2019 Nantes Quilt Festival
Nantes Quilt Festival : Pour l'Amour du Fil 2019 - by Helen D
And my goodness the French really do love their threads and quilting!!
This year was the 11th exhibition in Nantes and the theme was "The Mysteries of the West" in honour of Australia attracting many well-known Australians to come show their work or run workshops e.g. Lynette Anderson, Susan Smith, Rachael Daisy, Kathy Doughty and Dijanne Cevaal. At Nantes rather than having exhibits hanging in row upon row each exhibitor has a "room" which is beautifully decorated and furnished with beds, sofas, lamps, vases, flowers, rugs etc., to show the quilts in context so they look just fabulous.
As well as the exhibits there were about 120 traders providing a huge variety of fabrics, threads, buttons, kits and all the usual stuff we love. Nantes is a very much smaller affair than the NEC but that is its charm as it is friendly and easy to find your way around as well as having fabrics that were different to those we see in the UK.
This year it felt the French have fallen in love with bag making in a big way so there was a great choice of patterns and kits and accessories. Also Japanese Sashiko was pretty dominant in a variety of colour ways which was interesting to see but most of all the French seem to enjoy small embroideries which were very intricate and detailed. As Nantes is in Brittany there was a fascinating display of a man making Breton lace caps which was just lovely to watch.
Nantes is a beautiful city on the Loire with a magnificent cathedral and castle within easy walking distance of the large imposing squares full of cafes and excellent restaurants and reasonably priced hotels. So it's worth considering a trip in April 2020. An easy flight from Gatwick with excellent transport links by bus to the city centre and a tram to the exhibition hall which is about 15 minutes on the outskirts of town.