Last week the Ragged Life team travelled down the road to Hatfield House, Hertfordshire to teach crafters from far and wide how to rag rug at the fabulous Living Crafts Fair (http://www.livingcrafts.co.uk/). There are few sights more impressive than when Hatfield House comes into view down the tree-flanked drive and we couldn’t have asked for a lovelier venue! Although we didn’t get a lot of time to explore, the house becomes even more impressive when you hear about its history – Henry VIII’s children, King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I, grew up at Hatfield House so it’s well worth a visit (if you’re interested in finding out a bit more about the house then you can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatfield_House).

The approach to Hatfield House

The Living Crafts Fair is the largest fair of its kind in Europe and prides itself on showcasing a mix of wonderful designer-makers from across Europe. Ragged Life was in Tent D, the “Workshop Tent” and had a very ambitious project in place for the fair. We would be kicking off the creation of the World’s Longest Rag Rug and were asking people to contribute a rag rug flower to the “Eccentric Garden” section of the rug. Below are some pictures of the Ragged Life stand in all its glory and people getting stuck into rag rugging over the four days.

And here are some photos of how our six one-metre rugs looked by the end of the fair. We had over 100 gorgeously bright fabric flowers so thanks so much to everyone who contributed.  We will keep you posted on the progress of the world’s longest rag rug so watch this space!

In a brief moment of calm we were able pop out and have a look at some of the stalls of the other wonderful designer / makers at the fair. Below is a selection of some of our favs…

Check out gorgeous Decopatch & Blockcraft at https://theartycraftyplace.co.uk/