Charlotte Liddle creates beautiful highly embellished fabric and paper designs, handmade accessories, ballet shoes, peg dolls, and cards which are sold in a number of prestigious retail outlets including Liberty and Designers Guild in London. Here, Charlotte tells us more about how she got started in crafts and her new book Cute and Easy Quilting and Stitching.When did you first become interested in sewing and stitching?
I’ve always been creative and loved making throughout my childhood. I loved art at school and then went on to study an A level in fashion and textiles, I enjoyed every minute of it and decided that it was definitely the career for me.
Jam pot coversI would describe my work as being quite girly, quirky, vintage and nostalgic. I love collecting and working with vintage fabrics and creating pieces that make people smile. I tend to use a lot of traditional techniques in my work but give them a bit of a modern twist and these often make people remember techniques they learnt when they were younger and recall happy stories of sewing or patchworking with their favorite grannies.
There are 35 projects in the book, what inspires you when you’re thinking of new designs?
This book was much bigger than my previous two which is why we decided to split the book down into a few chapters. This meant that I could design in smaller collections, concentrating on one at a time. I take inspiration for many different places; the fabric I’m working with can often determine a colour palette. I also visit exhibitions, see what’s happening in shops, have a good look around on the internet to see what’s happening on the craft scene. Blogs are a great place for inspiration. However this particular book was quite heavily influenced by the Quilts exhibition at the V & A.
Coffee pot cozyI loved making the hanging Russian dolls and the Russian doll picture for the book. I’m a bit obsessed with Russian dolls at the moment.
You’ve recently become more involved in educational projects, can you tell us more about those?
Yes, I started doing a lot of workshops and then I applied for a position as an adult education tutor and from there I was also offered a part-time job as a lecturer in fashion and textiles in a college. So at the moment I teach about half the time so two and a half days a week. It’s great to be working around lots of other creative people and it really helps with inspiration when I can share ideas and concepts with like-minded people.
What advice would you give someone who is just starting their career in the craft industry?
I would say that it is essential to be flexible and to be able to manage lots of different projects at the same time. When I set up in business – I found quite quickly that I need to have some understanding of all the different jobs roles within the business. As well as looking after designing and making you also need to market yourself, do your own administration, look after your accounts, answer e-mails and phone calls. At first it can feel quite very overwhelming but you soon pick it up and I particularly love the fact that every day is different and I never get bored!
Baby shoesWhat do you like to do when you're not crafting?
Because crafting is my job I often feel that I need to do something that is very different, I love walking my dog Alfie and I have to admit that I’m partial to a game of poker, which isn’t very girly at all! I play in a local pub league which is great fun – we have such a laugh and giggle.
What’s next for Charlotte Liddle?
My next adventure is working as a craft instructor on a cruise ship which I am so excited about. I have my first two-week cruise booked for September, it's on the Oceana ship and its sails around the Canary Islands – can’t wait!
You can find out more about Charlotte and her work on her website www.charlotteliddle.co.uk.
Cute and Easy Quilting and Stitching by Charlotte Liddle (£12.99) published by CICO Books, photography by Penny Wincer.
ohmygosh, those strawberry jam jar lid covers are the cutest things ever!
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