I have been waiting for the Hobby Show craft fair in Milan for weeks. I’d never been there actually and I didn’t know what to expect…My only previous craft fair experience was Stoffen Spektakel in Luxembourg, which is an amazing fabrics and notions fair that travels through Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

All I knew is that Hobby Show was that it was going to be craft-related, with some quilting, painting, decoupage, felt and jewelry. I couldn’t picture how big it would be.

As soon as I got in, I was thrilled.. all these crafts stands made me want to rush to each of them immediately. Then I decided to take a more structured approach to make sure I wouldn’t miss any of them. It was exciting to see how many people are interested in crafts. Top interests seemed to be felt, scrapbooking, quilting and jewelry making.

I think I’ve never seen so many beads and related stuff ever in my life. I must admit I am not a jewelry person… I get lost with all those beads and I can never figure out how to put them together. Beads and Co was one of the shops where you could get lost for hours.

What about garment sewing?

Clearly Burda was there with all their magazines and extras.

Then there were some trims as well as quilting fabric (no Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner and other more contemporary artists, though)

But the greatest discovery for me was Moku, an independent Italian designer who creates amazing headpieces, hats, skirts, necklaces and belts.  I liked her work so much that I thought I would share this discovery with you. I hope you like it (I am doing this on my personal initiative, I only asked for her permission to take pictures and talk about her on my blog).

From the moment I saw her work I fell in love with her work. Though I never met Giulia before, she was really lovely to talk to. She explained her creative process for her skirts pattern: she prefers a draping technique. By talking to her I realized that draping is often a more creative method than working on flat patterns. I did try this technique in my shirt refashion and I was amazed with the results

I was initially drawn by her headpieces… I always loved those but never dared to try one one… As you can see they look gorgeous on Giulia… but I didn´t feel confident wearing them… so I decided to postpone that purchase and concentrate on one of her skirts. She was so kind that she helped me add a personal touch to the one I ended up choosing (you can see it on the rack…it’s the dark grey pied-de-poule towards the right (I will try to share a picture of me wearing it in next post).

For now Giulia is not selling online yet (though she might in the future)… so if you are interested in her creations you can email her at info@moku.it

So, I was really glad I went to Hobby Show… it was a really great experience that made me come back home with loads of craft ideas…the list is getting really longer now.

What about you? Have you been to any craft fairs? I would love to discover craft and sewing fairs around the world… so I get an excuse to travel…