Q&A with The Spinneyfield Stitchery
A little bit about you...
I am Harriet from The Spinneyfield Stitchery and I'm from Rotherham, South Yorkshire. I live with my family, my husband, my son, my stepdaughter and our cat. I do have a regular job too just in case!
What you do...
I make modern and simple cross stitch designs and kits that I sell both online and at craft fairs. My ethos is community over competition and I like to reflect this in my advertising. I am about to extend my range to include themed mystery boxes where each box is based around a theme and filled with lots of cross stitching goodies, patterns, supplies and treats. The first one will be Christmas themed. It will champion five other UK small businesses too as I'm adamant I'd like to support others in getting their name seen and heard in the correct market. All my kits are suitable for beginners and come with a 'How To' guide and I feel are priced very competitively for the market, yet offer far more than a shop bought kit. My packaging and kits are plastic free and will soon be making the change to recyclable stickers too!
Where do you sell your items?
I currently sell online via @andsotoshop. A UK Indie marketplace that is fairly new but supports many small independent brands and has a very positive ethos that I can connect with. The founder Louise, has a great small team that work all hours to ensure we're all supported and that any new categories or tags we need, get added swiftly. I also do a small amount of local craft fairs.
Why you started...
I have loved cross stitch for many many years, and before having my son, it was a fantastic hobby to have and I regularly designed my own patterns to gift to friends and family. After I'd had my son, I needed some form of creative release and got back into it during naptimes to help my brain relax and adjust to becoming a new parent. I began to eventually come out of the baby fog, which I credit to cross stitching, so almost as a form of therapy. This has naturally become an urge to sell my own patterns to show others that you can learn a new craft or have 'me time' whilst creating something lovely. My rainbow alphabet range was the first I created under the intention of having in my children's rooms spelling out their names. This is yet to happen! The mystery boxes are my ultimate goal and supporting other creatives. I love the idea of an affordable box, sent direct to you with a range of different ideas in, plus finishing supplies, but also being a 'me time' enabler, so when you open the box there might be a sweet treat in there or something non stitchy related to help you relax! Basically, I want to be the creator and supporter of 'me time' for other busy people.
Are there any advantages or disadvantages of running your own business?
Obviously fitting this around a regular part time job, plus family life and commitments is hard and whilst some mums work into the small hours, I am more of a morning person, so you will naturally find me getting up in the small hours to work before the rest of the world wakes up. If I didn't do this and make the sacrifice of sleep, I wouldn't be where I am today. I can honestly say, the determination to be successful at this, is enough motivation to get up at 5am to design patterns, pay invoices, and faff around with computer software! If anyone else were to say they'd struggle with the time they don't have, I'd say you just need to rethink what is important through the day that you could sacrifice a few days a week. I say I don't have time, but then I find myself watching half a Netflix series in one night. It's all about prioritising and making use of what you have as nobody can give you 26hours in a day to get stuff done.
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