Home Ed Workshop Series: Weaving, Wet Felting, and Woad

Tuesdays | 16, 23, 30 September & 7, 14, 21 October 2025 | 10.30am – 12.30pm Show all dates and times

Join us for our first home-educator workshop series at the Herbert for a course which combines practical crafting skills, foundational art knowledge, and rich social history.

Book Online via Form Below | £50 Per Child* | 6 Week Course

For ages 7-11

*£50 per child for 6 sessions throughout September and October | 2 hour sessions

Join us for our first home-educator workshop series at The Herbert for a course which combines practical crafting skills, foundational art knowledge, and rich social history. Develop skills and language around weaving, wet felting, and fabric dyeing and along the way achieve the accredited Arts Award Explore entry level qualification.

Across the workshops you will learn about the significance of textiles over time and about the weird and wonderful ways they have been used to do everything from conceal secret codes to protest against injustice. You’ll be inspired by amazing artists both local and international and be taught by a range of facilitators with expertise on crafting and history.

Throughout the six weeks you’ll be able to document your ideas, reflections, and creations in your very own sketchbook and will be able to gain the Arts Award Explore, which is an level qualification accredited by Trinity College London.
 

Tuesday 16 September – How is Fabric Made?
The basics of weaving. In this first workshop you will unravel the mysteries of fabric – literally! You will take apart pieces of clothing and material, exploring how yarn can become a jumper and then go into the museum to learn about the history of the loom before having the chance to construct your own. You will learn the basics of weaving and be able to tell the warp from the weft in no time!

Tuesday 23 September – Testing Textures: Exploring Wet Felting
Experiment with the properties of different fabrics and try out the fun technique of wet felting inspired by the textures visible around the museum.

Tuesday 30 September – Taste the Rainbow: An introduction to natural dyeing and colour theory
The world around us is full of the most amazing colours and in this session you will learn how to transform plants into pigments which you will use to dye yarn and wool that you’ll be able to work with in future weeks! Along the way you will build an understanding of colour theory and be able to explain why we find that some hues clash whilst others are complementary.
 

Tuesday 7 October – Patterns and codes: How fabrics tell secret stories
Building on your knowledge of colours you will explore the significance of patterns and symbols across time and place and be inspired by the art and artefacts in the museum to come up with new patterns of your own. You will weave or wet felt those patterns into swatches you can take home or maybe even wear!

 

Tuesday 14 October – A Peek Behind the Scenes: Exploring our costume store
Join one of the Herbert’s Curators, Ali Wells, who will lead a session where you will step back in time and understand how and why clothing looked and worked differently in the past by investigating clothes we keep in the stores that most visitors to the museum rarely get to see!

 

Tuesday 21 October – Weaving Your Own Stories: Dedicated time to practice new skills
Taking all the skills and techniques you have learnt over the past five weeks you will have the chance to make something that reflects your passions. Will you weave a wonderful colourful tapestry or wet felt a perfect pouch?

There will also be space for younger children to safely explore fabrics and crafts through activities such as yarn wrapping and scrap fabric collaging. Parents and guardians will be responsible for monitoring children when doing these activities.

 

FAQs:

Can my child attend the workshop on their own?
Yes. While we are happy for you to attend the workshop with your child, all of our facilitators and workshop leads carry an enhanced DBS certificate and your child will be in a safe space throughout the workshop. If you and your child choose for them to attend the workshop on their own, we kindly ask you to remain in the building for the duration of the workshop and leave us with a contact phone number so we can reach you quickly if needed.
 

Can I bring a younger sibling, age 0-5?
Each Tuesday we have Sensory Stories & Rhymes sessions happening from 10.30-11.00 which would be a perfect space for your youngest to engage with creative concepts in a playful and explorative way – while your 7–11-year-old attends their own workshop. If you bring a child to the paid workshops, you will get free access to the sensory story session slots for younger children.

What is the capacity for the sessions?
There are 20 spaces on the course and we ask that you commit to attending 4/6 sessions. If we have high levels of interest you will be added to a waiting list and we will inform you if that is the case. There may be potential to add an afternoon session running 2-4pm on the same dates however this is unconfirmed as of yet. We will update this page and contact all those on the waitlist if an afternoon session is added.
 

What if I think my child of 5-6 or 11+ year old would be interested in the workshop?
We believe that you know your children best and will evaluate whether this workshop is the right fit for them. Our facilitators are specialists in making any content meaningful to each ability but do get in touch if you have questions about the content and resources that are used during the workshops. (Email our Project Coordinator Lils Dobber ldobber@cvlife.co.uk).

How does payment work?
Once you submit the form below we will contact you directly with some additional information and direct you how to pay (payment is typically taken over the phone).
 

Booking Form:

UPDATE: We have now reached our capacity of 20 people on this workshop.
You are still welcome to submit the booking form below to express your interest, however please be aware that it will add you to a waiting list. We will contact you if we are able to offer you a place on the course.

There is potential that we may add an additional afternoon session running 2-4pm on the same dates however this will only be confirmed towards the end of August as it is dependent on interest and capacity.
Thank you all so much for your interest!