All items by Flora Patterns

Patterns inspired by my mother's handmade toy patterns from the 1940s.

I am a designer and have also worked as an educator and career mentor. I have gone from a T-square to CAD CAM throughout my career. I keep getting drawn back to craft and hand-made projects.

My love of making comes from my childhood and my wonderful parents. My mother could turn her hand to make anything and taught us all to knit, sew, crochet and bake. The end of school and the summer holidays started with new shorts run up by my mother with an internal hidden pocket to safely hold a 2p. Taffeta party dresses at Christmas with lovely satin ribbon sashes. Trips at the weekend to Remnants King's fabric shop, full of wonderful rolls of colour and texture. The biscuit tin is full of buttons which are to this day an obsession. Finally, working with my mother to make my wedding dress. Hours sitting covering buttons together drinking tea.

My father was a woodwork teacher and had an amazing workshop with jam jars full of screws and widgets. Everything had its place. To this day the smell of cut wood evokes strong memories of that workshop.

We were not wealthy, but my childhood was a richly creative experience.

When my mother died, I was looking through her fabric cupboard and I came across a box full of cards (cereal boxes). It contained pattern pieces tied together with string and two small vintage books of toys. Rag-Bag Toys and Felt Toys by the Dryad Press. My mother and father made all these toys in their young adulthood convalescing in a TB hospital. These toys have been with me for many years. In 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic struck, we all suddenly had more time at home. I opened my mother's box again and started to sew.

I started with a ragdoll for my wee neighbour and that led on to rabbits and teddies etc. and I found a world which fulfilled me mentally and creatively.

I hope you enjoy making these creatures as much as I have.

Alison

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