I have been crafty from a very young age, and my parents always encouraged me to paint, to draw, to create. I can just remember the pure joy of making. We had two very good haberdashery shops near our family home, and I felt such exhilaration seeing all those beads and buttons, along with the excitement of choosing fabric and watching it being measured and cut. What was I going to make next?
My love of drawing and craft continued 20 throughout my childhood and into my teenage years, when I took art and design courses at school and onwards at college. I went on to study printed textile design at Loughborough University. We focused on screen printing — exploring not just the myriad of colours you could create, ways of mark-making and repeat patterns, but also the science behind how to create the dyes, as well as the chemicals, steaming and physically creating your screen designs. It was absolutely fascinating, and I can still smell the musty, earthy, sometimes acrid, print room now.
After graduating with a 1st Class BA (Hons), instead of going into a creative role, I chose to go into a more office-type position in fashion buying. The job did have its creative moments, but it was certainly more general admin and tea-making initially! I went on to various roles — from merchandising, coordinating shipping containers for a high street retailer and accounting, to planning groceries for a national supermarket chain and forecasting the U.K. chocolate industry!
In 2014, I married my lovely husband, Dan — and I pretty much turned our wedding into one huge craft project. I wanted to hand make everything: from the favours and bunting, to hand sewing thousands of fabric petals and flowers for the table decor. People at this point were actively saying: “You must do this for a living … you should start your own business.” But what was this? How? In what way?
I had never considered running my own business. I had only ever worked as an employee in the corporate world, but the seed had been sown. While I did like my job (and I enjoyed the monthly pay!) and loved the people I worked with, I was becoming frustrated with office politics and outdated technology systems. Life is so very short, and I truly believe we should go for our dreams whenever we can. So, with the support of my family, I leaped.
However, I couldn’t just fully leave my 9-to-5 instantly. I wish that was financially possible! It just wasn’t at that time. I was fortunate to be asked to drop back to part time in my role while they found a replacement.
Then — on this crazy new journey — after a chance tweet, I found myself doing a screen test and interview for a new craft shopping TV channel in London. I was instantly offered a junior buying role that day, one that also incorporated being featured on regular TV slots demonstrating live on-air! It was quite an exhilarating time. This opportunity also meant I was suddenly launched into working with all the craft suppliers and connecting with so many relevant people throughout the industry.
While the commute was long, the benefits were great and it launched me into a whole new area of the craft world. It was a busy period of my life: I was working two days a week for my old role in chocolate forecasting and three days a week in London for The Craft Channel, which also involved traveling around the U.K. and prepping samples for the TV shows. Then, additionally, I was still trying to fully establish my brand The Crafty Lass!
The name The Crafty Lass came about pretty quickly. I am my Yorkshire husband’s “lass” … and after a quick brainstorm, it just clicked. With Dan’s help, I set about creating a basic blog and my social media, writing about anything crafty I could think of: quick, achievable tutorials and seasonally creative suggestions.
I remember the first day when I was officially self-employed. I sat in our small spare bedroom with my outdated computer and a cup of tea. Now what? I had ordered some pretty stationery to write on, and I just … felt like I was playing. Like I was a fraud! I had no clue — but I did have a whole heap of ideas and ambition.
My main priority was to teach craft to adults. I wanted them to take time out of their busy lives to see how craft could provide calm — and to learn new skills, meet like-minded people and make something they could be proud of. I wanted to offer simple but effective and rewarding projects. I truly believe that craft should be accessible to all, and that everyone can be creative in some way.
I researched and researched. And practiced lots of different ideas.
My first workshop was all planned: I found a great local venue. I put posters up. I shared the details all over local socials … Not a single person booked a ticket. I had to pull down the posters, withdraw and shy away from the event. I felt so silly! But I did wonder: Why hadn’t they sold?
Well, I learnt some valuable lessons. I realized (afterward) it was school holidays and people were more likely to be away. The ticket prices were correct for the value people were getting, but actually, no one knew who I was. Why would they book with me? I needed to establish myself. Which is the old classic conundrum — you need to get experience … but then how do you get that without experience?
It took time, but I slowly started to hold some more successful events. The more I posted on socials, the more people were interacting. It helped that I was on shopping TV and people could see The Crafty Lass appearing on their Sky TV planners. I became a blogger for a fabric company called the Craft Cotton Co. and was asked to teach a series of corporate team-building craft workshops for a company I used to work for. I also started working with Hobbycraft as one of its official makers, writing tutorials and even getting paid for it!
My next challenge was a change of direction — a baby. We really wanted a family and were blessed to have our little Freddie in 2016. My journey on The Craft Channel ended, and then we moved house. … Everything at once! It meant I was now “just” The Crafty Lass. Fully self-employed.
But there was something special about this new house. It had an outbuilding and I just knew from the moment I saw it, it could become my studio.
I went on to host many a craft workshop and party here in a whole heap of mediums — from lampshade making and woodblock printing to sewing, a weekly sketchbook club, wreaths, clay. … Opportunities were arising and things started to feel like they were happening.
I was delighted to win a Theo Paphitis (of Dragons’ Den) #SBS (Small Business Sunday) award. I was asked to teach at some of the big- gest crafting festivals across the U.K., and was approached by the amazing company Cricut to become a brand ambassador! I started to be featured in magazines and on the radio. I began working with the Women’s Institute, which led to being on the front cover of its members magazine WI Life, and becoming a tutor at their prestigious college, Denman.
In 2019, we were delighted to be expecting our second baby boy, Rupert. While I tried to focus on maternity, I couldn’t just stop the craft! I did enjoy being a mummy, of course — but craft made me feel like me. And with a little (a LOT!) of help from my incredible family, I even taught at Kirstie Allsopp’s The Handmade Festival at Hampton Court, London, when Rupert was just under 3 months old. He became my very cute little sidekick as I taught air-dry clay in scorching heat to over 300 people across the weekend, with 100 people at a time!
And then things changed. The pandemic, of course, had a huge impact on us all. It was a scary and worrying time. From a business perspective, it meant all the major events and festivals were cancelled. I also put a stop to all workshops in my small, enclosed studio.
However, craft suddenly seemed to BOOM — people were at home and wanted to try new things! I switched to online events and wrote more tutorials for people being creative whilst at home. I was briefly featured on TV, where I discussed making crafts from recycled objects. I even collaborated with the huge brand Heinz on how to upcycle their tin cans.
But the one thing I did for me throughout the pandemic — every day — was draw. While we couldn’t go anywhere, every evening as the boys would settle down for sleep I became completely obsessed with drawing, particularly flowers and nature. I can’t really explain why, as it wasn’t something I had done much of before. Maybe it was purely seeing the flowers in our garden more often, taking time and inspiration from the wild world around me. But it was clearly meant to be!
During the pandemic, I was in contact with Dani Phillips, the managing director of Visage Textiles and the Craft Cotton Co., the company I was already blogging with. I shared some of my drawings with him and, after some meetings (when the pandemic allowed), I started working with his incredible design team to work my drawings into repeat print design. Before I knew it, The Crafty Lass fabric collection was launched. What a huge moment! It was an absolute dream come true — and still is!
Things were ticking along nicely. I was enjoying this new phase of The Crafty Lass as we continued to work on fabric ranges. I taught some workshops and, of course, was busy being a mummy to two young boys. That brought its own challenges, but that is perhaps a story for another day.
I then became a Brother sewing brand partner, working on blog posts and offering step-by-step tutorials and sewing inspiration. I became a Cricut contributing artist, offering SVG designs for people to digitally craft with. I also began working with Cricut more on hosting online workshops and being one of its UK Live social hosts.
In early 2023, I had what I would call a bit of a “muddled” phase. I just didn’t know where this was all going. I felt very comfortable but equally anxious and unsure. It was OK … but how could I go forward, upward? My fabrics were fantastic; and even writing this, it still feels like a pinch me moment to have my own ranges. However, my children were both settled into school — and I just felt a little lost.
I went back to my why — why I set up the business and what I wanted to focus on. I did a huge brainstorm of my short- and long-term dreams, and just kept speaking to people and going to events, asking questions, sampling ideas. I wasn’t sure which direction things were going to go.
But things suddenly pivoted and in the last 18 months everything has really been incredible! I am not sure I could have predicted this next stage, but I remained open to ideas and went with my gut instinct. I was approached by the Indian Block Print Co. to create some exclusive ranges of hand-carved printing woodblocks. I focused my skills on digital drawing and collaborating with its team and carvers in Jaipur, India, and the collections launched in early 2024.
I also just launched my first sewing threads collection with Aurifil called The Foliage Collection — a beautifully lush green 50wt set that highlights all the leaves throughout my busy floral fabric ranges. They are perfect for both dressmaking and quilting.
And, finally, I worked on a HUGE project that took about 10 months of collaborating, designing, making and writing and was a life ambition … my first book Simple Paper Flowers with GMC Publications Ltd was published! This has been a truly amazing experience, and I cannot wait for people to read it and get creative with lots of beautiful paper blooms! There are 25 achievable projects to make.
My career thus far has had many fairytale-like moments but one of the most emotional and unforgettable was holding the book in my hands and seeing it in a shop — and the realization that the people who buy it will likely experience the same joy I do every time I make paper flowers.
