Rose of Felt Giraffe

A little bit about me today… I’m Rose of felt giraffe, I write once a week for the blog, simply choosing my favourite handmade goods and waffling on about them. I started writing for Lynne in December last year. I’m really enjoying having an excuse to nosey at other people’s items without feeling too guilty that I’m spending time away from my sewing machine!

When I do get some spare time to sew I tend to make purses and cases, from all sorts of different material, but I’ve been known to make aprons, bags, and coasters too (you can have a nosy at some of my past items on flickr if you like. I also hand-stitch some little brooches with any left over fabric, as I hate throwing away material. I started my Etsy shop last March and my Folksy shop in September. This is currently more of a hobby to me than any significant income, as I don’t tend to have the time to make as much as I’d like.

Here I am hand sewing something, or more likely unpicking!
My hands aren’t that big in real life, honest!

I started sewing after being given a sewing machine for my birthday by my boyfriend. I’d wanted one for ages, even though I wasn’t too sure what I’d do with it! Having no crafting background or having any creative streak I didn’t know where to start. To try out the sewing machine I decided to make a few things for my mum. When I went to buy the material I couldn’t decide what I wanted and was slightly baffled by the measurements so I ended up buying three metres of felt. So I ended up with all this felt, in a one bedroom terraced house and no idea how to get rid of it.

After a bit of embarrassed panicking I started making different things, purses, pencil cases, cosmetic cases and giving them to friends. Everyone seemed quite impressed, so I started to convince myself that maybe I wasn’t that bad after all! So that’s basically how felt giraffe started. The giraffe bit, by the way is just because I love giraffes. Now I tend to make stuff using tweed as well as felt, after recycling a pair of my own tweed trousers into a friends birthday present!

Due to the lack of space in our house, I’ve made a corner of the living room into my work area. It is between the sofa and door, which means I can still see the tv and my boyfriend sitting on the sofa which is nice! However there’s no space for no chair and table so me and the sewing machine balance dangerously on a couple of boxes

Here’s a little selection of the things I make whilst risking life and limb.

During the day I go to work and put my scientist hat on, I’m not a real scientist - I’m a science editor making educational materials for schools. It’s usually quite fun and rewarding, and it allows me to work ‘in’ science without having to wear a lab coat. Some days I even learn new things!

So that’s a bit about me. I’ll be at the Cambridge h@ndmade fair UK, so come and say hi if you’re around! I hope you enjoy my posts every Wednesday.

Thanks for reading!

Written by Rose of Felt Giraffe