Quilters secure a patch at expo

Hayley Hannan checks out the CraftExpo that promises to delight your inner granny.

Patchwork Passion, its walls lined with bright fabrics, feels more like a home than a store. The walls of the cosy house-cum-shop are lined with bright fabrics, the patterns juxtaposed sleeve-to-sleeve.
The honey-coated raspy voice of Robyn Burgess, the owner and founder of the embroidery and quilting store, explains her 30-year affinity with patchworking.
"My first quilt was in 1980. It was little, all hexagonals and I decided to make it in the middle of a Wellington winter. You can imagine how hard it was to find light fabric in the middle of winter. I still use it."
The age-old hobby is hip again, she says. "Our customers used to be 40-plus, but [we are] now getting more and more younger ones.
"We're targeting the 25 to 35 age group. It's becoming something that they're actually happy to tell their friends they are doing."
The Onehunga store specialises in Japanese, 1800 reproduction Art Gallery quilt fabrics and hand-dyed woollen fabrics, and will exhibit and sell its wares at the CraftExpo, which opens at the ASB Showgrounds on March 17.
"We're going to have a Japanese exhibition. A group meets every fortnight in the shop, and they will be quilting ... and most have been on a trip to Japan with me."
The all-ages group will exhibit quilts in taupes, Japanese quilting and embroidery. The shop will also have a stall, showing its speciality 1800s reproduction and French-look fabrics.
CraftExpo, which runs in six Australian cities, is coming to New Zealand for the first time and offers fashion, crafts, textiles, tools, gadgets, workshops and seminars.
Notable displays include a Stitch'n'Bitch display, a demonstration by fashion designer Annah Stretton, an interactive Discovery Desk with demonstrations by craft retailers and a Make and Take workshop.
Patchy history
The focus in quilting and embroidery is on patterns, rather than on depicting stories, as in the past. Patchwork Passion owner Robyn Burgess explains: "In the 1800s, you used to get a lot of story quilts. The quilts were about what was happening at that time and in their community, and some had the stories sewn onto them. Now, that happens less and less. Quilts more often are about a memory. People say 'I made it for so and so reason', or 'I made it at this time'.
The expo opens at the ASB Showgrounds next Thursday, March 17 and runs until Sunday, March 20. Doors open 10am to 4.30pm daily. For details, see: www.craftexpo.co.nz, or email: craftexpo@expertiseevents.com.au