Chennai Quilt Festival and Indian Textile Trails

20 January 2023

16 days from £4,455pp

Join us on the fantastic tour of the Chennai Quilt Festival & Indian Textile Trail, and experience the world’s oldest and most diverse textile craft traditions.

Visit India’s International Quilt Festival in Chennai
Discover the traditions of Indian textile crafts
Tour accompanied by Karin Hellaby and an Arena Travel tour manager
Experience numerous cultural sites on your journey

This fantastic tour begins with a visit to India's International Quilt Festival in Chennai, which highlights some of the world's oldest and most diverse textile craft traditions. The India Quilt Foundation organises the event, which showcases the work of artists from around the world as well as local designers, bringing Indian quilting to the international scene. Indian textiles are a kaleidoscope of colours, textures, motifs, materials, and mediums that vary by region. Along with quilts that reflect India's rich textile traditions and quilting styles, there will be traditional and contemporary quilts, pictorial art quilts, miniature quilts, and work by the next generation of quilters on display. The category for this year's theme quilts is 'Building Bridges,' which is open to personal interpretation. The festival promises to be a highlight of this tour, with workshops and talks by leading experts and designers, as well as stalls selling gorgeous fabrics and threads.

We also delve into the textiles of Tamil Nadu, India's southernmost state. It is a land with a rich cultural and religious heritage, and its people are known to be among the world's oldest civilisations. This Indian Textile Trail is sure to inspire, from the ornate Kanjivaram saris that were once gifted to goddesses to the textile products of Kerala renowned for their craftsmanship, design, colours, and simplicity.

I am delighted to be leading a textile tour to Southern India next January. The itinerary gives us time at a quilt show in Chennai and then travelling on to visit exciting places such as the French influenced city of Pondicherry and the sleepy backwaters of Kerala. I am looking forward to the Stitchtopia mix of culture, temples, palaces, history, landscapes, spices and of course a wide range of crafts, some of which will be hands on. I will be showing you how to make Siddi Kawandi quilts, incorporating Ikat and sari fabrics some of which can be purchased and stitched whilst we are travelling. January is a pleasant time to visit this mesmerising country, I hope you will join me for a fun, action packed and informative textile tour.

Day 1:
Meet Karin Hellaby and your Arena tour manager at London Heathrow airport for your overnight flight to Chennai.
Day 2:
Our flight arrives in the early hours of the morning. Upon arrival we’ll transfer to our hotel where early check-in has been arranged. The afternoon is the first opportunity to visit the Chennai Quilt Festival.
Day 3:
A full day to enjoy the fabulous quilts and shopping opportunities at the Chennai Quilt Festival.
Day 4:
On this morning’s specially crafted textile tour we’ll learn about Chennai’s amazing heritage as a textile hub from ancient days including weaving, hand block printing and hand painting with vegetable dyes. In the afternoon we visit the Kalakshetra Weaving Foundation, which is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian arts and crafts.
Day 5:
Today we leave Chennai and drive to the ancient town of Kanchipuram. En-route we stop at Mahabalipuram, known in Marco Polo’s Day as the “Seven Pagodas”. The port is famous for its stone carvings, which have World Heritage Site status. We’ll visit the Shore Temple, the lone survivor of the Seven Pagodas, before seeing the 17th-century Arjuna’s Penance – a magnificent monument to Mahabalipuram.
Day 6:
Kanchipuram is known as ‘The Silk City of India’. This morning we visit the Kanjivaram Weavers Service Centre and the Weaver’s Society. We’ll see weaving in process and learn about the distinct markers of the Kanchipuram saree and how to identify it. Our day in Kanchipuram concludes with a visit to the Varadharaja Perumal Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.
Day 7:
Today we drive to Puducherry. Dubbed the ‘French Riviera of the East’ and formerly known as Pondicherry, Puducherry is made up of four entirely separate enclaves along the Indian coast that were colonised by the French in the 18th century. We’ll stop at Auroville, a unique community born in 1968 as a place where people of all races and creeds could live together in harmony. Here we’ll visit Upasana Design Studio, an ethical fashion brand, before taking part in a dye making activity. We’ll eat a vegetarian lunch at a community kitchen, where residents of the town eat every day, before continuing to Puducherry. After checking in to our hotel, we enjoy a workshop with Karin.
Day 8:
From Puducherry, our tour takes us to Thanjavur (Tanjore) – an important centre for South Indian religion, art and architecture. After checking in to our hotel we’ll have a chance to see the Veena bronze making. From the initial wax process, master sculptors will demonstrate how a bronze sculpture is made, including the casting involved in making a bell. We also see master craftsmen making handmade jewellery and the unique style of Thanjavur painting.
Day 9:
Today we drive to Madurai where we visit Thirumalai’s Nayaka Palace, which was built in 1636 by King Thirumalai Nayak with the help of an Italian architect. Enjoy a rickshaw ride to admire the exterior of the Meenakshi Temple. A major religious centre that attracts pilgrims year-round, it is a riotously baroque example of Dravidian architecture with gopurams (towers) covered from top to bottom with a breathless profusion of multi-coloured images of gods, goddesses, animals, and mythical figures.
Day 10:
Our exploration of the area continues as we visit Kaithari Nagar in Thirupparamkundram where we see spinning and weaving of Madurai cotton and silk sarees. We’ll learn about the history of Madurai pottery making and have a chance to try the art of using a potter’s wheel. Later, outside the famous Sri Meenakshi Temple, watch the evening Aarti ceremony in which Lord Shiva is carried in a palanquin accompanied by musicians, temple singers and priests to the temple of his consort Parvati to spend the night.
Day 11:
Today’s drive takes us into the rolling foothills of the Western Ghats Mountain range to the town of Munnar, a hill station and former resort for the British Raj elite. After checking in to our hotel we visit one of the tea plantations, which, established in the 19th century, are an integral part of the history of Munnar.
Day 12:
The Srishti welfare society is dedicated to the rehabilitation and generation of sustainable livelihoods for differently abled children and young adults of Munnar’s rural plantation community. During our visit, we’ll see them creating handmade products through sustainable techniques, methods of upcycling, recycling, and using natural products. Huge containers filled with dyes prepared by mixing various coloured natural ingredients are used for tie and dye, and block printing.
Day 13:
From Munnar, our tour continues to Alleppey. En-route, we stop at a Rubber Plantation. Introduced to India by Dutch colonists, rubber is now one of the most important industrial cash crops. We’ll see how the sticky, white latex is extracted and collected before being processed to produce natural rubber. On arrival in Alleppey, we embark a houseboat for an overnight stay and leisurely cruise on the peaceful and picturesque, palm-lined network of rivers, lakes and lagoons known as the Kerala Backwaters.
Day 14:
After disembarking our houseboat, we join a member of the Preserve Alleppey Society for a walking tour of the town that served as the main port for the backwater region under British rule. We’ll see the Gujarati quarter, canal banks and the old wholesale market from where spices, tea, coffee, cashews, and coir were shipped out via the fan of canals. We then drive to Kochi and check in to our hotel before enjoying a Kathakali dance performance. Performed by men, the pantomimic dance-drama is a combination of facial expressions and body movements, which brings out the thoughts and emotions of the character.
Day 15:
Today we discover the Chendamangalam story including the context from which Chendamangalam handloom weaving emerged. We visit the Palace of the local chieftains under whose patronage the local handlooms flourished and a local workshop where weavers will show us how the textile is still handwoven. After visiting the historic Jewish synagogue, we learn about local bell-metal craft and pottery.

This evening we enjoy a cooking demonstration followed by dinner with an Anglo-Indian family.
Day 16:
After checking out of our hotel we transfer to Kochi Airport for our return flight to London.

Flights London to Chennai and Cochin to London
14 nights’ accommodation on a half board basis in four and five-star hotels (room available for early check-in upon arrival in Chennai)
One-night accommodation on a full board basis on a deluxe houseboat in Alleppey
Lunch each day in either the hotel, local restaurants or during visits
Ticket to the Chennai Quilt Festival
Services of an English-speaking local guide
Services of an Arena Travel tour manager
Tour accompanied by Karin Hellaby, who will provide a project for you to work on, kit included
Tips for driver and local English-speaking guide
Specially crafted textile experience tour in Chennai
Visit Kalakshetra Foundation
Visit Kanjivaram Weavers Service Centre and Society
Demonstration of Veena bronze making and Tanjore painting
Visit Kaithari Nagar in Thirupparamkundram to see the spinning and weaving of the Madurai cotton and silk sarees
Madurai pottery trail
Visit Shrishti Welfare Society
Tour of the Chendamangalam village to see the making of Chendamangalam Handloom textiles, bell-metal craft and pottery
The Shore Temple & Arjuna’s Penance at Mahabalipuram
Varadharaja Perumal Temple in Kanchipuram
Visit Auroville
Spend time at the Thirumulai’s Nayaka Palace
Rickshaw ride and outside visit of the Meenakshi Temple
Evening Aarti ceremony
Visit a tea plantation near Munnar
Visit a rubber plantation
Cruise on the Kerala backwaters
Walking tour of Alleppey
The Jewish synagogue in Chendamangalam
Cooking demonstration and dinner with an Anglo-Indian family

Karin Hellaby

Karin Hellaby is an internationally known quilt teacher and author of 11 quilting books and numerous patterns. She is a regular teacher at the Houston International Quilt Show and has also been invited to teach at quilting symposiums in New Zealand, Dubai, Paducah and the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Oregon.

Her teaching travels have taken her all over North America, the Middle East and several European countries. Her style is very much multi technique always finding ways to make patchwork simple, quick and fun to learn. Karin started Quilters Haven in 1993. It became one of the largest quilt shops in the UK and she sold it in 2016. This has given her more time to teach and travel, especially in SE Asia where two of her sons are based.

Fly from London Heathrow

Return flights from London Heathrow are included in our package on our specific arrival and departure dates plus one item of checked in luggage, per person.

Transfers will also be included on our specific arrival and departure dates to take you to your holiday destination. If you choose to arrive or depart on a different day, there may be an additional supplement charged to cover your transfer costs.

Your Accommodation

Grand Chennai by GTR Hotels

★★★★

Located at T. Nagar, which is Chennai’s focal point and one of the city’s finest addresses, the 4-star GRT Grand Hotel offers a warm welcome to both leisure and business travellers.