What a fantastic year! In 2025 things really got going here at Arloesi Dolgellau. It’s been a year of learning, creating, innovating and making new connections for us. From the countless brilliant sewing projects made in our workshops to the short film created by some talented young people in our Film School here’s a run down of our year.
January was a month of testing and getting things going for us – we get the 3D printer set up and printed ‘Benchy’ – a little boat that anyone who’s set up a 3D printer will be familiar with! Since then we’ve printed countless personalised keyrings, laptop stands, and all kinds of other cool models. In 2026 we hope to help more people to design their own 3D files to really make use of this technology in an innovative way.
In February we really starting exploring what brilliant things can be made with the heat press and sublimation printer. We made fun mugs, coasters and keyrings and ran some popular creative workshops on making soaps and macrame. We started to see more and more people comign through the door, curious about what we’re doing! February was also the beginning of our Sew Something Simple weekly sewing group, aimed at helping people build their confidence in using a sewing machine, making simple sewing projects.
In March, our embroidery machine was being tested properly and our volunteers used Inkscape to essentially translate graphics files into files that could be embroidered with the digital machine. In 2026 we want to give people the confidence to create their own graphics from embroidering. There were also lots of really fun creative days where kids and parents were able to be creative and so many lovely pieces were made!
In April, the Easter Holidays were a chance to build on the mixed age groups and we ran workshops and drop ins for people to make friendship bracelets, Easter Cards, lavender bunnies, bunting, mugs and ducky soaps! There was a great bag-making workshop and the launch of our Summer Sewing challenge.
We had a really popular workshop in May which is back in the calendar for 2026 – Needle Felting! A great workshop with Gillian and I’m sure many people will be back for the one we have planned in January. We also did a fun workshop wo make a personalised doggy bandana and continued to offer opportunities for people to come and learn how to use our excellent kit. Drop in sessions for people to see the 3D printer working were popular and we make great use of the heat press and vinyl cutter to make bags and tee shirts. May is a great month in Dolgellau, and the carnival comes to town! Lots of people made use of our facilities to create keepsakes of the event. We also introduced the people of Dolgellau to NFTs and NFCs with sessions over two days to introduce people to this clever technology. We also ran our first Code Club, teaching Python coding language to parent and kids.
In June we really started to lean into using re-purposed fabrics here at Arloesi and this has remained a focus at many of our Sewing workshops. We always make use of donated fabric, making all sorts of brilliant creations from scraps. In June we began our Summer Sewing Challenge to encourage makers to take their sewing a step further. The project ran over the whole summer and our amazing participants made kid’s dungarees, toys and more! We also hosted a messy but fun workshop using Powertex.
In July we were delighted to host a workshop by the fantastic ladies behind Prosiect Llai. They ran a workshop teaching people the basics of using a sewing machine. We also had our first work experience student who was able to learn about new equipment and software while they were with us. The month was dominated by our fantastic Summer Sewing Challenge and many beautiful bunnies, bears and kids dungarees were made by the talented participants. July is the month when Sesiwn Fawr takes place and we were really glad to get involved by lending our premises for use by PRS to help artists sign up and receive royalties for their performances. We also made some tote bags for the event embroidered with the Sesiwn Fawr logo using our embroidery machine.
During August we continued with the sewing workshops for adults as well as Code Club for kids and a Smart Tech workshop. We also ran another ‘Python for Parents and Kids’ session and hope to do more of these in the future. We teamed up with Tanio Bermo for a brilliant event at the Dragon Theatre in Barmouth called ‘Makerfest’ where we were able to showcase our kit to visitors and get people creating coasters, 5 minute purses and writing a short bit of code using Arduino modules.
For Circular September our focus was very much on making things from scraps and encouraging people to reduce, reuse and recycle. We ran some brilliant sewing workshops which made use of exclusively donated, scrap or second hand fabrics. Turns out you can do a lot with fabric you might otherwise have thought was no use! We had a great event in colleboration with Prosiect Llai to help people breathe new life into something they already own but don’t wear by creatively altering or up-cycling it.
In October we were busy promoting our Film School. This outstanding opportunity gave kids access to professional gear including cameras, recording gear and editing kit as well as the chance to make use of the facilities at Arloesi Dolgellau to create props and other physical object to use in their production. The result was a truly joyful short film which we’ll be screening in January. October also saw the first steps in our ongoing project ‘O’r Goedwig’. Working with the RSPB, Arloesi Dolgellau is looking at ways we can preserve and discover more about the woodlands that surround us. We organised a walk in the RSPB reserve and collected leaves and Oak Galls, ready to make ink and paper in a later workshop.
November brought some very wet and wild weather but also a hint of Festive fun and we made test batched of ink using walnut husks and oak galls. We mixed the ink with an acrylic medium to make it suitable for printing and began testing the best way to use it to print seasonal cards. Production of the cards continued alongside workshops making Book Cushions, and repeat of the popular workshop making Adult Dungarees. We were glad to help people make Christmas gifts for friends and family in November.
December seemed to come in a flash and many gorgeous christmas stockings have been made in our sewing workshops! We also helped one of our users make a brilliant christmassy coat fort their dog, and finished the production of our festive cards. We hosted a second work experience student, and we thrilled to partner with M-Sparc to run the first of the three part workshop with college students on 3D character development.
There is much more besides, and we hope to built on the exciting projects that we began in 2025 and will be offering a more diverse range of workshops and events in 2026.
Watch this space!!