Craft Focus - October/November (Issue 75)

46 Love at first stitch Tell us a little about your background – have you always been interested in crafts? I was always into making things as a child. When I was seven or eight, I used to film Blue Peter- style demonstrations with my friend Jane who lived across the road. We stayed in touch, and Jane recently became our official photographer – it’s funny that we now get paid to do what we used to do as kids! It was only as an adult that I started sewing my own clothes. I was looking for a creative outlet from my office job and signed up for a dressmaking class on a whim. It was love at first stitch, and quickly developed into an obsession. Talk us through the history of Tilly and the Buttons. Tilly and the Buttons began life as a blog 10 years ago. It started as a way for me to share my passion for making clothes with likeminded people. Friends and readers kept telling me that they would love to sew but found traditional patterns intimidating, so I began sharing beginner-friendly tips and tutorials. The blog grew in popularity, with millions of views each year, and I was getting requests to share patterns that I’d been drafting for myself. My professional background was in designing learning resources, so I decided to combine this expertise with my passion for handmade fashion to reinvent sewing patterns for a new generation of crafters. Our patterns make it easy for new people to get into sewing by translating the technical jargon, replacing confusing diagrams with colour photos of each step and including a range of helpful tips and inspiration. When The Great British Sewing Bee first hit our screens I was one of the contestants, and overnight what was once a very niche hobby seemed to grow in popularity. Social media has also had a big part to play in spreading the word about how fulfilling it is to make your own clothes. My company has grown from just me sitting in my kitchen with a dream to a team of lovely ladies working from an inspiring studio in Dulwich. Our patterns are Sewing star Tilly Walnes, director o Tilly and the Buttons, tells Andrea Ashfield about a new fabric collaboration with The Craft Cotton Company “Social media has had a big part to play in spreading the word about how fulf il ling it is to make your own clothes.”