Katie Sawyer, Historical Textile Craftsperson

In 2024, Katie Sawyer from Cheshire is a disabled freelance historic textile craftsperson who began learning heritage crafts with nalbinding and stinging nettle textiles, before expanding her skills to a wide variety of textile techniques including historical costume, embroidery, needle felting, spinning, knitting and mending. Her bursary will cover one-to-one training with historical textile expert Sally Pointer, as well as various courses at the Manchester School of Costume. Her long-term goal is to become a historical textile leader of the North West, teaching others historic textile skills through workshops and demonstrations.