Craft ArenaWelcome to Craft Arena

Craft Arena provides needlework and craft supplies, haberdashery, beads, books and textile gifts for adults and children.

We hold regular demonstrations and workshops in our Textile Art Studio at Barleylands Craft Village, Billericay, and showcase the work of local textile artists in our gallery space.

Read our newsletter

I’ve had a couple of pieces of good news since the last newsletter.  I’ve been featured in the current issue of Cross Stitch Crazy, and Craft Arena has reached the final of the Basildon and District Business Awards in the New Company category.  More...

Latest News

Hemingworth Machine Threads are now in stock.

Hemingworth ThreadsThere are 126 delicious colours to start with, including metallics and neon colours, as well as varigated threads. The Hemingworth spool is designed with a unique cover which is both a smooth thread guide and a protective storage solution.

You can see the full colour range at the Hemingworth website, together with a video showing how the thread system works.

These great threads will appear on the website for sale shortly.

To begin with, we will stock a limited colour range, but expect this to expand later in the year.

Workshops

The programme for January to May 2008 is now available. Visit our Workshop page for more information.

Read comments from people who have attended our workshops:

This first course has given me the encouragement to try more.

Very good; flexible and tailored to my capabilities.

I really enjoyed the workshop - the tutor was very informative and easy to talk to.

Inspiring, friendly and encouraging.

A very talended tutor with loads of info - excellent value for money.

I'll be back; try to keep me away!

Very helpful and friendly. I had a lovely time.

The Big Draw

During half-term week, 20th - 26th October 2007, Craft Arena participated in The Big Draw.  Children were invited to make a drawing on fabric and a selection of the drawings will be made into a textile hanging to be presented to The Burned Children's Club, for them to raise funds. The response was overwhelming, and we had so many outstanding entries that we decided to hold an additional competition especially for Halloween themed pictures. The overall winner was Chloe Webb, and the winner of the Halloween competition was Matthew Gibney. Congratulations to both of you.

You can see pictures of the winning entries, together with some of those selected for inclusion in the wallhanging here

New range added to online shop

We have now added the Ten Seconds Studio range of metal embossing tools and accessories. New items will be added regularly, so some back to check out new stock. This craft is proving very popular and we hold workshops for beginners, with intermediate classes on the way.   Visit our workshop page to find the latest dates.  Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.

Coming Soon

    • Jet FX and Cotton Inkjet Fabric are on order as these sold out very quickly
    • Pearl Ex stamp pads in some lovely colours
    • I’ve ordered some marbling kits too
    • Air and water erasable marking pens
    • Grey Board
    • Self-adhesive mountboard
    • Inktense Pencils – these are full of pigment and great for drawing on fabric I’ve been told
    • Black paper hard-back spiral sketch/display books

    Keep in Touch

    If you would like to receive up-to-date information on what’s happening at Craft Arena, you can join our mailing list by completing our online enquiry form.

    Club Visiting Service

    We also provide a visiting service to local clubs and associations. We bring a selection of our favourite items or theme supplies to the projects you are currently working on, and give you the opportunity to purchase the supplies you need. We can also give demonstrations to your group or club. If you would like to find out more, please contact us.

    Press Cuttings

    View our press cuttings. NEW - Cross Stitch Crazy July 2008.

    <<Back to top

    Home | Shop | Gallery | Workshops | Contact Us
    © Craft Arena 2008 Photographs by wo0