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SAofdraflc,-.

Jane usesthedamingfoot on her sewing machinę to sketch with thread

Art interuiew with

Jane’sworkshopisontheedge of Loch Lomond National Park

As the maker and creative force behind Snapdragon, her very own stitched gifts company, Jane Lindsey has her crafting work cut out for her - and she’s loving it!

Interuiew by Harriet Brunsdon

board in my workshop, and 3D items linę up on the shelves and windowsills. We’ve recendy had a circus theme and the walls were covered with clowns, nngmasters and big tops, 1950s birthday cards, fabrics and sweetie rins!”

Getting fresh inspiration for new themes to sdtch is never a problem either. Jane’s Snapdragon workshop is situated in her own garden, and she lives nght on the edge of Loch Lomond National Park,

surrounded by mountains, lochs and forests. “We have a few acres, a bluebell wood and a stream, and a lot of pets! We keep chickens, dogs, cats, a rabbit and a guinea pig. Its never duli!”

From her workshop Windows Jane has a fabulous view of her collection of vintage vehicles, a prominent theme in her crafting work. “We have a green Citroen H van that I used to sell flowers from at markets, a St John’s Ambulance

Jane has her own collection of vintage vehicles, and they manage to f ind thelr way into her work too

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■    he irresistible handstitched

■    gifts designed by Jane for

■    Snapdragon rangę from the

—™—    cute and dinky (fabric badges,

handbag mirrors, and the odd embroidered card) to the stylish and must-have (her tea cosies are to die for). It’s compieteiy impossibie to choose a favourite because they’re ail so gorgeously designed and madę.

Snapdragon has two very distinctive product ranges, designed by Jane to appeal to different tastes and styles.

The first is very minimahst, and involves embroidering on to cream fulled wool with charcoal grey thread for a two-tone look. “I base the designs on sketches madę around the garden,” saysjane, ‘‘particularly of seedheads and flowers.

I sketch the same things over and over, getting the flow of the lines working so that they can be translated into a continual sewn linę.”

The second rangę has a fabulously funky, colourful edge to it - think bright, cheery applique in linen and cord. Jane says: “My applique designs are based on a wider rangę of things. I collect images on specific themes on a big magnetic

CrossStitcker

JUNE 2011

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INSPIRING PEOPLE

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Jane’s colourful button badges are among her top selling products

8elieve it or not, ttiis isactualły atiny embroidered hand mirror - gorgeous!

From pets to pouttry, animals figurę iargeiy in Jane^Js designs and are one of her top themes

which is my daughters' den, and most importantly an orange 1973 VW campervan called Dougal. The garden, animals and vehicles are my main inspiration, but I give them a retro twist and represent them as though theyre being seen from the point of vie\v of a 1970s childhood.”

It s a busy life for a crafter at the best of dmes, and it takes a lot of commitment and organisation for Jane to keep daily life separate from work when the two are so closely intertwined. “A typical day sees me waving my children off on the school bus and walking through the garden to the workshop, lighting the woodbumer and sorting out admin for orders that have come in ovemight. By the time the rest ofthe Snapdragon team come in Ern usually at my sewing machinę - and I don’t stop until the school bus retums!"

Jane makes all her crafty items on a Bermna sewing machinę. “Lowered teed dogs and a darmng foot allows me to sketch with the sewing machinę in a free way. But l always tend to have a piece of hand stitching on the go too - something to do with my hands when relaxing afrer work. At the moment Im workingon a campervan needlepoint bv Granny Kmts. It s great because it allows me to play about with the stripy background and lets me teel as though Im being creative!"

Jane has been passionate about stitching and crafting for as long as she can remember, having inherited a lot of her enthusiasm from a verv creadve mother.

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“She encouraged me to make thmgs from a very early age.” says Jane. “She had a go at everything from woodwork and upholstery to stamed glass and tapestry. In fact. I cant remember a orne when I wasnt cutńngandsticking. sewing, painnng and generally making a creative mess.”

But it wasn*t always such plam sailing. At school Jane's sewing abihcy was so underrated that she wasn't allowed to use the machmes in the sewing department! “Instead I spent six months pmmng and tacking and unpickmg a Home Economics apron while everyone else graduated on to boned bali dresses and pm-tucks! Had it not been tor the constant making of things at home.

_

I doubt verv much that I would ever have

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dared to try sewing anythmg. never mind making a hvmg from it! ”

Afrer school, Jane spent a gap vear domg modules m Fashion and Fabnc' at a local college, alongside the frrst vear of the Citv and Guilds Embroiderv course.

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“It was a bit like a textile expenmentanon year betbre knuckling down to mv degree in History of Art.” Then afrer unwersity Jane spent some time working as curator of Bnnsh An at the Huntenan An Gallery in Glasgow. The decision to changę career and become a frilltime crafrer came about in 2000 when she was at home taking care of a voung tamily. “We moved to the countrvside and I began to grow cut dowers. selling them

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