I'm Coming to Australia for the Soul Craft Festival!

I'm so excited to let you all know that next June I'll be traveling to Australia to teach at the Soul Craft Festival! The Soul Craft Festival is a new event put on by Felicia of The Craft Sessions, which I'm sure many of you have heard of. If not, here's a brief overview from Felicia herself...

In the late 2000s I was at home with a pile of small people, a partner who was away a lot, and craft. To say craft saved me in the early days of motherhood is not an understatement. Craft gave me something that was mine. It meant that every day I had my hands on something beautiful, engaged for a moment in something that made me feel like me. It was a practice, a process and a product, each one of them nurturing my spirit in a different way.

At the time I was just back from six years overseas, and craft was how I made community. Gathering around a kitchen table every fortnight for wine and making, I forged friendships that had connection and purpose.  The Craft Sessions grew out of those kitchen gatherings. Our aim was to bring people together who craft for joy and to foster a love of handmaking.

As part of raising awareness about The Craft Sessions I began writing a blog about craft. Very quickly it became a passion - writing about the connection between hand making and wellbeing. The blog has been a source of joy and great conversation for me for many years now, with voices chiming in from all over the world.

Excitingly The Craft Sessions took off. By year three we were selling out, and we could see that there was a thirst for something more - more conversations, more teaching, more time to connect with others. Soul Craft is that next step. It’s a way for us to come together on a bigger scale; to have the conversations we wish we could have in our everyday; to meet other crafters we may only know online; to take time out of our everyday to commune over our shared love of making, and to celebrate how craft supports us and connects us. I’m so so excited about this next step and can’t wait to see you all enjoying what we have put together.

What I'm Teaching

I'll be teaching 2 masterclasses and doing 2 talks:

• Perfect Your Binding (3 hour masterclass)
  • Through a combination of instructions and demonstrations students will learn how to properly apply a bias facing finish to a neckline and sleeveless armhole. From discussing what a bias actually is right through to the final pressing, Jen will demystify how to create the perfect bias finish.
• Get Your Collar On (3 hour masterclass)
  • Through a combination of instructions and demonstrations students will learn how to properly apply a collar with stand as well as insert continuous sleeve plackets
• How to Make the Right Size (45 minute talk)
  • I’ll discuss tips and tricks for how to successfully choose a garment size using your both own measurements as well the body and finished measurements on the pattern envelope. We’ll also go over how to read a sewing pattern for more nuanced fitting information and learn how to use that to your advantage.
• The Story of Grainline (45 minute talk)
  • Just what it sounds like, I talk about how Grainline started and our journey to where we are today!

Also joining me from the US is Andrea Mowry. I love situations where you live a 4 hour drive apart but end up flying halfway around the world to meet. The festival is jam packed with a ton of awesome teachers and I'm so excited to meet each and every one of them! Make sure you check out the full list of teachers here.

How to Register

Registration begins on Tuesday December 5th, at 5PM Melbourne, AU time. You can find all the info you need on tickets and registration by following this link. If you have any questions just let me know in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer them or point you in the direction of the answer at the very least. I cannot wait for June, and I hope to see you there!!