Leaflet design and print for the Sudbury Silk Festival.
The Sudbury Silk Festival was held on Saturday, September 7th, 2019, to celebrate the rich heritage of silk weaving in Sudbury. The day was packed with exhibitions, talks, and walks.
DL Design was commissioned to create a trifold leaflet for festival attendees. The leaflet would provide information about the day's events and guide them through the history of Sudbury’s silk industry.
The leaflet, written by WeTutor UK, featured Talbot the Dog as the friendly guide, helping visitors follow a trail around the town to discover key silk-weaving landmarks still active today. This creative approach added an engaging, interactive element to the festival experience.
Despite a tight turnaround – final adjustments were made on Wednesday – DL Design successfully designed, printed, and delivered 10,000 leaflets by Friday morning, ensuring they were ready in time for the festival.
When designing and printing a leaflet, it's essential to capture the reader’s attention and provide clear, engaging content. The Sudbury Silk Festival leaflet accomplished this with a vibrant design, informative text, and a fun, interactive trail guide.
Here is some of the text in the leaflet.
Sudbury Town crest includes a black dog that is a Talbot. Talbots, in the Middle Ages, were hunting dogs. I am a Labrador named after that dog. I know my way around Sudbury and I often meet people outside the Town Hall. I love going there because just across the road near St Peter’s Church is a horse trough. If you read the plaque you will see how, long ago, old friends of my family were looking for their puppies and 84 other puppies. You may have read about them in the book by Dodie Smith, “101 Dalmatians”.
In Gaol Lane, at the back of the town hall, is the Heritage Centre where you can learn about the history of Sudbury. I look in occasionally and know you will find lots more information on Sudbury and its history there.
Also, in Gaol Lane is the place where I live …Weavers’ Piece!. This a Dye Garden, with examples of plants that were used to dye the silk after it was woven. It is full of interesting smells. You know what a dog’s nose is like…ultra-sensitive. I always know if my friends have been there. It’s a good job we’re all well-behaved. The plants in flower have delicious smells too and I understand they were all so useful in days gone by. The bakery across the road smells good too!
A bit further along the lane, just off the car park is the Dental Emporium, which was once a silk “manufactory”.
From there, I like to go and look at the statue of Thomas Gainsborough which stands in front of St Peter’s Church on the Market Hill. Thomas Gainsborough was a famous artist who was born in Sudbury. He liked to paint pictures of the areas around Sudbury but to make money he painted portraits. In some of them, including a picture of Mr and Mrs Andrews, he included a dog. The dog was a friend of my distant relations!
Also, on Market Hill is the town’s imposing library. It was once the local Corn Exchange. It was built in 1841 and is a listed building. A corn exchange was where merchants sold the grain produced on their land.
Market Hill is the site for the twice-weekly market. Held on Thursdays and Saturdays, there is a record of a market in the town in the Domesday Book 1086.
If you run down the Market Hill (look out for the cars), and onto Gainsborough Street, you will find the house Thomas Gainsborough grew up in. Next door at No. 47 is the oldest silk “manufactory”. The gardens at Gainsborough’s House are particularly lovely!
Also on Talbot’s Walks around town are the current silk mills which are still producing silk. Vanner’s and Stephen Walters also have shops.
I hope you enjoyed walking around my silk-producing town and learning about its history. Come back soon and I am sure I’ll remember you and help you to enjoy your visit!
If you see the red posts in the garden there is also a separate Talbot Trail around Sudbury. You can buy a leaflet explaining this at the Tourist Information Centre and for more information and details of events happening in Sudbury I like www.seeanddosudbury.co.uk
