When Jo asked if I’d like to do a meet the maker my immediate thought was to say thanks, but no thanks! I’ve never been great at self-promotion which is probably one of the reasons it has taken me until recently to actually start this little venture. Nevertheless, here we are, fingers crossed I don’t bore your pants off!
Visit Jessie & Thom’s Made By Mums Shop
A crafty family trait
I’ve always been crafty, it’s a family trait I suppose, my grandmothers knitted and crocheted, and I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t a sewing machine sitting in our dining room at home. I have very fond memories of weekend trips to the haberdashery in the village where Nan lived and there was always a tapestry on the go somewhere, but somehow there was always something that stopped me making more of any of it than just a hobby until I acquired a small person.
I worked as a legal secretary in the city for many years and had always assumed I would go back to that once my maternity leave was over, but the little lady turned out to be harder to leave than I thought she would! People have said to me for years that I should sell the things I make but I was never quite sure that turning something I loved doing into a job wouldn’t suck all the joy out of it so I resisted but as I started thinking more about staying at home I started to wonder if I should give it a try.
Passions Rediscovered
When it became clear that I wasn’t going to return to my “proper” job I initially thought that I would attempt to make use of the crochet skills I’d honed over thousands of hours sat on commuter trains but the little lady is far too interested in yarn to allow me to get anything done without “helping” so I had to abandon that idea pretty quickly.
Luckily it wasn’t long before she gave me another avenue to explore when she became very opinionated about the clothes that I was buying for her. It was after spending quite a lot of money on a couple of things that I knew I could have made myself that I got my sewing machine out and started searching for the kind of fun fabric that the little lady was after.
Starting Selling
It took me a good while to get up the courage to think about selling, but after a few people had asked me to make things for them I tentatively set myself up a Facebook page and sent the link to a couple of trusted folk to see what they thought about it and asking for any advice they might have. An hour later I received a message from my “little” brother saying it was about time I did it and that he’d invited 275 people to like the page so there really was no turning back then!
I recently had my first orders from total strangers (i.e. not people I know myself or that had been pointed in my direction by someone that does know me) and that was super exciting. I’m so pleased that my work is giving people pleasure and it’s lovely to know that there are folk in the wilds of Scotland wearing my little Sussex brand.
More to Come
I am pleased to report that so far there is no sign of making a job of sewing lessening the enjoyment, although I am currently in the midst of preparing stock for Christmas fairs which is pretty stressful as I’ve never done anything like that before. I love shopping for new fabric and have recently purchased a few exclusive designs which will be appearing over the next few months (if you’ve been on my Facebook or Instagram you’ll have seen my “Space Hoppers” already) and once her ladyship starts nursery I’ll have more sewing time so will be able to make more ready to post items to go alongside the custom orders which currently make up most of my sales.
If you’re still reading I thank you for your time and hope that if you look at my page you see something you like, and if you don’t get in touch anyway, I’m always open to new ideas.