Ryebank Fields Patchwork Banner: A collaborative community project
The deadline for applying to create a panel is now past and we are fully signed up - thank you to everyone who is participating!!
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Anyone who enjoys being creative with textiles and wants to save green spaces from destruction is invited to join us to create a beautiful collaborative patchwork banner. We hope to encourage even more people to discover Ryebank Fields and raise awareness of its unique features that make it essential to save it.
See below for background and links.
The handmade banner will be made up of about 20 panels 20cm across by 15cm high. It will illustrate special features of Ryebank Fields, such as the Aspen Grove, Nico Ditch, Manchester Poplars, its flora and fauna, as well as the dangers of building on the land. The finished piece will be displayed in Chorlton from end January 2025. It will be photographed and printed for exhibiting outside and turned into postcards that can be sent to those of influence in decision-making.
Work in progress applique
How to contribute: Anyone who can sew a simple (or complex if wanted!) image using applique, embroidery or other textile craftwork is invited to contribute by making a patchwork panel for the banner.
1. Apply to join the project with the sign-up form. Please apply as soon as possible - the deadline for finished panel is 12 January.
2. You can indicate what topics/themes you are interested in on the form (you'll see which are already allocated).
3. We will let you know if a panel has been allocated to you including which topic.
4. Collect the background panel for your patchwork piece from Danielle as soon as possible (address will be emailed or Whatsapped to you).
We have some patterned fabrics you can use as well as from your own stash.
5. Complete your themed panel with any textile crafts (eg embroidery, applique, drawing, text) ensuring that it has some resistance to weatherproof if it is hung outside.
6. Deliver your finished piece to same address by 12 January.
We have lots of lovely patterned fabrics that we can share if you want any, do ask!
We are very excited and look forward to you joining us on this creative venture. Through our collective input, we hope to produce an eye-catching banner – with both positive and challenging images – that will encourage people to understand what will be lost if the fields are built on. We’ll let you know when and where it will be displayed (do share suggestions).
Please help promote the project by sending people to this website as well as our Chorlton Craftivists Facebook group and Instagram accounts, @ecocraftivism and @chorltoncraftivists.
A little background history: Ryebank Fields was gifted to Manchester Metropolitan University by Manchester Council for students recreational purposes, then abandoned and rewilded. Enjoyed by the local community for its easy access and varied flora and fauna, the fields are now under threat of destruction as MMU plan to cash in by selling it for house building. There is already a considerable amount of house building, past, ongoing and planned in the area. For example, the Chorlton Precinct redevelopment is expected to create around 190 housing units. The submission to Manchester Council for planning permission is imminent and we want to help residents make informed decisions about whether this wild green space and its wildlife are obliterated from our landscape.
We ask for “brownfield first” over greenfield space like Ryebank Fields. Find out more on our website and the Save Ryebank Fields site.