Second chances

Kirsty Macdonald creates unique precious memory keepsakes for families made from cherished sentimental clothing. Interview by Kate Chapman.

It’s an exciting time for former textiles teacher Kirsty Macdonald, who has stepped away from the classroom to focus on her own business – crafting keepsakes from treasured items of clothing.

Handmade by Kirsty Louise was born in 2017, after Kirsty started making quilts and keepsake bears from baby grows. As word of her work spread, she soon found herself making more bespoke items for friends and family.

Now she works full-time transforming people’s favourite pieces of clothing, items belonging to loved ones who have passed away, uniforms, weddings dresses and more into gorgeous cushions, bunting, quilts and a variety of cute animals which can be cherished forever.

“I taught for quite some time, but textiles started to fade in schools, the subject is not so widely available now,” says Kirsty, who lives in Lincoln.

“I’d been thinking about starting my own business for a while. I knew I wanted it to be textile based – that’s what I love. It needed to be something I was passionate about, otherwise it wouldn’t be sustainable.

“It was all word of mouth from the beginning, but that’s when I started to think that I’d really got something. I finally had an idea of what I was going to do. I’ve done things very gradually, but I finished teaching last Christmas and so far it’s proved to be a good decision.”

Building a business
After deciding she wanted her own business, Kirsty experimented with a few ideas before creating some quilts using baby grows, which belonged to a friend who had seen something similar online.

She wanted to preserve the special garments she couldn’t bear to part with. Then came more requests, including one from Kirsty’s brother who asked her to create similar pieces for her niece and nephew.

Kirsty fitted the work in around her teaching job by making keepsakes in the evenings, at weekends and during school holidays. She slowly added more designs to her range, which as well as bears, includes lions, giraffes, foxes and elephants.

As the orders increased, she reduced her teaching hours and finally gave up her job at the end of last year.

Kirsty used social media to promote her work, before opening an Etsy shop and now has her own website. She also employs a couple of students to photograph her work and pack her precious orders, which she ships all over the world, including to a number of celebrity clients.

“It was really exciting, I’d been thinking about doing this full-time for a couple of years, but just never knew if it was the right time to go it alone,” she says. “However, it had got to the point where, if I hadn’t done it, then I never would have made the jump.”

Creating keepsakes
Kirsty’s customers send her the items of clothing they want her to transform through the post, while those who live closer drop them off in person. She then takes her time going through each garment, figuring out how each unique design will work.

“I start by picking out all the details, seeing if there’s a picture, or a pocket, a button or ruffles,” she explains.

“I love pulling these out and seeing how I can use them in my work and looking at what I can do with them. If it’s something I’ve seen before I ask myself, how can I do something different with this?

“I receive all kinds of things – baby grows, shirts, hats, even ties. I’m currently making a quilt and cushion from some ties worn by someone throughout their work career.

“Now they’ve retired, they don’t wear them anymore, although they don’t want to get rid of them, so I’m making keepsakes as a connection to their working life.”

Kirsty works from a large outbuilding in her garden. When she started out most of her clients asked her to create something from sentimental baby grows, but now she’s receiving requests for more memorial and pet-related items.

“There’s definitely a demand for more memorial items. With these special ones, you know how much it means to the person receiving it back. It helps them a little bit with their grief process, and it’s lovely to be a part of that process,” she adds.

“I’m also getting more requests to make items from dog blankets and jumpers – a lot of quilts, bears and animals.”

Once Kirsty has picked out the details from the garment she is using, she cuts and stitches her creations, which all take varying lengths of time, before sending the finished pieces back to her customers.
Her work ships worldwide, to clients as far afield as Australia, United Arab Emirates and across Europe, while around a third of her work comes from America.

Her waiting list is currently around 12 weeks. As well as making keepsakes, Kirsty is always thinking about new designs, although she says her “elephant cuddly” remains her most popular.

Early inspiration
Kirsty fell in love with textiles and sewing at secondary school, where she credits her teacher for inspiring her.

“My textiles teacher really sparked my passion for the subject, all the way through from year seven. I remember going home and saying how much I enjoyed those lessons. That led me to carry it on through GCSE and A-level,” recalls Kirsty, who grew up in Kent.

“There are family connections too, not my mum or my gran, but if you go back on my mum’s side, there were seamstresses working in Edinburgh. It just skipped a few generations!”

Kirsty studied fashion at Lincoln University and stayed in the city afterwards, taking a short-term contract to work as a garment development technologist. She completed her PGCE and then began teaching textiles, at schools in Nottinghamshire and later Lincolnshire.

As well as selling her creations through her website, Kirsty attends selected events around Lincoln and is hoping to take her work further afield this year.

She’s recently received recognition from Theo Paphitis and was invited to become part of his Small Business Sunday network, one of the leading small business networks in the UK.

“I’ve had such amazing support from family, friends and customers, it’s been a really exciting time.

Looking ahead, I want to continue growing my business and developing my website. I’m still very focussed on the baby grow keepsakes, but I want to continue developing other ideas too. Hopefully, I can get out to more events and meet more people this year – it’s lovely talking to the people you’re making things for and hearing their stories.”

For more information about Kirsty and her work visit www.handmadebykirstylouise.com

Photographs: Courtesy of Kirsty (Handmade by Kirsty Louise)

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