Name: Ann Arbor Fiber Arts Expo (AAFAX)
Start: 2026-02-08T10:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-02-08T17:00:00-05:00
Location: Ann Arbor District Library

Ann Arbor Fiber Arts Expo is a fiber-filled day full of demos, presentations, and local vendors. The focus this year is on the history and origin of a variety of fiber arts. Drop-in for a sampling of fiber arts projects and hands-on quilting, spinning, and weaving activities.
Vendors will be on hand selling accessories, patterns, books, dyes, and all things fiber related!
Vendors | 1st Floor Lobby
10 AM – 5 PM
Stop by to chat with and buy specialty supplies from our fiber arts vendors!
11 – 11:45 AM | 4th Floor Program Room
Tales from the Weaving Room with Barbara Schutzgruber
Spinning straw into gold. Pricking a finger on a spindle. Sending poisoned clothing as revenge. Having unusually large feet, arms, and teeth. Why are these images in our stories? WHERE did they come from?
The answers to these questions and more will be revealed as we explore the textile history, imagery, and metaphors woven through folktales and myths from around the world.
12:15 – 1 PM | 4th Floor Program Room
Threads: The Life, Career and Legacy of Ruth Adler Schnee
Join art historian Deborah Lubera Kawsky to celebrate the life, career, and enduring legacy of Detroit design icon–and dear friend–Ruth Adler Schnee, who was a driving force in modern design for eight decades.
1 – 4 PM | Secret Lab
Drop-In Open Crafting
Join us for drop-in crafting as we offer a sampling of fiber arts including mini mason jar sewing kits, paint card needle books, and stitched postcards.
1 – 4 PM | Lower Level Program Room
Hands-On Demos
Try your hand at spinning on a wheel with a local spinner, weaving on our giant floor loom, and working on a quilt square and machine sewing with the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild and The Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild.
2 – 2:45 PM | 4th Floor Program Room
Knitting Together a Story: Threading Fiber Arts Into Fiction
Award-winning local author Barbara Stark-Nemon uses knitting, embroidery, and her background in Art History in her novels. Learn how her own fiber art and research informed her stories, and how other artists and novels inspired her.
3:15 – 4 PM | 4th Floor Program Room
Silk Work: Vicki Essig's Unique Methods of Creating Fabric
Artist Vicki Essig will explain her innovative work with silkworms that create garments without the use of scissors or thread and needle. She will also discuss her woven pieces that include spun paper and 200 year old text.
Details: https://aadl.org/aafax