VISITORS young and old got their creative juices flowing thanks to a unique event at the Museum of English Rural Life.
The family workshop, entitled Totally Tote Bags, took sewers of all experience levels through the history of textiles, with plenty of opportunities to get hands on to create their own bags.
The free event featured a fast fashion quiz, a rundown of the museum’s Barnett Sewing Machine Project and the opportunity to see and operate a vintage sewing machine.
Visitors were also given the chance to take a look around the MERL’s current Sew What? exhibition.
Funded by the Barnett project, budding designers were able to design and take home their own bags to use and enjoy, or to give to a loved one if they so preferred.
Named after James Nutcombe Barnett, who worked in the University of Reading’s Applied Physical Sciences Department in the 1960s and 1970s, the project showcases his love for sewing machines. In fact, Mr Barnett acquired 130 in total, bequeathing them to the university upon his death.
They were brought to the MERL building in 2005.
