My dining room table was rarely used for meals!
I live in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a beautiful city steeped in history and known worldwide for its annual arts festivals. Many people are unaware that Edinburgh has a seaside on the shore of the Firth of Forth - and that is where I live.
One of my earliest memories is playing with my mother's embroidery threads and my childhood fascination with colour has stayed with me. My mother, an old-school sewing teacher, nurtured my interest in textiles and taught me to knit, sew, embroider and crochet. These skills have given me great pleasure and I continue to develop them and add new ones such as felting, fabric painting and macrame.
Over the years I accumulated a large stock of dressmaking scraps, pieces of material I had never quite got around to using, odds and ends of wool and embroidery threads - it drove my husband mad! I started combining strips of these materials to form my distinctive fabrics and used these to make my own designs of bags and cushions.
My creations were widely admired and I began to collect material from more sources - my stock was growing, not shrinking! I have become a regular visitor to charity shops. Family, friends and customers give me material they have had tucked away along with buttons, ribbons, threads, wool and anything else they think I might use.
What started as an occasional hobby in the dining room slowly grew and the family grumbled. I have now taken over what was once referred to as the study but was often a dumping ground. It is a lovely bright room overlooking our back garden and when I open the window I can often hear the sea at the bottom of the street. I am lucky to have this space to shut myself away with my fabrics and threads and I am at my happiest working out new colour combinations and product designs.
One of my earliest memories is playing with my mother's embroidery threads and my childhood fascination with colour has stayed with me. My mother, an old-school sewing teacher, nurtured my interest in textiles and taught me to knit, sew, embroider and crochet. These skills have given me great pleasure and I continue to develop them and add new ones such as felting, fabric painting and macrame.
Over the years I accumulated a large stock of dressmaking scraps, pieces of material I had never quite got around to using, odds and ends of wool and embroidery threads - it drove my husband mad! I started combining strips of these materials to form my distinctive fabrics and used these to make my own designs of bags and cushions.
My creations were widely admired and I began to collect material from more sources - my stock was growing, not shrinking! I have become a regular visitor to charity shops. Family, friends and customers give me material they have had tucked away along with buttons, ribbons, threads, wool and anything else they think I might use.
What started as an occasional hobby in the dining room slowly grew and the family grumbled. I have now taken over what was once referred to as the study but was often a dumping ground. It is a lovely bright room overlooking our back garden and when I open the window I can often hear the sea at the bottom of the street. I am lucky to have this space to shut myself away with my fabrics and threads and I am at my happiest working out new colour combinations and product designs.