In Conversation with Thea Colman

Date: Sunday 12th July, 2026 Time: 4:00pm - 5:00pm BST (GMT+1) This event will be hosted on Zoom. You will be emailed a link 30 minutes before the start. We're thrilled to have a conversation with Thea Colman, one of our favourite designers, about design as a career, working with different textures and yarn and why she makes the choices she does in her work. We'll go behind the scenes of her designs and learn about the specifics that steer her into the final knits – from construction to yarn choice to motifs. In over 15 years of working as a knitwear designer, Thea has not only developed a preferred design style, but has also made choices on creative focus and professional direction on the way. We'll get insights into how she got to where she is today, and how the business has changed over the years. Thea will also talk with us about branching out beyond design, collaborations, teaching, traveling, what to do when designs fail, as well as charity, politics and speaking up. We'll finish up the conversation with a bit of Q&A! This is one of many events being planned for our Virtual Mill Open Weekend celebrations. See everything we're planning for this year's Virtual MOW. Thanks for joining in with our annual bash! - The Mill Folk x Speaker Bio: After leaving a career in advertising to raise her daughters, Thea found she loved imagining her own knits more than she enjoyed following a pattern. Combining knitting design with a longtime interest in cocktails made for the perfect second career, and she hasn't looked back! Her taste leans towards classic shapes, farm yarns, and small businesses and likes to play motifs that look more difficult than they actually are in her work. She’s known for her cables and texture, and her garment patterns are known for the attention to individual fit, including descriptive notes in the instructions, so knitters can adapt their knits as they like. Website: www.babycocktails.com | Ravelry: BabyCocktails | Instagram: @theacolman