Meet The Team

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Ingleton, a small village in the Yorkshire Dales - famous for its caves and waterfalls. It’s very beautiful, but as a teenager I just couldn’t wait to leave to go to the big city! I’ve been in London 10 years, and I definitely appreciate the beauty of Ingleton and the area so much more now. I love to go back and visit family and walk in the dales and bump into everyone I used to go to school with in the chip shop.

Did you like making things when you were little?
My mum is very creative and would often encourage us to be doing or making something - I used to love drawing and making models out of plasticine. One of my earliest memories of making something would be doing cross stitch samplers, we would draw the pattern onto aida and sew them on long car journeys when going on holiday.

Do you think of yourself as creative?
Whilst I do like to have some form of crafty project on the go at all times, I wouldn’t say that I’m particularly good at thinking up new creative ideas myself - I find doing a workshop or a kit brings me most joy without what I find to be the stress of needing to think up something original. That’s where I find my relaxation - the zoning out and just doing what the kit or teacher tells me to do! I’ve definitely noticed however, since working at The Fabled Thread and being surrounded by creative and inspiring people has really meant that I have begun to do a lot more creatively than I had done in the good few years before, so I am finding my way slowly into trying new things - I recently got myself a sketchbook and have started doodling when I have a free moment.

Favourite book?
I read the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood when doing my English A-Level and it had a huge impression on me as a teenager. It’s one that I regularly go back to. I like it so much that I’ve purposely not watched the TV series that was made based on thebook in case it spoils it for me.

Favourite thing to listen to?
Before working at The Fabled Thread, I worked in music for nearly 10 years and so listening to, and seeing live music is something I love to do. Recently I’ve been enjoying listening to Cleo Sol who writes and sings beautiful R&B and Soul music.I also just love an Audiobook - especially to listen to if I’m either cleaning or sewing. Being from Yorkshire I try to only use my Audible credits on extremely long books that are over 20 hours long so as to get my money’s worth - I just finished listening to Fingersmith by Sarah Waters which was great!

What craft would you love to learn?
How to master wheel throwing - I’ve done a couple of hand building classes but the wheel is a total mystery to me and looks so fun - I’d also love to get my head around pottery glazes one day!

What’s your dream craft project?
I’d love to be able to make my own clothes and to create the perfect capsule wardrobe. Jen makes most of her own clothes so I am hoping to get some lessons!

What is your favourite kit?
I just finished stitching The Atlas Strongmen and have absolutely loved it - It’s a big piece which I’ve loved getting stuck into and trying out some new stitches. As it’s a freestyle kit, it doesn’t come with a stitch plan so you can choose what stitches and colours to use where, which for me has been a step into the unknown but I’ve found I’ve really enjoyed that process. 

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in sunny Croydon with my mum, dad, little bro and our treasured family dogs. My family have lived in London for ages (centuries in fact), in recent family history my grandparents lived in Peckham, and Brixton and my great grandparents in New Cross. We’ve even traced back my Great (x6) Grandad who lived in South-Greater London and was called Marmaduke!

Did you like making things when you were little?
All I wanted to do when I was little was create things, it was usually drawing or painting. When I wasn’t doing that I’d be making everyone I knew a macrame bracelet! And there was nothing that brought me as much joy as the stationery aisle at thesupermarket.

Do you think of yourself as creative?
I do! Being creative is woven throughout who I am and I didn’t realise how special being creative is until I was an adult. I genuinely don’t know what I’d be doing if I didn’t have creative hobbies and interests, or thinking about what to sew next!

Favourite book?
This might be the hardest question to answer as I love reading and the top spot changes frequently. Some honourable mentions would have to be Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, the Lord of theRings trilogy (of course) and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Favourite thing to listen to?
When I’m working on one of my many hobbies I’ll often be listening to audiobooks or whilst cooking/doing the washing up, it has to be something like Abba or Queen, the type of songs you can sing loudly to and have a dance around the kitchen.

What craft would you love to learn?
The list is endless but right now it’s quilting. 

What’s your dream craft project?
I’m getting married next year and I’m hoping to sew my wedding dress (scary), the napkins, and also I want to marble the paper for the place settings, save the dates, invites and confetti cones but that might be just a tad over-ambitious. We’ve been asked a few times if it’s just an excuse for me to get creative and make everything I can, ha!

What is your favourite kit?
I’ve been sewing the Tiger and the Woodman Fable kit recently, which makes it my current fave. But I can’t stop eyeing up the bargello cushions especially The Weave in Yellow.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Kentish Town in North West London. Perhaps because I lived in London I was obsessed with nature when I was a child - I read a lot of Swallows and Amazons books and daydreamed about having the kind of adventures you couldn’t have in a city. When I was around 9 my wish came true and I got to spend a lot of weekends and holidays on Osea Island in Essex, climbing trees and messing around in boats. 

Did you like making things when you were little?
Despite having ambitions to replicate elaborate creations I saw on Art Attack, ‘cutting and glueing’ as I thought of it as a child was never my strong suit. More often than not I’d start a project and end up tangled up in a roll of sellotape. I’ve always been more at home drawing and painting. When I was very small I remember having a long roll of paper that I’d use to draw very tall giraffes. When I was a bit older I created lots of detailed scenes of people with horses’ heads going about their daily lives (no idea why). Themost advanced I got when it came to three dimensions was a brief obsession with making model theatres, which still decorate my parents’ downstairs loo.

Do you think of yourself as creative?
I do now, but I didn’t always! And I think that’s to do with a shift in how I think about the creative process. Previously I thought being ‘creative’ meant thinking up completely original ideas in a vacuum, which I’m sure some people can do, but that’s not how I think. Now I think of creativity differently: being able to think laterally, nurture your interests, make connections between things, and synthesise different influences into something new. I think many of us need food for our creativity - to look at the world around us and thewonderful things other people before us have made.

Favourite book?
Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido. It’s a coming of age novel that feels so familiar and relatable, even though it’s set in the 1970s. It’s a real comfort read, and I go back to it for a re-read every year or so. 

Favourite thing to listen to?
For a while now I’ve been listening to the album Trio (by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris) on repeat. Their voices in harmony make me feel really calm. I’d really recommend the documentary Sisters in Country, which tells the story of thecollaboration between three women with so much respect for one another as artists.

What craft would you love to learn?
I would love to be able to make my own clothes - my mum taught me to use her 1950s Singer sewing machine when I was a teenager, but I made a couple of things I didn’t like much and then gave it up. A lot of high street clothes are very beige and minimalist at the moment, and I have in mind lots of bright and patterned outfits I’d love to wear, if I only knew how to make them!

What’s your dream craft project?
I’m a painter, and my dream project would be to make a series of three-dimensional paintings inspired by the model theatres I loved as a child.

What is your favourite kit?
I love the Fables, perhaps because I’m drawn to images that tell stories. It’s so hard to choose between them and I don’t think I quite have the sewing skills to do an intermediate kit yet, but I’ve always wanted to try sewing The Fisherman. My friends joke that my family is obsessed with fish (we all have lots of paintings of fish and no one is quite sure why), so it would be a perfect piece to add to the collection.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Bristol until I was 10 and then we moved to a small village in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. As a child I adored being in the middle of nowhere, however I definitely resented it during my teenage years. I have a new appreciation for it now and I am actually quite grateful I spent a lot of time being bored, I think it expanded my imagination. London is where I want to be for this chapter of my life but I can see myself moving back to somewhere rural eventually. 

Did you like making things when you were little?
I have always loved making things, in fact I did virtually nothing else when I was little. Some favourite projects would include paper dolls, clothes for Bratz dolls, homemade insect entomology frames (gross) and mud perfume.

Do you think of yourself as creative?
Yes, I think because I have always made, drawn or painted things I have always felt creative. I tend to think in moodboards, references and pattern recognition, rather than in information and logistics.

Favourite book?
Reading is not my strong suit so I don’t have a huge back catalogue, but I do remember being captivated by Lord of the Flies during my school years. I think studying a text made it much more enjoyable for me because I love character analysis and there are lots of themes and symbolism to pick apart in that story. A more recent book I liked was Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. Not a beach read but beautifully written nonetheless.

Favourite thing to listen to?
Music always! I do enjoy podcasts, but more often than not it’s music. Every month I make a playlist of all the songs I love and then listen to that exclusively until the next month. I find that way, I am always collecting new favourites and then certain songs will remind me of very specific memories later down the line. Currently, the artists I am listening to the most are Lizzy McAlpine, Dominic Fike, Royel Otis, Mk.Gee and Kacey Musgraves. 

What craft would you love to learn?
There are so many crafts I would love to learn but top of the list is silversmithing. I am obsessed with personal style and fashion plus I think I would really enjoy the detailed, technical process of jewellery making. 

What’s your dream craft project?
My dream craft project (if you can include this as craft) might be building a house! However that is extremely ambitious, so perhaps I will say making a set of chairs and a table. I really like the idea of making something you can use for a lifetime from scratch, using natural materials. I think that would be extremely satisfying. 

What is your favourite kit?
At the moment I am sewing my first ever kit, one of the Fables, which I am really enjoying. My favourites though are the tapestry kits, specifically the bargello. Again, perhaps it is because they are cushions; I love when craft meets function. I have my eye on one eventually.