June 2025
From Friday 27 to Sunday 29 June, St Mary’s Church in South Street will be transformed by displays of colourful quilts and fragrant flower arrangements.
About 20 quilts will be on show, many of them rich in personal meaning as well as artistry. A team of about 15 florists will select flowers for display alongside the quilts, enhancing and responding to the fabrics in colour and emotional content.
Francis Grew met the organisers, Becca Doe (right in photo) and Jane Trower, and talked to them about their crafts.
Becca, how did you get interested in textiles?
At school I always felt more relaxed in a creative environment, but it wasn’t until needlework in secondary school that I found a love for material and sewing. Now I could make something to wear that was different from what the shops and my friends had! Wacky fabrics and 80s baggy styles, made out of a curtain remnant from Poole High Street or blackout fabric from my grandmother’s house, definitely made me stand out. Another influence was my mum. She taught patchwork at an adult education centre in Blandford and soon got me hand quilting. I even made a patchwork puffa jacket at 16. I suppose I’m carrying on her legacy.
Tell us about your shop, The Fabric Larder
Running a shop for 26 years was never planned! I started by making quilts for commission and running a few classes. I’ve always strived to encourage people to have a go at sewing, and teaching could earn me a living, whereas quilt-making was never going to.
Now, with a shop and craft centre on South Street, I feel a responsibility to be ethical and environmentally conscious. No new ‘man-made’ fabrics, plastic-headed pins or clips! Only cotton, linen, ECOVEROTM, pre-loved textiles and British patterns. It’s hard not to stock items that consumers are used to, such as marking pens that aren’t recyclable. Going back to tailor’s chalk makes more sense to me.
Why quilts?
Quilts can be items of comfort and memory, made from old fabrics such as school dresses and shirts. Items of thought-provoking art or protest banners. I’d like to cover the benches at the Houses of Parliament or the White House steps with them! My greatest pleasure is in teaching techniques and seeing someone finish a project they love. There are so many talented sewists locally.
My own cupboards are full of samples and unfinished quilts. My favourite is an animal collage of Highland cattle that I completed for my City and Guilds. I’ve recreated smaller versions as cushions and mini-hangings. It hangs in the shop and gets lovely comments.
Apart from your mum, who else inspired you?
While I was doing my City and Guilds, Deirdre Amsden had a great influence. She is well known for her ‘colourwash’ quilts. Small patches of printed fabrics are graded into washes of colour by putting light areas against dark ones. Lines of quilting stitches then soften the blending further. From this deceptively simple beginning, Deirdre developed complex effects of size, transparency and illusions of depth. I loved how she brought a three-dimensional effect to textiles.
Jane, how did you get interested in flower arranging?
I’ve always been interested in nature and, particularly, garden flowers. Both my grandmother and my mother enjoyed flower arranging in their local churches, and I loved to help. Ten years ago, I decided to switch careers from Early Years education to train as a florist at Kingston Maurward. After I’d been working at Lavender Blue in Bridport for several years, the shop closed and I set up my own floristry business, Bridge House Flowers. I focus on weddings, funerals and event flowers in the local area.
Tell us about your work at St Mary’s Church
My husband and I organise a wonderful community gardening group who meet weekly to look after the churchyard. As an Eco Church we strive to increase biodiversity by leaving areas unmown, by encouraging birds in our hedgerows and by nurturing plants for insects and butterflies. We try to reflect this approach when decorating our church, by avoiding floral foam and using seasonal churchyard flowers and greenery.
How will you go about selecting flowers to go with the quilts?
We flower arrangers are very excited about Bridport Bright & Beautiful and have met the quilt-makers to discuss their ideas and partner up for the festival. For example, I will be planning my flowers alongside a quilter who has created a beautiful and meaningful memorial quilt, full of images of her late mother. We chatted about the flowers she had loved and family memories, so I will be creating an altar arrangement that uses the Victorian language of flowers. The design will have roses for love, Alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle) for comfort, and Alstroemeria, which is associated with humour.
A picture painted with flowers.
Who is taking part?
Many members of the West Dorset Flower Club will be taking part. It’s a real community project. One of the quilts they’ve chosen has bright, colourful animals. So they’ll design an arrangement that uses artificial tropical flowers and local fresh greenery and flowers to link with the quilt’s story.
Bridport Bright & Beautiful is at St Mary’s Church, South Street. Entry is free and hot drinks and cakes will be available.