An experiment on myself, or how I went to work in a clothing factory.
Three days back at the sewing factory where I worked decades ago. The alarm clock, the traffic jam, the industrial machine, and how it compares with life as a small maker.
Blog
Stories & guides
My company's birthday
The second birthday of my dear little company, at the busiest and most pleasant time of the year, with a sales record to go with it.
Christmas spirit in the patchwork room
A Christmas baby's quilt, Christmas stockings, miniature elf bags, wash bags for women and men and aprons for grown ups, with prices.
Reuse in my design
I work on reuse and zero waste principles: most of my patchwork comes from production offcuts and reclaimed fabrics. What that really costs in time, and why it is a way of life rather than a saving.
A design update for the kannel bags
A kannel teacher pointed out that the shoulder strap loops sit in the wrong place. So the new bag has them at the top, on both sides of the handle.
A sofa cover for a nursery quiet corner
Nurseries and schools have quietly become one of my main groups of clients. This time a sofa cover with the moon and the stars, to go with the sun on the wall hanging.
A crafter's Christmas wish
A crafter's Christmas wish, in one picture.
A photo session with children
A photography course, a new camera and a shoot with the children in aprons, pots and pans: give children the props and let them get on with it.
A patchwork skirt
If patchwork is a way of life, you MUST find time to sew something for yourself too. A long, warm woollen skirt of eight panels with crocheted flowers.
A quilt in autumn colours
Autumn burst in through the door and landed straight on a child's quilt, brush in one hand and paint pots in the other. Cotton on top, wool wadding inside, flannel backing.
New covers for a garden swing and a sun canopy
Twenty metres of supposedly weatherproof fabric for a 4x4 m sun canopy, sewn in a room smaller than any single piece of it. A month later it had torn to ribbons.
Over half a kilometre of fabric strips
The sewing machine pedal gave up, so if you cannot sew there is nothing for it but to cut fabric. In the picture: 560 m of strips.