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I opened my shop on TBCH last November, so I thought it was about time I wrote something!
I love textiles: the colours, patterns and how you can combine them to make wonderful accessories. Trying to represent nature using fabrics
fascinates me and is a challenge! .
I learned to sew at a young age and throughout my teenage and student years, sewed on a regular basis. Once I began working the sewing more or less stopped. As a bit of a fabric hoarder I decided to see if I could turn all this
into beautiful home accessories so, about 7 years ago, I made some
tentative forays into the world of handmade but it wasn’t until November 2019
that I decided to make a full time career of it
Inspiration also comes from my surroundings. I am lucky to live just a short walk from acres of forests. Great for walking my three dogs (two black Labradors and an Irish Wolfhound) , it is also an area full of wildlife which you can now see reflected in my applique cushion designs. Although every now and then I throw in the odd exotic creature, such as the Australian King Parrot who has recently
appeared in my designs. I have not yet spotted one of those flying around the forest! The wildlife I see is the inspiration for my designs which use a mixture of raw edge applique and free motion embroidery.
I am now in the process of turning ideas into designs and up-scaling my making of those products I developed 7 years ago: the cushions, gloves and bags.
The beauty of my applique cushions is, I hope, not only in the designs themselves but in the fact that they close the loop of any waste textile from the other products I make. Specialising in applique designs I can use the remnants from the gloves and bags in those applique designs.
The starting point for all my products is the fabric. I can have a piece of fabric for years before I decide what to use it for! And sometimes inspiration can be very close to home: I used a cashmere jumper to make my first pair of gloves, for instance.
I aim to design and make beautiful, useful products and something which is a ‘bit different’. Everything is made by me, by hand and nothing is mass produced. Even my more popular cushion designs vary in the fabric made to create the applique, making each one slightly different and special.