Being a mother of two under-fives certainly hasn’t stopped Helen from Angharad from creating some fabulous bags and purses and accessories
Her love of fabric has led her to open a shop on etsy - she has a great ability to mix vintage and contemporary to give stunning results! Helen’s creative process usually begins with her falling in love with a particular fabric after which, she spends hours draping and arranging and thinking before hitting on the idea for the perfect project and cuts into the fabric for the first time.
All of Helen’s patterns are hand-drawn by her
WHERE ARE YOU BASED?
I’m based in Burnham near
WHEN DID YOU FIRST START BECOMING INTERESTED IN CRAFTS?
I’ve been making things (and making a mess!) as long as I can remember. Every Christmas as a child I would get a craft kit of some variety – including pyrography, weaving, quilling and lots of others. My first love has always been needlework though, both knitting and sewing.
GREATEST INFLUENCES?
My mum is probably wholly responsible for my crafting mania, as she sewed and knitted a lot of our clothes as children, and started me off with both at a young age. She’s a fantastic seamstress and even made my wedding dress just a week before I got married!
GREATEST PROBLEM YOU’VE OVERCOME?
The greatest problem I come into contact with is lack of time as a stay at home mum of a 2 and 4 year old. At the moment free time is a rare commodity, so I sew in the evenings while they’re asleep or at weekends when my husband is on daddy-duty!
WHAT PIECE OF WORK ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
I was so pleased with a quilt that I made recently for sale in my etsy shop. I used up almost the last of a pretty turquoise and pink bird print fabric on this, which I loved and it’s unfortunately sold out everywhere now. The quilt sold within a few days of listing and I was really sorry to see it go as I’d been secretly hoping it would languish in my shop so that I could keep it!
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE JUST STARTING OUT ON SELLING THEIR GOODS?
I’m not sure that I have any useful advice as I sort of haphazardly fell into my shop and it evolved as I went along. I would say that etsy is a great site if you’re looking to start selling as there are minimal fees to pay for listing your items so you can get a feel for what will and won’t sell without risking too much along the way.
Weekend guests? What are they? Whoever they were, they’d have to be prepared to put up with a sewing machine in the middle of the dining table and having their clothes covered in loose threads.
I just kissed my children goodnight.
A stack of sewing books, my glasses and a box of buttons.
They would probably say I had some kind of obsessive crafting disorder!
I would have said
Definitely a mini!
Eastenders.
Flickr, etsy and googlemail (not necessarily in that order!).
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