Stitch and Craft
Bath & West Showground
Shepton Mallet
26th April 2008

A £7 entrance fee does tend to give the impression that this was going to be quite an exciting exhibition.  Sadly, not, but at least the car parking was free.  There were plenty of stalls on the ground floor selling a varied range of goods for all types of crafting, whether it be card making, scrap booking, needle craft or art, but there was something lacking. There were few new innovations, I could find nothing for the die cutter enthusiast and only a limited number of demonstrations.

The upper gallery was practically empty of stalls, although there was one area set aside for seated hourly demonstrations.  Debbi Moore had an excellent free class twice a day called “Speed Crafting”, where four tables of six card enthusiasts could learn a four new techniques, including folding a card into a kimono and making a pocket on a square card. The task was to make a card in a very fast four minutes, then move to the next table.  Roars of laughter and frantic card making made this a total success, and Debbi’s enthusiasm was infectious.

I was fortunate enough to meet Maria of Craft Away who was demonstrating alcohol and distress inks on Stampbord. These mini works of art were awe inspiring and she has introduced me to a new craft passion. Now armed with Stampbord I am expecting to raise my game on stamping. In amongst the craft were the obligatory non-craft; handbags, superfluous hair remover (!), makeup, garlic graters and so on, which always makes me cringe. As if I am going to spend my craft money on life’s little necessities! Without doubt, one of the most successful stalls was Every Crafts A Pound.  With a “Buy 12 for the price of 10” show offer it would have simply been bad manners not to part with money.

The facilities at the Bath & West Showground are basic but good. A nice clean café serving beverages, hot pasties, sandwiches and cakes was ample for the amount of people who visited the show, and the toilets are clean and well maintained, the car parking is vast and directions are clear, so from a visitor’s point of view it is a good venue.  However, whether the cost of hiring a stand is too high, or whether insufficient traders were invited or could come, this was not the best craft show, and I heard many ladies voicing the opinion that it was not as good as previous years.  Having said that, being in good company I spent happy four hours and quite a few pounds at Shepton Mallet and will definitely be going again next year.

Tags | Craft Away, Debbi Moore, exhibition, Kitchen Crafter, Shepton Mallet, Stampbord