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STRAWBERRY FAYRE
- A POTTED HISTORY
Strawberry
Fayre was started in 1972 by Alec and Jenny Hutchison
as a craft shop and traditional village industry in
a brewery complex in Stockbridge, Hampshire, selling
locally made crafts including patchwork quilts. Patchwork
became very successful and Strawberry Fayre held annual
exhibitions of antique and contemporary quilts in the
ancient granary barn behind the shop, which doubled
as the furniture workshop, and quickly gained a reputation
for quilts and four-poster beds.
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By
1979 enough interest in patchwork and quilting had been
generated to invite visiting speakers from America and
to form a patchwork and quilting organisation. Strawberry
Fayre invited Beth and Jeffery Gutcheon, U.S.A. to give
a workshop tour of Great Britain in June 1979. Filming
of the Stockbridge workshop went out on BBC TV and the
presenter was Jenny Murray. The following year, 1980 Strawberry
Fayre invited Michael and Judy James, U.S.A. who introduced
us to the concept of "The Art Quilt". |
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The Quilters' Guild of the British Isles was started in
August 1979. Alec and Jenny were Founder Members and Jenny
served on the committee for 10 years, the last 4 as President.
Membership rose from 60 to 5,500 in that 10 year period.
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1978 Strawberry Fayre opened a department selling American
fabric and quilting accessories, the first of it's kind
in the country. Strawberry Fayre are indebted to all those
wonderful quilters and quilt collectors who helped us
in those early days. |
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Alec and Jenny shut their shop in Stockbridge in 1981
and continued Strawberry Fayre as a mail-order fabric
business, operating from an historic granite mill within
The Dartmoor National Park. Strawberry Fayre is no longer
open to the public and is now mail-order only.
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Enquiries
For
enquiries and
orders contact us on
Tel:
01647 433250
Email:
Address:
Strawberry Fayre
Dept W
Chagford
Devon
TQ13 8EN
Mail Order Only
Mon-Fri 9-5pm
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