Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest returns

by croatiaweek
November 23, 2023
in Entertainment

(Photo: Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest)

The third Zagreb festival of yarn and textile techniques will be held on Saturday, November 25th, 2023, in Zagreb Ethnographic Museum

On Saturday, Nov. 25th, 2023 in Zagreb Ethnographic Museum, Trg Antuna, Ivana i Vladimira Mažuranića 14, you can visit the Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest, the third Zagreb festival of yarn and textile techniques.

The festival is organized by a team of creative enthusiasts and knitters from Masala and O’pleti by Adriana Meglaj. The partner of this year’s ZYCF is the Ethnographic Museum, Zagreb.

At this festival of traditional and modern textile techniques, you can attend lectures and various creative workshops, ranging from beginners to advanced knitters. There will also be several workshops for the youngest knitters (children).

Textile designer and big fashion fan Snježana Horvatić Popović is the founder of the brand ParamParam. She realized a long time ago that the direction of today’s fashion is by no means sustainable, and therefore she works intensively on informal education through creative repurposing and quick repair workshops. At the festival, she will pass on her knowledge of Creative mending of clothes.

(Photo: Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest)

Craft Yarn Council certified knitting and crochet teacher, Adriana Meglaj, will teach you to knit with your hands: no knitting needles are needed at the masterclass Knitted with your fingers. Once the basics of knitting are mastered, there is no limit to what can be knitted.

Felting is a specific technique that has been practiced for a long time by the artist Diana Botica. Diana will lead the masterclass Wool Holidays.

If you want to learn how to make Lepoglava bobbin lace, but don’t have three hours of time for a classic workshop – no worries! Join the fantastic speed masterclass Lepoglava bobbin lace. The masters of Lepoglava lace from Varaždin will show you the secrets of the craft in just 90 minutes!

In addition to the masterclasses at the festival, you can also participate in free handicraft workshops.

The HORKUD Section for Traditional Textile Handicrafts (Croatian Craftsmen’s Cultural Art Society “Golub”) from Bjelovar will present their work and hold a unique free lace workshop – Čipka na drot, the technique of crocheting using a metal holder without a template.

The Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage placed this almost forgotten technique under preventive protection, and the members of the HORKUD have recently found it and reconstructed it. Visitors to the ZYCF will get to know this exceptional cultural heritage and revive it in a free workshop. The prerequisite for participation in Čipka na drot is knowledge of crocheting.

(Photo: Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest)

The ethno-cultural association Vrijedne ruke from Vinkovci will hold a beginner’s and advanced crochet workshop and two ethno-fashion shows: “Crochet” (in the Slavonic costume, almost all parts are decorated with crochet, crochet is a very durable and stable handwork and as such was used primarily in making costumes for work) and “Checkerboard” (our grandmothers used red and white colors most often in weaving, knitting, crocheting, knitting, slinging, and the Ethno-cultural association will present our national colors in this collection using leather, weaving, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, slinging, Toledo..).

(Photo: Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest)

The association “Sikirevački motivi” will hold two workshops of Sun lace – Sikirevački motivi.

Throughout the day, at their table, the association “Svetomarska čipka” will hold demonstrations of the unique bobbin lace from Sveta Marija, famous for being made from a single continuous thread.

(Photo: Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest)

With all the masterclasses and workshops, don’t skip the thematic lectures:

• Contemporary interpretation of lace in the printing technique for creating a textile design collection – the lecture is given by Paula Skelin, a young textile designer, who graduated in 2022 with a degree in textile design at the Faculty of Textiles and Technology in Zagreb.

• The benefits of knitting and crocheting for the individual and the community – the lecture is given by Sandra Kerovec, master’s degree in educational rehabilitation, employed at the Day Center for Rehabilitation and Work Activities OZANA as the manager of Štrikeraj café. For more details about their work, you can find the OZANA association and Štrikeraj café at their table.

• It takes all sorts… – a lecture about the fascinating world of fibers is given by Tea Šilić, owner of the “Iglica i kukica” trade. Her educational background in biology and nature conservation gave her a deeper insight into the origin and composition of the miraculous threads and encouraged her to expand and deepen her knowledge of raw materials and yarn production.

The youngest visitors will also have the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and have a good time.

Throughout the day, NP KRKA will hold a series of free workshops for children on the topic of weaving – “Apron – thread by thread“:
• Making of a woven decoration
• Paper weaving – 3R
• Weaving on a children’s loom

(recommended age: 4 – 10)

(Photo: Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest)

In addition to the already mentioned associations, we are proud to present the following exhibitors and yarn designers: Likamee, Bolkica, Make you macrame, Felt Loved, and Mativ Craft, as well as renowned shops of yarn and related accessories:

(Photo: Zagreb Yarn Craft Fest)

UNITAS – Croatian thread factory, and the only producer and exporter of thread in the Republic of Croatia.
ZLATO RUNO / ELANDA d.o.o. – Slovenian online store of yarn materials and accessories for handicrafts.
KRAVELLI – a store of high-quality handmade spindles and accessories, from the Republic of Georgia.