The Colossal Quilt

It all began with a bow.

Wanting to mark the Centre’s 50th Anniversary, the Caxton House team started brainstorming. The conversation turned to a textile installation that could celebrate the impact of the charity and draw attention to the weekend festival – fitting, given the Centre's thriving Recycle & Stitch Studio. The suggestion to "wrap the building in a bow like a giftbox" soon evolved into the idea of giant patchwork quilts covering the façade.

For guidance, we turned to Quilt Club Seven Sisters, a local group experienced in large-scale patchwork installations, including a previous collaboration with Scarabeus Aerial Theatre. With their advice, the project moved from concept to reality; a journey defined by creativity, collaboration and community. Patchwork felt like the perfect medium: a global craft rooted in mending and making, where individual pieces combine into something stronger and more beautiful. Quilts also carry a rich history as storytelling tools, used across generations to mark milestones and bring people together. The Colossal Quilt reflects this tradition, with each unique contribution forming part of a shared whole.

Made entirely from donated materials, fabric, clothing, bedding and thread, plus a generously donated cherry picker to aid installation, the quilt was truly a community effort. Over five months of Saturday sessions, design work, layout planning, and late-night stitching, volunteers transformed these remnants into something new. Local stitchers used templates to create individual patches, each adding its own colour, texture and story to the growing piece.

The result is a striking visual statement across the building. Representing local creativity but much more than that, The Colossal Quilt embodies what community can achieve when people come together: patch by patch, stitch by stitch, and idea by idea, united by shared purpose and generosity.

“The Colossal Quilt would not have been possible without the incredible contributions from our local community. We’d like to thank everyone that took part in and/or donated fabric and equipment for our quilt workshops, the Quilt Club Seven Sisters for their indispensable advice, the New Hope charity shop, Jackie McLoughlin for her donation of over 160sqm of lining fabric, Cadent and Summit Platform for their incredible donation of the cherry picker, and our volunteers: Helena P, Jaye D, James C, Maggie H, Molly C, Molly S and Paris J, for countless hours of stitching, pressing, riveting and more. “

Rose Collins and Kevan Tomlin,
Creative Co-ordinators Caxton House and The Recycle & Stitch Studio