Lifetime prices rise on 19 October →
Phox Elements
COMMON THREAD 2026 · ONE DAY, TWO ROOMS

Making cloth, and making it pay.

A one-day conference for independent weavers, dyers and knitters. Eight talks and workshops on pricing, selling and keeping a small studio going, with lunch and a makers' market in the mill yard.
240 SEATS
STEP-FREE VENUE
TALKS RECORDED
SATURDAY
21
November 2026
Doors
09:00 to 17:30
Where
Anchor Mill, Calderford
Ticket
£85, lunch included
182 of 240 tickets gone
76%
Book a ticket

Speakers

Four makers who sell what they make, and will tell you the numbers.
Maren Okafor
Handweaver, Okafor Cloth
Keynote · 10:00
Idris Penhallow
Knitwear designer and stallholder
Main hall · 11:00
Hannah Voss
Natural dyer and teacher
Loom room · 11:00
Tobias Reel
One-loom studio, eleven years
Main hall · 13:30

The day

Download the programme as a PDF →
09:00
to 10:00
Doors open. Coffee, registration and a first look at the makers' market.
10:00
to 10:50
KEYNOTE · MAIN HALL
Pricing a scarf honestly
Maren Okafor on time sheets, yarn costs and the price that finally let her stop teaching evening classes.
11:00
to 12:15
MAIN HALL
Selling at fairs without losing every weekend
Idris Penhallow
LOOM ROOM · WORKSHOP
Natural dye swatches in an hour
Hannah Voss · 20 places
12:15
to 13:30
Lunch from the mill kitchen, and the makers' market in the yard.
13:30
to 14:45
MAIN HALL
One loom, no staff: a year of accounts
Tobias Reel
LOOM ROOM · WORKSHOP
Photographing cloth on a phone
Anchor Mill studio team · 16 places
15:00
to 16:15
MAIN HALL
Wholesale, or not? A panel with all four speakers
Chaired by Hannah Voss
LOOM ROOM
Repair clinic: bring a snag or a moth hole
Drop in, no booking
16:30
to 17:30
Drinks in the yard. The market stays open until the last stall packs up.