Vital statistics:
Name: Kay
Craft: One of a kind, recycled, clothing and accessories.
Hometown: Sheffield
Website: www.lilidrawspictures.com
Tell us about you and your craft?
I work from my small studio (dining table/living room floor) in Sheffield. I make things I love and I want to wear: MOD-ish original clothing, bags, badges, brooches, purses, and notebooks in my favourite recycled, reclaimed and re-purposed materials. I get a lot of fabrics from charity shops, car boot sales, markets and roll-end type bargain fabric shops. Friends also sometimes give me fabrics they acquire/inherit. The rarer vintage or designer fabrics usually come from eBay or from Etsy. Wool skirts, exciting prints on men’s shirts, bed linen, and curtains are my favourites to chop and re-use. I like Pin-Up girls, Japanese kawaii, and comic book images – fabric with these types of prints seriously floats my boat too so I like to highlight my creations with snippets of cuteness.
How did you get started?
I liked sewing as a kid and my mum has always sewn, making outfits for herself and, sometimes under protest, for me. I started with the desire/need to make and alter things for my short legged 5′ 1″ self. Altering, upcycling, and customizing clothing; making one of a kind dresses from vintage bed linens; having something recycled and original. I enjoyed the designing and creating process so much I made things for friends, for family, for Christmas. And it was only a small step further to open a shop.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I take a lot of photos whenever I’m out, I draw things I’ve seen, and I read a lot of craft and design websites and blogs. I catalogue all the photos, pictures, business cards, notes and flyers, fabric samples, colour charts etc, with annotations, in a series of small scrap books (Sukie: Rescued Paper Notebooks) and whenever I need a new project I make a cup of tea (or ten) and browse back through my collections. I also love to make lists: lists of dresses I want to make, lists of fabrics I want to find. That way I always have something on the go.
Where do you sell your work?
Through my online Etsy and Folksy shops, and at an increasing number of craft fairs in the north of England.
What do you love most about being creative?
The self-sufficiency really. The tailoring of a style or a piece and it’s morphing into something new; the originality and always having an appropriate gift for someone at 10 minutes notice!
Tell us what your plans for the future are?
I’m desperate for a studio. A big Hansel & Gretel style garden shed chalet in the back garden would suit me right. I need the space to set out my tools and materials in a more efficient way, and to store all my finished beauties. Space is my limiter at the moment and I’m all about the maximum efficiency! Must be my science training. Other than that I like things as they are right now on the making/selling front, though I still feel I would like to find my niche. I also love researching and writing for craft blogs. I’ve enjoyed putting together the MUSEROUND posts so much and I’d like to do loads more writing.
