WOVEN's second annual World Stitch Day will bring together textile enthusiasts and community groups at Oakwell Hall, Birstall, on Sunday 7 June. The event marks one year until the WOVEN festival in 2027.

The free event, running from 11am to 4pm, will showcase an exhibition of traditional outfits from across the globe, all on loan from local Kirklees residents, showing the rich cultural diversity to be found within the district.

Visitors will be able to take part in a range of hands-on workshops throughout the day. Activities include making a patch for the Kirklees Calico Dress community embroidery project, learning the art of sashiko, traditional Japanese visible mending, and joining an Every Child Challenge stitch workshop.

A dedicated textiles stitch marketplace will feature demonstrations from a range of textile stitch artists, exploring different techniques and traditions from around the world.

"World Stitch Day is a real highlight in our WOVEN calendar," said WOVEN founder Natalie Walton. "It's wonderful to see how stitch brings people together across cultures and generations. This year's exhibition of traditional outfits from Kirklees residents really shows the incredible diversity we have right here in our community."

“We are hugely proud of our WOVEN festival, which brilliantly integrates community engagement with the rich textile heritage of our region,” said Rachel Spencer Henshall, Executive Director for Public Health and Corporate Resources at Kirklees Council. “This World Stitch Day event brings together our local past and diverse cultures in the spirit of creativity and innovation. I would encourage everyone, whether you’re a complete novice or an experienced textiles maker, to come along and have a go at something new.”

The event also marks exactly one year until WOVEN Festival 2027, which will explore the theme of POWER – celebrating energy, creativity and protest, from the district's industrial textile heritage to modern craft and creative expression.

Building on the success of the inaugural World Stitch Day event in 2025, the organisers hope to make the event an annual celebration of textile traditions and community connection.

World Stitch Day is free to attend and open to all, with no booking required.


For more information about WOVEN and future events, click here.