About
Handmade by Kirsty Louise all stems from my love of sewing. I had made all sorts of gifts for my young niece and nephew before creating keepsake quilts for a friend’s children back in 2017. I had always been asked if I could recreate and make some of these items for others and realised that there was a demand for the keepsakes especially.
Early in 2018 I moved into my current house which has a brick built outbuilding that I knew would be perfect for setting up and running a business from. Over time I have changed the layout of this and added more storage so that it works better for making all of your beautiful keepsakes. My desk is next to patio doors that overlook my garden so it’s especially beautiful working in here over the summer months. Each keepsake is designed based around the clothing that you all send to me and this space is perfect for doing this.
My passion for sewing started at secondary school as I had the most inspiring textiles teacher who actually still teaches at the same school! Taking the subject for GCSE and then A’level, I continued studying fashion at university in Lincoln where I gained my undergraduate degree back in 2008. From here I went on to work for Per Una at M&S head office as a garment development technologist. As this was a temporary role I decided to make the move into teaching and trained to teach textiles at Loughborough University. I have since been teaching textiles for the past 12 years and still do this part time.
When I made the very first bear and quilt I never dreamt that my range would grow so much, I actually thought these would be the only styles that I offered! There’s now a much larger collection for you all to select from and I do add new styles to the range, I will even be having seasonal specials shortly.
I truly love receiving the clothing and making every single keepsake and I can honestly say I love each and every one. They all have a story behind them which means so much to all of you and I LOVE finding all of the little details to incorporate.
If you ever have any questions or queries, either before or after ordering then please just send me a message, there are no silly questions and someone else has most probably asked before.
The future is so exciting and I’m already thinking about how to expand the collection, and I can’t wait to receive lots more bundles of clothing from you all.