EDIT: Due to a huge amount of support, this project has now been updated – read more in the Latest News section of the website.
[Original Post, 30th March 2017]
Can you help us to create a handmade tribute to the soldiers of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry who died in the First World War?
4,282 soldiers of the DCLI were killed during the First World War. We aim to commemorate each and every one of them with a handmade poppy.
For this project we will need 4,282 knitted, crocheted, felted or stitched poppies to be part of our museum exhibition in November of 2018. Anyone making poppies for us is very welcome to dedicate them to a DCLI soldier and we will record the dedications in our exhibition. If you’d like to donate more than one poppy we would be extremely grateful.
GUIDELINES:
You are welcome to express you creativity in any way you like, and we would love each poppy to be completely unique, but there are just a couple of guidelines for the poppies that we would ask you to follow. Poppies must be:
Handmade in any textile medium
Up to 4.5 inches in width
Ready to fasten – a simple fastening such as a safety pin on the back is absolutely fine.
In terms of style and design, it’s up to you! Many of the poppies which have been contributed already are knitted, although we do have some impressive felted and embroidered pieces – we’d love to see what you can come up with!
PATTERNS:
You can use any pattern that you like – or freestyle! – it’s up to you entirely. There are a list of suggested patterns below, and some of our friends on the museum’s Facebook page have posted different patterns for knitted poppies in the comments section of our posts. You can see the Facebook posts here, and another one here.
5000 Poppies – a huge selection of different patterns for different mediums
Star crafter, Sara Burrows – Facebook comments with a tried and tested knitting pattern
Please note that these patterns are suggested as a guide only, and ownership of the patterns is as stated on the individual websites. If you’d like to suggest a pattern which you think could be useful to other crafters, please contact us, and we will add it to the list, or start a conversation on our Facebook Event Page: Fun Palaces – Music & Making, Poppy Creation Workshop.
FOR LOCAL CRAFTERS:
JJ Lee Wool Shop in Bodmin’s Market Arcade have kindly offered to give anyone donating poppies to us a reduced price on their poppy wool.
Once your poppies are made, please send or deliver poppies, along with your name and any dedications, to:
Cornwall’s Regimental Museum
The Keep
Bodmin
PL31 1EG
If you’d like to arrange for your knitting or sewing circle, or group of craft enthusiasts to come to the museum we would love to have you! Similarly, we would love to host a ‘sponsored poppy knit’ or a sharing skills session – if you’d like to suggest an idea just get in touch!
If you are interested in finding out about a relative who served in the DCLI or LI, please have a look at our Research Page.
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