Textiles Department: More Options Than Balls of Yarn in Your Closet
Published on: May 7, 2024
One department, 16 divisions, nearly 300 classes – it’s all within the Textiles Department. Whether you fancy quilting or crocheting or maybe knitting is more your speed, there’s a place for your passion in Textiles. It’s just one of 17 different departments that accepts general entries at the Kentucky State Fair.
Entries open on May 1. Participants are encouraged to explore the different places where they can display their talents. The Kentucky State Fair also encourages people to try out new hobbies and enter them in the fair – just as Judy Ballard did when she was a child. Ballard recounted a sweet story of how her grandmother taught her to sew.
“I took sewing in high school, and she was so appalled at the resulting things I brought home,” said Ballard lovingly of her grandmother. “She said this summer we’re learning to sew. We did a lot of garments, and the first ribbon I won back in the 60s was for a dress.”
Ballard has picked up some new talents since the 60s like quilting, counted cross stitch, and household items and has since won around 50 blue ribbons at the Kentucky State Fair. She jokes that her grandmother would be pleased to see the collection.
Getting started is tough, but finding something that you truly love is just as hard especially when you’re trying all the “mainstream trends” that so many seem to love but they just don’t quite click for you. It’s the lost arts like needlework that draws Tamara Yohannes in. Yohannes is a longtime supporter of the Kentucky State Fair and has enjoyed being a part of it in many ways like helping set-up the Textiles display and entering her Romanian Point Lace projects, something she calls a “lost” art.
“Just get in there and try it, and don’t expect your first piece you make to be “perfect.” That’s the beauty of this. It’s handmade and homemade,” said Yohannes. “A lot of stitchers go for that pristine perfection, but I don’t, which is a good thing because I never get there. I’m there for the fun of it and joy of it when you complete a project.”
Duane Mason has been participating in the Kentucky State Fair for around 15 years in the doll and doll clothes division, and says even if you don’t participate, make sure to check out all the entries as they might just inspire you to try something out or just make your jaw drop.
“I’ve been sewing all my life. I crochet, I knit, I quilt,” he said. “I would never ever want to judge the quilts, though because so many of them are literal works of art.”
The Kentucky State Fair is all about getting out there and displaying your passions for the Commonwealth to marvel and awe at.
“It’s such a joyful thing to be recognized,” Yohannes said. “Without the fair, some people wouldn’t even know these things existed.”
Entries open May 1 and close July 17. You can find all the information you need for your entry in the Premium Book and can enter here.