Thanks for stopping by NETTY MADE
Who am I and why am I here?
Well, here is a bit of my story which I hope will help.
It was August Bank Holiday 2019 and I was telling my friend that I needed a hobby to combat work-related stress. She recommended buying a sewing machine and offered to teach me to dressmake. At the time, I laughed and thought, "good luck with that," as I always considered myself talentless. I was the sister with no talent.
Fast forward 2 months, and I found myself sitting in front of my first-ever sewing machine, not even able to thread it. I took some time away from work and found two sewing-related craft channels on TV. I was enthralled watching a patchwork demonstration, and from that day on, I made it my mission to learn everything I could about patchwork.
During the lockdowns in 2020, I enrolled in patchwork classes via Zoom, watched endless videos on YouTube, followed every designer or maker in the UK or overseas on social media, and undertook sewing retreats when I could. I was glued to watching the craft channels and those setting up on YouTube. If I could not watch live, I watched on playback. I sewed before work, I sewed after work, often into the early hours. I studied and read every book I could get my hands on. If a new topic to me came up, I researched it and tried it out. I became enthralled with English Paper Piecing & Foundation Paper Piecing in addition to traditional patchwork techniques. I became addicted to knowing everything about sewing threads! The first year of my sewing journey, I churned out anything and everything. Some good, some bad, and some very bad.
My family were supportive once they could see how determined I was to make this craft my own. I set up a business page on Facebook called Sew Lovely by Sisters. This was a collaboration between myself and my sister, who is an accomplished hobbyist jewellery maker. We wanted to showcase our two crafts and see how we could work together. I was still in full-time work at the time, but then life threw me a curved ball in the shape of COVID in July 2022. From that day on, my destiny changed, but I didn't realize it until October 2023 when I was retired permanently from a job I loved and had done for over a decade. Netty Made then came into being. Sewing, patchwork, bag making, household soft crafts, to name a few, became the crafts that saved me. They got me through some very dark days of illness, and my skills were honed without me even realizing it.
Netty Made came into being after a chance meeting with a community initiative called Knowsley Woman in the Know, supported by Kindred, an organization interested in developing social trading organizations that also benefit the community. Sew Lovely by Sisters had run its course, and it was now time for me to step up and be me. From that day on, my purpose in life was redefined; not by my poor ongoing health but by a desire to bring sewing as a craft to my community and to also design and develop my own making style and aim for a productive life from this craft.
So, that's my journey so far. I now consider myself a designer and maker, an owner of a sewing room bulging at the seams to extend into its own studio workshop, and a collector, much to my husband's amusement, of many sewing machines. But my story is still developing and continuing with lots of exciting community, workshop, and bespoke projects on the horizon. I hope you will follow me either via the website or my socials so I can keep you updated on what's happening and where I go from here.
Thank you for reading,
Love Netty x
