🎨 Festival of Craft
Festival of Craft is a film-led YouTube channel exploring traditional Japanese crafts — Japanese-inspired craft, taught through film.
Hosted by Jill Clay (textile artist, author of Sashiko: 20 Projects, former television craft presenter, and experienced teacher of Japanese textile techniques) and produced with beautiful video and photography, this is your place to learn skills you can return to again and again.
🧵 Expect videos on:
Sashiko stitching, Boro mending, and visible repair
Japanese fabric wrapping (Furoshiki) and textile techniques
Practical tutorials for beginners and experienced makers
Cultural context, craft history, and artisan stories
Behind-the-scenes from our online course development
Our approach is simple: Make. Mend. Maintain.
Subscribe to follow along — and to start (or deepen) your own practice.
🌐 Learn more at festivalofcraft.com
Festival of Craft
Half an hour to go. Our watercolour premiere starts at 9:30pm UK time (4:30pm ET, 1:30pm PT) and I'm online now. Come and say hello: https://youtu.be/nofsoOcGH20
4 days ago | [YT] | 5
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Festival of Craft
Something a little different tomorrow evening. Our watercolour video premieres at 9:30pm UK time (4:30pm ET, 1:30pm PT), and I'll be online the whole time to answer your questions and chat as it plays.
If you've ever wanted to ask me about it, this is the moment. Set a reminder here: https://youtu.be/nofsoOcGH20
Jill
5 days ago | [YT] | 6
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Festival of Craft
Chigiri-e is a Japanese art where a whole picture is built from tiny scraps of coloured paper. So how do you think Jill shapes each piece?
1 month ago | [YT] | 34
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Festival of Craft
A quick note: we recently had a technical glitch that meant our shop go.festivalofcraft.com/books was showing empty for a while. If you tried to buy Sashiko or Kinusaiga patterns recently and hit a dead end, that's why, sorry about that! It's all fixed now, so please do try again.
(And if this is news to you... yes, we have pattern books! Sashiko: The Indigo Blueprint, and Kinusaiga Designs, both available now.)
1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 51
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Festival of Craft
Jill's first stitches of the day 🧵
We're deep into filming our Boro video right now - an ancient Japanese method of turning worn, damaged, tattered fabric into something more beautiful than it was before. Patch by patch, stitch by stitch.
Had you heard of Boro before today? And be honest - have you got old fabric scraps or worn favourites tucked away somewhere, waiting for a second life? Tell us below 👇
3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 76
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Festival of Craft
Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on the Kusudama Ring tutorial - you've completely made my day! 🌸
So many of you are already planning to make this as a Christmas gift - I love that. It really does make a beautiful wreath, and honestly, it's one of those projects that looks so much more impressive than the effort involved!
A lot of you have been asking about a Kusudama Ball next... I'm saying nothing. 👀
And if you're just getting started (or want to fold along), don't forget there's a free step-by-step workbook to download and keep beside you while you fold:
👉 go.festivalofcraft.com/kusudama-ring-workbook
Are you making this one for Christmas? I'd love to know - drop it in the comments! 🎄
3 months ago | [YT] | 81
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Festival of Craft
🎨 Fresh off the easel — Jill's "Moody Watercolour Landscape" from today's new video! 🌅
This one follows on from the Chaos Technique that so many of you loved — same easy, no-drawing-skills method, this time turned into a full landscape with a stamped gold moon. ✨
Watch the full process (painted live, start to finish, in Jill's new studio!) 👉 https://youtu.be/XywUAF1VLjs
What should Jill paint next — more landscapes, or back to flowers? Let us know below! 👇
3 months ago | [YT] | 121
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