Field to Fashion Exhibition

Field to Fashion opens at the Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill on 27 October and runs until 3 January. It's an exhibition that follows raw British fleece from flock to fibre, tracing the steps from shearing and scouring through to spinning. Along the way, it looks at the skills and knowledge passed down through generations of designers and makers, and the long-standing connection between land and hand, and wool and wear.

It's a celebration of the people who work with textiles — farmers, weavers and dyers — and it asks what wool's potential is for a future led by regeneration and revival. The exhibition is part of the Field to Fashion project, funded by Art Fund and Rolls-Royce as part of a STEAM Learning programme, and developed with support from John Smedley and British Wool.

The venue itself is a big part of the story. The Museum of Making sits in the mill that opened in 1721, cited as the world's first modern factory and the pioneer of the centralised, mechanised factory system. The site is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it also houses the world's largest collection of works by the Derby artist Joseph Wright, known as Britain's answer to Caravaggio.

Entry is free, so it's an easy one to drop into. It runs from 27 October to 3 January, so check the Museum of Making's opening times before you head down to Silk Mill Lane, Derby DE1 3AF.