Wildlife in Wool

Do you love knitting, crochet and crafting? Would you like to make crafty creatures and flowers inspired by the museum’s wildlife collections?

Get involved with Wildlife in Wool. From season to season we will be calling out for crafted creatures to be a part of our habitat installations as part of the Museum Redevelopment project. These will be used to decorate community gardens across the city including the Mowbray Park Community Garden here at the Museum.

Sites include Mowbray Park Community Garden, Little Onions, Just Let Your Soul Grow and Grindon Community Centre.

Coastal Creatures

For summer our theme is Coastal Creatures. Make textile fish, gulls, crabs, oysters, starfish, mermaids and yellow rock rose flowers to decorate the Museum and community gardens across the city.

Who can take part?

Individuals, community groups, schools and other learning groups are welcome to take part. We are looking for:

• Felt, knitted or crochet creatures welcome
• Sizes between 5cm – 15cm in diameter

Where can I hand in my creatures?

Contributions can be dropped off at: Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens until Friday 7 August, ready for a yarn bombing garden takeover of Mowbray Park Community Garden on Thursday 20 August.

Address: Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP

Times: 9:30am – 5pm, Monday to Friday / 9:30am – 7pm, Wednesdays / 10am – 4pm, Saturdays

Ideas and inspiration

Free patterns and ideas for coastal creatures and flowers can be found online with a range different craft tutorials on Youtube.

Here are some we would recommend:

Ravelry

Hookfully

There will also be free family drop-in sessions at the Museum & Winter Gardens over the summer where you can practice knitting, crochet and felt crafting to make coastal creatures with our staff and volunteers.

You can also check out Arty Fridays; Coastal Creatures

Future themes

• Autumn: Woodland Wonders
• Winter: Ponds and Rivers
• Spring: Gardens, Blossoms and Bugs

We would recommend checking this page regularly for the latest updates.