Sunny Bank Mills' annual Threads Textile Festival is back for its third year - celebrating textiles through a series of talks, workshops and more! Apply now to be a stallholder in the Festival's Textile Market on 17th & 18th May 2025. We're looking for textile makers, designers, suppliers and artists to take part.

Threads will take place across the site of Sunny Bank Mills on the 17th & 18th May 2025. Alongside the market in the 1912 Mill with 50+ textile stalls, we will be running an extensive programme of workshops and talks.

For the market, we are interested in hearing from textile-themed producers and sellers to include homewares, knitting and crochet, yarn, felting, fabrics, haberdashery, quilting, embroidery and apparel.

As champions of emerging artists, we will allocate a number of tables to local students and emerging textile artists/makers as part of this event.

These tables will be offered free of charge to a small number of applicants selected by our Arts team. If you are interested in applying for an emerging artist stall, please make this clear within your application.

What we are looking for:

YES

• Makers & designers selling handmade clothing, textile homewares and gifts
• Emerging textile artists, designers & makers hoping to take part in a professional market for the first time
• Textile artists selling handcrafted original art
• Small businesses selling fabric, haberdashery supplies, patterns and dressmaking materials
• Small businesses/makers selling textile kits 
• Small businesses/makers selling yarn and other crochet & knitting supplies
• Makers selling hand embroidered, felted or appliqued clothing, homewares & gifts
• Small businesses/makers selling quilting supplies

NO

• Businesses/makers selling only digitally printed finished textile goods (e.g. digital/sublimation printed tea towels)
• Traders selling finished products on behalf of other people, unless as part of a social enterprise/charity

Stall prices (incl VAT):

Standard stall (6ft x 2.5ft trestle table) -  £80 per day

Large stall (Approx 10ft total area width including a 6ft x 2.5ft trestle table & optional access to a cutting table) - £115 per day

PLEASE NOTE - Large stall requests are not guaranteed, as we only have a small amount to allocate.

Please outline in your application if there is a day you are unable to attend, as it may not be possible to fulfill everyone's preferences.

General Information:

Sunny Bank Mills is an historic former worsted textile mill, set in the heart of the community of Farsley, Leeds. Since 2010, it has been developed as a business and artistic community, with a Gallery selling fine art by local and international artists, a textile and local history archive, shops, cafes, artist studios and more. 

Threads will be our second large event of 2025, following the Print Festival in March and before the Christmas Market in November, on our annual roster of exciting events aiming to support local artists, makers and sellers.

Threads will be promoted via the local press, leaflet drops, and advertising in specialised textile publications. We have an established social media presence (over 30k total followers) and will promote the event on our website.

The Market will be open to the public 10 am - 4 pm daily.

Entry for visitors to the market will be £4 (under 12s free). Free Parking.

PLEASE NOTE - The market will be held on the first floor of the 1912 Mill, which is accessed by a flight of stairs or a wheelchair-accessible lift. If you have any questions or concerns regarding accessibility, please message our CuratorSpace account.

Applications for this event are free and we are only accepting applications via CuratorSpace.

Terms and conditions:

Stallholders are required to have public liability insurance up to £5 million.

Stallholders or their assistant(s) must be present at their stall during public opening hours.