Upcoming Community Events
Courtesy Post: Artist Talk - Holly Guertin, “Hand in Hand”
Hand in Hand is debut solo art exhibition of fiber artist Holly Guertin, showing works in wool felt, embroidery, and crochet. Guertin, a native of Salisbury, NC, is now based in the Philadelphia area and is an active member of PA Fibershed.
Hand in Hand is presented at Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC in partnership with Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 by Craft in America. In this exhibition, Guertin explores themes of repetition, labor, symbol, and material through wool artworks that are crocheted, felted, and embroidered. In all of them, the artist hopes to spread awareness about the beauty and possibilities within wool.
Hand in Hand will be on view July 6 -October 10. An artist talk, “In the Gallery with Holly Guertin,” will take place July 11 at 11:00AM.
Textile and Fiber Entrepreneur Meetup (In-Person)
Join other creatives passionate about working in local fibers and textiles to connect, get feedback, and share ideas.
Crafting Your Path: A Business Startup Guide
Crafting Your Path: A Hands-On Look at Business Models & Mindsets
Offered in partnership with Mountain BizWork’s Craft Your Commerce program
Saturday, August 1st | 10am - 4pm
Sunday, August 2nd | 10am - 4pm, 1:1 coaching sessions
Registration deadline: July 26, 2026
In this two-day interactive workshop, we’ll explore your mission, vision, and values—then apply them to real-world business structures using the Business Model Canvas. Together, we’ll dive into pricing strategies, marketing approaches, and sustainable models tailored to your goals. Expect engaging group discussions, practical takeaways, and a supportive space to refine your current business—or bring a new idea to life. Come ready to dig in and collaborate!
1:1 Coaching Hours
Sunday, August 2nd | 10am - 4pm | 30-minute sessions available to workshop participants for 1:1 assistance. You will sign up for your coaching slot on Saturday during the workshop.
Includes access to four self-paced online courses, so that you can continue working on your business skills after the workshop:
Pricing Your Work
Photographing Your Work
Optimizing Your Web Presence
Grant Writing for Artists
This workshop package is being offered at a discounted rate of $50 per participant (normally $125).
Instructor Bio: Deanna Lynch is a professional handweaver and part-time bookkeeper for small businesses. She has worked with a variety of industries over the years and is well versed in Quickbooks and helping businesses get set-up with appropriate record keeping systems. With both a creative and business background, her approach to financials and information management is approachable. She emphasizes the use of systems that are flexible and can grow with your business and are tailored to each business's unique needs.
Design Your Own Handwoven Napkins
Have you ever wondered what goes into making fabric? Weaving has been around for millennia, and textiles are a part of our everyday lives. In this workshop you'll learn how yarn gets transformed into the fabric you wear and use.
Our professional weaver will teach you about how looms work and how woven structures create different designs in cloth. You'll get to put that knowledge to use and design your very own set of striped napkins, and watch as those napkins get woven in front of you on our air-powered industrial dobby looms.
After the class, your napkins will be washed and hemmed and be ready for you to pick up in a week, and will decorate your table for years to come. You'll never look at a simple piece of fabric the same way again!
Registration Details
You can register as an individual or as a group of up to 4 people. Each person/group will receive 6 napkins.
The workshop is divided into three 2-hour small group sessions. You will select your session time at registration.
Instructor: Kelly Walsh
Kelly Walsh is a hand weaver living and working in North Carolina. She worked as a web developer for years before deciding to leave the tech industry to follow her textile artist dreams. Her work has been exhibited in several galleries and shows in North Carolina including the Museum of Life and Science, the Durham Art Guild and the GreenHill Center for NC Art. Finding deep connections in her local community is really important to Kelly. She is an active member of her local weavers guild, teaches beginning weaving classes, and is working to grow her regional fibershed group.
Piedmont Fiber Lab Open House
Come visit Piedmont Fiber Lab, our new fiber and textile makerspace! We’ll give you a tour of the space, show you the selection of tools and materials available, demonstrate weaving on an Industrial Dobby Loom, and discuss how you can use the Fiber Lab to support your craft practice or small business.
Textile and Fiber Entrepreneur Meetup (Virtual)
Join other creatives passionate about working in local fibers and textiles to connect, get feedback, and share ideas.
Flax Harvest & Field Day
We’re seeking volunteers to help local farmer Zeke Overbaugh harvest fiber flax in Mebane, NC!
Last year, Zeke and other community members started the Sax Flax Project—growing, harvesting, and processing a small plot of fiber flax in Saxapahaw and Haw River. This year we’re building on what we learned in 2025, and we’d love your help on this journey growing a more resilient, local textile future!
Attendees will help harvest flax, and there will also be tubs of water on site to have a refreshing retting activity for a break.
Please dress appropriately for working in plants and heat. Gloves, closed-toed shoes, long pants/sleeves, bug repellent, sun hats, and sun screen are recommended. Water will be provided. Snacks are always welcome.
Email Zeke Overbaugh to sign up.
Flax Harvest & Field Day
We’re seeking volunteers to help local farmer Zeke Overbaugh harvest fiber flax in Mebane, NC!
Last year, Zeke and other community members started the Sax Flax Project—growing, harvesting, and processing a small plot of fiber flax in Saxapahaw and Haw River. This year we’re building on what we learned in 2025, and we’d love your help on this journey growing a more resilient, local textile future!
Attendees will help harvest flax, and there will also be tubs of water on site to have a refreshing retting activity for a break.
Please dress appropriately for working in plants and heat. Gloves, closed-toed shoes, long pants/sleeves, bug repellent, sun hats, and sun screen are recommended. Water will be provided. Snacks are always welcome.
Email Zeke Overbaugh to sign up.
Courtesy Post: Alpaca Farm Tour & Needle Felting Workshop
Spend a fun, creative day at the ranch surrounded by friendly alpacas and soft fiber! Guests will enjoy an interactive alpaca farm tour, learn about these amazing animals, and take part in a beginner-friendly needle felting workshop using real alpaca fiber from the farm.
Meet & feed the alpacas
Learn the basics of needle felting
Create your own handcrafted alpaca to take home
Enjoy photo opportunities of the alpacas
Shop alpaca gifts, yarn, and handmade goods
Perfect for beginners, animal lovers, fiber enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a unique hands-on experience! Workshop Includes:
Guided alpaca farm tour
All needle felting materials provided
Alpaca fiber from the ranch
Step-by-step instruction provided by The Woolen Palette
Your finished felted alpaca creation to keep
What to Expect: Get up close with the alpacas, learn about their fiber and settle into a relaxing workshop where creativity meets farm charm. No experience needed — just bring your imagination!
Piedmont Fiber Lab Open House
Come visit Piedmont Fiber Lab, our new fiber and textile makerspace! We’ll give you a tour of the space, show you the selection of tools and materials available, demonstrate weaving on an Industrial Dobby Loom, and discuss how you can use the Fiber Lab to support your craft practice or small business.
Courtesy Post: Blue Ridge Fiber Fest 2026
Admission is free!
Take a break in the foothills at Blue Ridge Fiber Fest, an annual event bringing together farmers, vendors, and fiber artists for a celebration of the fiber arts in beautiful downtown Sparta, NC. Dozens of classes will be available - knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving and more. Demonstrations will include both traditional and modern fiber techniques as well as farming operations.
Get more info, see a list of vendors, and register for workshops at www.blueridgefiberfest.com.
Courtesy Post: Fiber Flax Field Day
Come learn about fiber flax!
The NC State Alternative Crops Program in partnership with the PA Flax Project is hosting a fiber flax field day! We will discuss fiber flax production, harvest, and end use.
This is a FREE event but attendees must register to participate.
The event will be held at the Cherry Research Farm and is outdoors so please dress accordingly (e.g., closed-toe shoes, hat, bring sunscreen and bugspray).
PF @ Piedmont Farm Tour
Stop by the makerspace during the Piedmont Farm tour and see what we’re up to!
Courtesy Post: Project Threadways Symposium
Since 2019, Project Threadways has hosted annual symposia exploring the intersections of design, art, making, power, labor, and community. Each gathering has expanded on a central inquiry: how can making—especially through design and textiles—help us better understand the social, economic, and environmental systems we live within?
Held April 24-25 in Florence, Alabama, the 2026 Project Threadways Symposium continues this exploration of textiles through the theme of Regeneration. Presentations, workshops, and exhibitions center cotton, from soil to shelf to symbol—who grows it, how it is nurtured, who benefits in the global marketplace, and its generational legacy. Speakers explore power and representation in the supply chain, connect craft and culture, and showcase pioneers who are restoring health and humanity to the world’s most ubiquitous fiber.
Courtesy Post: South Appalachian Placemaking Conference
Creative Placemaking Communities and Community LIFT are excited to announce the 2026 South and Appalachian Creative Placemaking Summit! Explore Memphis April 21-24, 2026 for the FINAL South & Appalachian Summit produced by Creative Placemaking Communities.
The Summit, entitled BUILDING BRIDGES: Connecting Communities through Culture and Commerce, will explore how communities throughout the South and beyond use arts, culture and creative placemaking as a strategy for community and economic development, revitalization and collaborative action to strengthen our cities and towns. Building resiliency and sustainability for our communities is a key component of what we will examine.
Host Sponsor, Community LIFT supports Memphis neighborhoods by investing in building capacity, empowering residents and growing businesses, particularly in distressed neighborhoods. Arts, culture and creative placemaking are embedded throughout all their investment strategies.
Courtesy Post: Craft and Chat Textiles
Craft and Chat: Textiles
Bring your handheld fiber art project to the Weatherspoon Art Museum for an hour of crafting, chatting, and snacking! This UNC Greensboro Wellness Day activity is inspired by the quilting and knitting communities represented in Salt and Spirit, Harriet’s Powers, and Pattern Recognition. Crochet, knitting, embroidery, quilting, hand sewing, and more welcome. A simple friendship bracelet activity will be available for folks without a craft. Snacks and beverages will be provided during the event.
Fiber and Folk Info Session #2
Still considering joining Fiber & Folk Weekend? Curious what the experience holds?
Join us for an upcoming virtual info session to learn more about the weekend’s schedule, workshops, and the spirit of the gathering.
Come as you are, bring your curiosity, and get a glimpse of the creative community waiting for you.
Courtesy Post: CraftFest CLT
Craft Fest is CRAFT CLT’s exhilarating annual fundraising event that merges vendor booths, an art show, demonstrations, classes, and food trucks in one vibrant location! Discover a new craft at our Make-n-Take Stations, sign up for a class to learn a new skill, or wander through the marketplace to support our talented local makers and craft suppliers.
Vendors and food trucks will be positioned outside, rain or shine. Indoors, we have an exciting lineup of Make-n-Takes, live demonstrations, the art show and engaging classes; we are truly thrilled to use this vibrant blended space to highlight every incredible moment of this event!
Fiber and Folk Info Session #1
Still considering joining Fiber & Folk Weekend? Curious what the experience holds?
Join us for an upcoming virtual info session to learn more about the weekend’s schedule, workshops, and the spirit of the gathering.
Come as you are, bring your curiosity, and get a glimpse of the creative community waiting for you.
Before You Go to CFF: A PF Virtual Field Guide
Join our virtual meetup session to find out how you can help out Piedmont Fibershed!
Before You Go to CFF: A PF Virtual Field Guide
Join our virtual meetup session to find out how you can help out Piedmont Fibershed!
Crafting & CoWorking
Join us in the Burlington space for fiber work, handcraft, and digital projects as we create and cultivate a welcoming place where ideas can grow. Bring your stitching, knitting, spinning, unfinished objects, writing, or laptop work. This is time set aside for slow making, quiet focus, and the gentle power of working in community.
This gathering meets on the first and third Thursdays of each month.