DONATE YOUR TEXTILE MEMORIES

An incredible 13m long table made from 5000 year old fossilised wood is currently on display in Lincoln Cathedral on a year-long visit, and you’re invited to contribute to a very special celebratory table runner which will go on to form part of the Cathedral’s history.

Lincoln Cathedral has invited the Fabric Quarter to co-ordinate and stitch a 12-metre runner for the table which will celebrate and recognise our community by using donated fabric which holds meaning or memories. This could be part of a worn family tablecloth, scraps left from making an important dress or shirt, vintage offcuts discovered in a grandparent’s sewing box, a piece from a special shirt, a part of an old unrepairable quilt etc. The runner will be made by the Fabric Quarter team using the ancient Pojagi technique which will echo the Cathedral’s windows with its concealed seams and pane effect.  

The Fabric Quarter and its community created the Queen to King Quilt last year which the Cathedral displayed during King Charles III’s Coronation so creating the Fenland Black Oak Table Runner is something the Fabric Quarter team is very excited to do! The runner will be on the table from 5 September, when contributors are welcome to come and spot their treasured fabric stitched into this special piece. This coincides with the Peace Doves installation in the Cathedral’s Nave and the runner will feature a few appliqued doves…

The Fenland Black Oak Table - the Table for the Nation - was made to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and is made of the nation’s rarest and most precious hardwood – black oak. The table’s story began in 2012 when  a giant black oak tree was found in a field in Wissington Fen, East Anglia; remarkably a 13.2m long section of a tree was discovered deep in the peat and was destined to become this unique piece of furniture. But the tree’s story is much older - it had laid undisturbed for 5000 years. It is believed the tree would have been an immense 55 metres tall when it was alive. For comparison, present day oak trees are around 20 metres. The table took ten years to make, creating a piece of furniture which has allowed this incredible tree to be preserved in perpetuity for future generations to admire and use.

How to take part: please drop your fabric into The Fabric Quarter, 88b Bailgate, Lincoln. LN1 3AR. You can post if you prefer. Please note, pieces can be any size from A6 to A4. NO LARGER THAN A4 PLEASE (30CM X 20CM). You may bring as many three different designs but each piece no larger than A4. Larger pieces or items of clothing etc cannot be accepted. Please do not bring heavy interiors fabric, or fabric embellished with beads etc. Please bring in or send your fabric asap as the runner will be stitched on an ongoing basis.