniques and some are repurposing treasured fabrics. I love the idea that a garment that has been loved and worn can be used again as a patch or on a brooch. These can be worn to cover stains, holes or just to decorate your bags or a jacket.
Her book has all the instructions you need to make these brooches, from threading the needle to how to wear them.

30/08/2024

Time to sharpen your pencils, it’s a new term ✏️✏️ ✏️ - https://mailchi.mp/quickthornbooks/quickthornbooks We have a lot of Quickthorn events to tell you about, book talks, plus crochet, rag rug and darning workshops

29/08/2024

It’s just around the corner!!

29/08/2024

Reposting this as David Parr House have a lovely series of events coming up next month ( eek is it really nearly September?!) with our fabulous author of Rag Manifesto!•

“ 🧶 Join us for two special events with Rachael Matthews, textile artist and rag enthusiast:

📅 Rag Manifesto with Rachael Matthews: Talk on Wednesday, 25th September | 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Rachael Matthews will present an exclusive talk on her new book, The Rag Manifesto, as part of our Salon Series. Explore the fascinating world of traditional and contemporary rag work, from British working-class homes to global practices in India and Japan. Rachael invites you to bring along textiles that have lingered too long in their current form, ready to share their stories and spark new ideas. Revolution starts at home, and this talk will inspire you to think differently about the fabrics in your life.

📅 Rag Rug Weaving Workshop Saturday, 5th October | 10:30 am - 4:00 pm

Using the ancient technique of hand-held weaving sticks, you’ll create a small rag rug from materials you bring from home—whether it’s odd socks, torn sheets, or old uniforms. This fast, portable technique is both addictive and deeply satisfying. Swap stories, share fabrics, and leave with a new appreciation for the beauty in the old.

🎟️ Spaces are limited—book your place via link in bio

24/08/2024

Today the average person has nearly five times as many clothes as they did just 50 years ago. Last year, 100 billion garments were produced worldwide, most made from oil, 30% of which were not even sold, and the equivalent of one bin lorry full of clothing is dumped in landfill or burned every single second.

On 7 November 7-9pm at the Painswick Centre, our founder and co-author of 'Intelligent Hands - why making is a skill for life' - Katy Bevan will be interviewing Patrick Grant. Patrick has recently written 'Less'. As part of the 'First Thursday' events and in conjunction with this year's Stroud Book Festival, Quickthorn is delighted to be joining in welcoming Patrick to Stroud!

In “Less”, a passionate and revealing book about loving clothes but despairing of a broken global system, Patrick Grant – clothier, author and revered judge on BBC’s “The Great British Sewing Bee” - considers this crisis of consumption, and how we might make ourselves happier by rediscovering the joy of living with fewer, better-quality things.

Katy and Patrick will have much in common to discuss - do join them!

Tickets are available via First Thursday Painswick or copy the link below:

https://www.firstthursdaypainswick.co.uk/event-details-registration/patrick-grant-less-in-conversation-with-katy-bevan?mc_cid=d050deeb87&mc_eid=bd21536f32

23/08/2024

📖 A little something for the weekend? Take a read of this recent research about craft. Dr Helen Keyes of Anglia Ruskin University has revealed the benefits of making for our health. A GOOD news item (frontiers of health journal) for all of you with busy hands....

⏰ So, make some time to read the article while unleashing your creativity this weekend—grab your needles, threads, wools and looms, and let your hands weave their magic as you knit, sew, spin, thread and stitch away. It will do you the power of good! 😜

👉 Read Katy's article in the news section of our website: https://www.quickthornbooks.com/2024/08/its-official-craft-is-good-for-you/

🎁 PLUS - if you sign up to our newsletter while you are there you will receive a whopping 20% off your purchases from us! Which means you can treat yourself to a new book and read more about the benefits of making. Get your copy of directly from us. Co-written with writer Charlotte Abrahams and yours truly, it covers all the bases about why making is good, not just for us, but for our children too.

23/08/2024

Reposting our author, Judith Kleinman • to welcome the weekend!

“Going with the flow is one of those phrases … we usually need a sense of time and spaciousness to go with the flow and not be to ‘controlfreaky’ about everything. A big element in being able to find these qualities of ease in everyday is breathing. Noticing how much our breathing patterns are connected with our thoughts is a lovely quiet project in the summer holidays. Working on having no judgement around breathing is helpful I find, do you? Just noticing how often I hold or fix my breathing seems to be useful…”



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21/08/2024

📣Out now: issue 120, Carpet Magic.

As is their tradition: beautiful photographs combined with joyous textile stories... Quickthorn's features in this issue while our founder Katy Bevan's articfle about Graham Hollick and .

You can purchase a copy of the magazine in all its glory online via:
https://www.selvedge.org/collections/magazines or Selvedge Magazine

Founder of the magazine, Polly Leonard reminds us:

"As a continuation of the conversations that start in the pages of the magazine, Selvedge produces a podcast, newsletter, blog and inspirational Instagram feed - featuring artisans, adventures and opinions. These avenues are a meeting point for our community and an entry point into the world of textiles for those looking for an original and broadening perspective.

In the pages of Selvedge, it has been my privilege to present textiles differently and, in that difference—so much a part of the magazine's aesthetics —to find beauty."

21/08/2024

Reposting here details of an upcoming exhibition including our latest author: •

📣“The latest 62 Group exhibition opens at Salts Mill, Saltaire, West Yorkshire on 8th Sept.

The theme is - learning as making or is it making as learning? Either way, its dedicated to Audrey Walker, artist and educator who was Head of Dept at Goldsmiths Textiles and a keen supporter and past Chair of the 62 Group. I was a student under Audrey at Goldsmiths, worked with her there and considered her a good friend.

➡️My piece for the show is a joint effort with 4 Textiles in Practice students from MMU, Nathan, Maia, Jas & Eleanor.
I wanted to share ideas and explore risk taking and so decided to unpick a suffolk puff quilt I made from found cotton fabrics (which i was not satisfied with) and reconfigure it.

It had ended up as a series of blocks including 17 with letters that spell out Connecting Threads, both a nod to the fabulous space at Salts Mill and the title of my forthcoming publication with Press.

🧵Textiles can be so flexible, transformative and transportable and I wanted to celebrate this too.
Now its time for a holiday - back in Sept.”

20/08/2024

💥Big congratulations to the winner of our birthday giveaway!💥

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter and share in our celebratory giveaway!

🎁The winner is: Tracy Jayne Edwards who has chosen our book: 'When Words are not Enough - Creative responses to Grief' by Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds. 🙏We are doubly thrilled that she will be donating this prize to her local TCF (The Compassionate Friends) group that supports bereaved parents and their families.

👉Tracy - please message us to let us know where we can send your book.

📖All of our books are now available to buy directly from us online via our bio or:
www.quickthornbooks.com
As a susbscriber you will receive permanent discount on all of our titles.

💕George💕 The Good Grief Project
The Compassionate Friends, UK

16/08/2024

Article written by
Reposting • “I’m honoured to have an article about me and my work in the September issue of Selvedge magazine out today , great photos by location and my place..”

16/08/2024

Please meet Lynn, author of 'Connecting Threads' -
our next book to be published. More news of the book will follow soon so keep checking in!

Dr Lynn Setterington is an internationally recognised artist and academic working in the textiles arena. Her work explores contemporary issues in society and how stitch can be used to commemorate people and communities.

“My research is situated at the intersection of craft and community, social engagement, design and activism and I completed my practice-based PhD in 2018 after many years working in the field. I collaborate with communities and under-represented groups using quilting as a means of communication and commemoration. My solo and shared quilts are in major museum collections including the V&A, the Quilt Museum in Nebraska, USA, the Whitworth and the Terrence Higgins Trust.”

16/08/2024

Reposting via our latest author :• “ I will be spinning a few plates over the next few months - preparing new work and sorting past quilts for the exhibition at the Fashion/ Textiles Museum and my new publication with . (Connecting Threads).

‘Been Shopping’ is 20 years old and made of hand-sewn suffolk puffs from high street plastic carrier bags. One of the white ones ( British Heart Foundation bag) have perished, so I am replacing it with a new circle. Swipe to see the old circle, and Pumpkin cat, walking across the quilt.

Like all my work, this quilt a social history document, with the demise of high st shops, this piece captures a moment in time and retailers such as Mexx and Gap who have stopped trading. “

popularculture

14/08/2024

Come and meet Sarah Corbett and Katy Bevan as they discuss:
Craft, Community and Changing the World
Saturday 14th September, 3pm
at: Tetbury Goods Shed (ticket link at base of post)

Sarah founded the global 'Craftivist Collective' in 2009. Corbett calls her unique methodology ‘Gentle Protest’ and her work has helped change hearts, minds, policies and laws around the world. She has co-written several books, including this year’s 'Craftivist Collective Handbook'. In conversation with Katy Bevan, she will talk about her new book and the art of ‘gentle protest’ - how craftivism can be a transformational tool for personal wellbeing and community cohesion.

Making something with your own hands is a reflective process, encouraging you to slow down when the pace of life feels too fast: there is a joy in creating something that is unique, tangible evidence of your time and labour. Sarah P Corbett is an activist, author and Ashoka Fellow. Born in Everton, the fourth most deprived ward in the UK, she worked at Oxfam GB before founding the global Craftivist Collective in 2009. Corbett calls her unique methodology ‘Gentle Protest’ and her work has helped change hearts, minds, policies and laws around the world. Collaborations include Save the Children, The Climate Coalition, Fashion Revolution, Tate, V&A, Helsinki Design Week and Secret Cinema amongst others.

Katy is a Trustee of Heritage Crafts and publisher at Quickthorn Books.
Quickthorn publish craft books with an emphasis on making, and personal agency: making empowers us to be more self-sufficient and take control over the way we consume.

Ticket link can be copied here: https://tinyurl.com/QTatTBF
or, head to The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop Collective

12/08/2024

12/08/2024

Katy captured this on camera while at the WOMAD festival this year. It's a really good sneak preview to her talk with Sarah Corbett at the Tetbury Book Festival next month and hear how craft and community are changing the world.

And her thoughts on are very timely right now....

Come and join us on 14 September when Katy will be talking with Sarah about her new book and all how craftivism can be a transformational tool for personal wellbeing and community cohesion. .

Ticket link is: https://tinyurl.com/QTatTBF
Or, head to The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop for more info.
WOMAD Festival A Crafter Craftivist Collective

09/08/2024

📣Quickthorn is an independent book publisher in the south-west of the UK. We are proud of our range of books and of the amazing authors who have joined us along our two-year journey.

📖Our books are designed to be easy-to-read in bite-sized chunks, are ethically and UK-printed and tell stories of craft, textile art, resilience, and personal agency. And, beautiful to hold and handle. They can be bought directly from us or by asking at your local bookshop.


Prick Your Finger HIKARU NOGUCHI Judith Kleinman The Good Grief Project

08/08/2024

Reposting “While writing may be my first love making is a clear second.
Hands, covers all the reasons why making things with your hands is important and worth your time, especially in a world hellbent on automating and optimizing absolutely everything.
Lately as I navigate new job things (see the intro post pinned to my profile for more on the freelance piece) what’s keeping me grounded and centered is knitting socks each night.
I put away my phone, we watch a show together, I have a cup of tea and knit with the tiniest of needles. I don’t have to think, I just knit til they’re done. I have nothing on my agenda other than to sip, knit and watch. My breathing is deeper, l’m no longer wondering/worrying about 75 different things and l’m turning a skein of yarn into something with tiny sticks and my hands. The movement of my hands calms me down as it has done for years.

Working with our hands has always aided us, as this book shows and shares. Add in the softness of textiles and we can easily bring in comfort into our daily lives in times of unease or sadness as well as times of joy and excitement. (And at all emotions in between.)
This book beautifully explains why making with our hands is, and has been, a solace as well as a gift, a balm and an alchemist, an exploration and a healer, a communicator and a cherished friend. And I am most honored to be interviewed in it.
(Thank you Charlotte and Katy!
This is one of four books l’ve been in over the past few years where I bought a copy to giveaway but never quite got around to mentioning it.
Therefore, I’d love to give one of you my extra copy of this book as a thank you for being here.
What do you need to do? Let me know in the comments what you like best about making crafty things with your hands.

I’ll pick one person who leaves such a comment at random on Sunday and will pop your new book in the mail soon after.
(Note 1: The copy I’m sending isn’t dogeared from travel like my own copy in the photos!)
(Note2: I’m happy to mail this anywhere but if it’s much over $25 in postage, I may ask for a few bob to chip in if you can spare it.”

08/08/2024

We love this community hub - membership is now open to supporters!

07/08/2024

Reposting here our next author •
“So many important societal topics covered in the exhibition Living with Death - full of interesting old and new objects that explore su***de, assisted dying caskets, wool and lead coffins, funerals rites, ghost bikes, memento mori, wills and of course the day of the dead.”

***de ***debereavementservice ***dememorialquilt

05/08/2024

Reposting •

“Loop has hosted a gathering to celebrate the new ‘Beyond Darning’ Book by last Friday. There were several Hikaru’s samplers at the venue to show some background stories of the creation of the book.
- This is one of the favourites darning work by which has been beautifully worn out after many Loop’s customers sat and share very special inspiring space and time there which is great evidence’ Hikaru said.
Hikaru’s three of English edition of darning and mending books are available at the Loop at the moment. You can compare which of would be the best friend for your mending curiosity.”

Signed copies of her book are available at Loop.

05/08/2024

Such a special evening on Friday. Total immersion in the creative making and darning community! Thanks to everyone who made this happen!

03/08/2024

Reposting • “Hikaru Noguchi is in the house! Last night was wonderful and the Japanese Queen of darning is with us all weekend for four sold out classes. It’s such an honour! We have her books ( some of them are signed, and if ordered today we are happy to ask Hikaru to sign or write something if you put a message in the notes section of your order), and handmade mending haberdashery in the London + online shop.
Domo arigato dear 💓”

Ps. No comments on our fabulous couch which is an ongoing darning project started by and very much, a labour of endless mending love. 😂

02/08/2024

It’s tonight!! Ticket link is in our bio

Reposting •
“Join us tonight at Loop to meet Hikaru Noguchi to celebrate the launch of the English edition of her new book ‘Beyond Darning: Creative Mending Techniques’. Published by , it’s a ticketed event ( just a fiver!) and they’ll be samples galore, books to sign, and lovely Hikaru. The book, and Hikaru’s wonderful handmade darning mushrooms and other haberdashery treasure, are in our London + online shop now. Visiting us from Tokyo for a weekend of sold out workshops, we’re thrilled to welcome her back. From 6.30-8pm. Tickets on our website in the events section. All embroidery + mending threads and haberdashery are 10% off in the shop tonight! Plus has brought some pretty fabulous stitch brooch packs that she’s made especially for tonight and her weekend workshops. ( If there are any still available after her Sunday class, we’ll put them online). Plus there might be rice crackers and some plum wine. 😉”

01/08/2024

🧳If you need a refreshing and recuperating start to the the autumn months - you might like to treat yourself to this retreat in the beautiful Cotswold space at Hawkwood College.
👉For more info or to book head to Hawkwood's site: http://tinyurl.com/FQSretreat

🧘‍♀️Come and spend time with one of our authors! If you have already experienced Judith Kleinman's beautiful book - where modern neuroscience is combined with the ancient wisdom of tai chi, yoga and the Alexander Technique and is a personal life-survival kit for our times -you will LOVE this upcoming event!

👉Relax and reconnect with your busy body with Judith Kleinman, author of 'Finding Quiet Strength'. Consciously connect to your emotional intelligence and embodied awareness, during her expert programme at Hawkwood College between the 20th and 22 August 2024. Link in our bio or head to Hawkwood's events page to book!

31/07/2024

💥💥💥💥💥**** BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY ****💥💥💥💥💥

📣It's our second birthday coming up on 8 August! Happy Birthday to us!

6️⃣With six books under our belt and out upon the nation's shelves, we wanted to celebrate our achievements with you, our lovely supporters and followers.

🎁We are giving you the opportunity to join our birthday book giveaway which will run between 1-15 August.

👉The winner will be randomly chosen from eligible entries. (one entry per person)

📖The winner will receive a Quickthorn book of their choice from our range - just let us know which one you'd like within your comment entry! (UK p&p will be included).

​🇦​​🇱​​🇱​ ​🇾​​🇴​​🇺​ ​🇳​​🇪​​🇪​​🇩​ ​🇹​​🇴​ ​🇩​​🇴​ ​🇹​​🇴​ ​🇼​​🇮​​🇳​ ​🇮​​🇸​ ​🇹​​🇴​⦂

​🇫​​🇴​​🇱​​🇱​​🇴​​🇼​ ​🇺​​🇸​ ​🇴​​🇳​ ​🇴​​🇺​​🇷​ ​🇫​​🇦​​🇨​​🇪​​🇧​​🇴​​🇴​​🇰​ ​🇦​​🇳​​🇩​ ​🇮​​🇳​​🇸​​🇹​​🇦​​🇬​​🇷​​🇦​​🇲​ ​🇵​​🇦​​🇬​​🇪​​🇸​.
​🇱​​🇮​​🇰​​🇪​ ​🇹​​🇭​​🇮​​🇸​ ​🇵​​🇴​​🇸​​🇹​ ​
🇹​​🇭​​🇪​​🇳​ ​🇨​​🇴​​🇲​​🇲​​🇪​​🇳​​🇹​ ​🇱​​🇪​​🇹​​🇹​​🇮​​🇳​​🇬​ ​🇺​​🇸​ ​🇰​​🇳​​🇴​​🇼​ ​🇼​​🇭​​🇮​​🇨​​🇭​ ​🇧​​🇴​​🇴​​🇰​ ​🇾​​🇴​​🇺​❜​🇩​ ​🇱​​🇮​​🇰​​🇪​,
​🇹​​🇦​​🇬​ ​🇦​ ​🇫​​🇷​​🇮​​🇪​​🇳​​🇩​ ​🇦​​🇳​​🇩​ ​🇮​​🇳​​🇨​​🇱​​🇺​​🇩​​🇪​ ​🇹​​🇭​​🇪​ ​🇵​​🇭​​🇷​​🇦​​🇸​​🇪​
#​🇶​​🇺​​🇮​​🇨​​🇰​​🇹​​🇭​​🇴​​🇷​​🇳​​🇧​​🇴​​🇴​​🇰​​🇸​​🇧​​🇮​​🇷​​🇹​​🇭​​🇩​​🇦​​🇾​

The winner will be announced on 20 August 2024. Good luck!

30/07/2024

Such a lovely message from•

“I made a name badge for a meeting of the Herefordshire guild of spinners weavers and dyers. I used fabric scraps and bits of jewelry from a charity shop. I was completed (and unashamedly) inspired by new book - Beyond Darning by “

27/07/2024

📣Katy has just composed Quickthorn's latest newsletter.
📖Packed full of news with exciting new publication reveals too!
👉REMEMBER to sign up! - subscribers get a hefty discount on all of our books!
👆Head up to our linktree bio or over to: https://tr.ee/JU0Ajoqvpz to sign up!