Express & Star

Fabric exhibition in Cannock

Two museum workers have created felt and fabric artworks for an exhibition.

Published
Rachel Gentle with her work for the exhibition

Rachel Gentle and Carol Moorcroft, both from Cannock, have created 16 colourful pieces for a 'Fabric and Felt Exhibition' at the Museum of Cannock Chase.

The artworks show needle felting, free machine embroidery and layered fabrics techniques and have been created in the pair's spare time outside of working for the museum.

Rachel, who works as an education officer at the museum, specialises in needle felting, while Carol, who works there as bookings officer, enjoys hand painting 'bondaweb', the art of bonding two fabrics together.

Rachel said: "Carol is already a very accomplished crafter and I only took up needle felting two years ago.

"We did this exhibition to time with the 'Sew Crafty Festival' in Cannock this Saturday.

"Our work shows two very different styles and reflects what you can find at the festival.

"It's a lot of fun and it's very rewarding to put my own work up on the walls, where usually I'm putting other people's work up."

The exhibition has been on show since May 15, but visitors can still catch a glimpse of the work until July 7, with some of the work also available to buy.

Alongside the exhibition the museum is also hosting craft workshops called '30 ways with fabric', where members of the public can learn new techniques in the felt and fabric industry.

The workshops are running until mid-November and are a celebration of the museum's 30th birthday.

More information on the workshops can be found on their Facebook page.