ROWAN CONNECT
SUMMER SCHOOL 2026
Textures Intensive
With Georgia Farrell
This summer, join Georgia Farrell in this hands-on intensive course exploring the art of textured fabric design. Textured fabrics are one of her favourite things to create, and for her there is nothing more satisfying than developing beautifully faceted surfaces using just the fundamental building blocks of knitting: knit and purl stitches. When travelling cables are added, shifting across the fabric, and slip stitches are introduced in varied ways, the creative possibilities become endless.
Throughout the course, Georgia will guide students through the anatomy of stitches and how they behave, building a clear understanding of how texture is formed. She will demonstrate how to layer and combine different techniques to create rich, dynamic fabric surfaces, leading up to a final session in which students design their own textured fabrics.
This is a swatch-heavy course, designed to give participants plenty of opportunity to experiment, refine, and gain practical, hands-on experience of textured fabric construction as well as the underlying theory. The course uses Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted, selected for its excellent stitch definition, which is essential when working with texture. Students are encouraged to choose shades that allow the structure of the fabric to stand out clearly so that the textures can be fully appreciated.
Textures Intensive - Class Summary
Week 1: the basics; knit and purl textures
So many textures can be created with just the use of the basic building blocks of our craft; knits and purls. In this session we will look at the anatomy of the two stitches, how they work and behave. Different ways we can combine them and the outcomes that creates. Through a series of swatches, we will cover small scale textures and larger scale tessellating pattern textures and how you can create a sense of light and shade through texture.
Week 2: slipping stitches
This week we will look at combining our simple textures with slip stitches and explore some of the different effects this pairing can create, ranging from two-dimensional surface decoration to more three-dimensional effects.
Week 3: travelling cables / twisted stitches
Building on session two, we will explore, what I like to call travelling cables, these are one or two stitch cables that move across the surface of the fabric or background stitches rather than just being worked in columns that twist. I will often add slip stitches within these travelling cables, in my designs, and we will be exploring that in this session too.
Week 4: designing your own textures
In our final session together, we will focus on designing with texture, the ways in which we can translate our inspiration into textured stitches and the practicalities of designing with textured fabrics. I hope this session will be inspirational and informative in equal measure, and that you will enjoy creating your very own textured knitted fabrics as much as I do!
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Dates and Times
Classes: Tuesdays 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th August, 3.00-5.30pm BST
Q&A sessions: Fridays 7th, 14th, 21st & 28th August, 4.30-5.30pm
BST is the time zone we are currently using in the UK. Check your time zone here.
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Recordings
All classes and Q+A sessions are recorded and will be available to view on demand for 12 months.
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PRICE: £185
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