Craft Focus - August/September 2020 (Issue 80)

7 EDITOR’S LETTER On the cover Leicester is a city with a rich history within the textiles industry and home to premium sewing pattern brand, The Pattern Preacher. With three decades of experience in garments manufacturing for the luxury sector, the brand’s founder sought to embody the original spirit of The Arts & Crafts movement as well as taking a progressive approach to production, actively embracing, and promoting eco-sustainability. With patterns suitable for beginner to advanced level crafters, The Pattern Preacher is looking to bring back true uniqueness to fashion and help wider society re-discover the art of garment making. Check out our website for more information: www.thepatternpreacher.com The new normal It’s been interesting to see how the ‘new normal’ has slowly transitioned into our day to day lives. We’re now quite accustomed to joining a queue on our food shops, and whenever we leave the house the face masks and hand gel check has become as much as our routine as remembering our phone and keys. I hope your experience re-opening your store has been a positive one and we’d love to hear from you about your journey, so do get in touch via email: editor@craftfocus.com It’s been very sad to hear of many trade show cancellations including Autumn Fair and the London Stationery Show. We do enjoy visiting the exhibition centres, reconnecting with companies, having a chat and sourcing new designs as we browse the aisles. We look forward to the hustle and bustle returning in 2021. This issue we have the first in our two-part Christmas series. There are some wonderful designs to decorate the home and make for loved ones. We also have a focus on knitting and crochet, soft crafts and card-making. As well as this, there’s all the latest industry news and the newest craft book releases. Happy reading! Rachel Westall Editor Rachel x EDITOR Rachel Westall +44 (0)1376 514 000 editor@craftfocus.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Scott Brothwell SALES MANAGER Sarah Mclean +44 (0)1376 538 490 sarahm@craftfocus.com ACCOUNT MANAGER Tracy Voice +44 (0)1376 535 618 tracyv@craftfocus.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Stephanie Hodder, Vicky O’Connor, Sarah Young +44 (0)1376 535 616 artwork@kdmediapublishing.com PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Lorna Butcher WEB DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Stuart Weatherley DIGITAL MARKETING COORDINATOR Katie Laley +44 (0)1376 514 000 KD Media Publishing, Pantile House, Newlands Drive, Witham, Essex CM8 2AP craftfocus.com Craft Focus is solely owned, published and designed by KD Media Publishing. Whilst every effort was made to ensure the information in this magazine was correct at the time of going to press, the publishers cannot accept legal responsibility for any errors or omissions, nor can they accept responsibility of the standing of advertisers nor by the editorial contributions. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Craft Focus is published six times a year. ISSN 1758-0900 @craftfocus @craftfocusmag @craftfocus Craft Focus is proud to be associated with and supporters of: