About DWS Designs

Then came a few months of trying different base materials and designs and along the way I decided in April that I would start my own business and website to sell my designs and kits. It took time and money to find a base that worked for my specifications as I wanted to be able to package my kits into a small enough box to fit through a letterbox. Trying EVA foam and then a foam that model makers use for scenery etc before I found my perfect material.

I also researched frame options for my kits. I started with 3d printing, but this is time consuming and not very eco friendly. Then I looked at wooden frames and I wasn’t able to find anything I was happy with at the price point or quality. So I designed a cardboard frame that fits my bases and packaging and is eco friendly, lightweight and available in black or white. I wanted my kits to include a frame and one that wasn’t too bulky or heavy.

Next came the designs. I’m not an artist that can draw. I have ideas and themes but I cannot draw them so I reached out to family and friends to help. I ended up drawing on my own IT experience from years of admin and PA work to help me find software that would do the drawing for me. It worked and feedback was good so I took the plunge and booked a craft event.

As well as the above I needed to find the right fabrics. I went to a show in London in April and a quilting show in Malvern in May and was able to find people there selling all kinds of fabrics. I was able to source African fabrics from Beddai and also recycled sari silk from a seller on Etsy as well as making contacts with other deadstock traders. I decided that I wanted to stick as much as possible to recycled and deadstock fabrics and I do mainly use those in my kits and samples.

It’s become a very popular craft since then and there is of course competition in the marketplace.  I’ve been a published designer previously of bead needle weaving, held monthly workshops and I also sold glass cabochons at fairs and online - so I know that often times ideas and themes develop and people share and learn from each other. The crafting world is a friendly one and there is room for all of us within it.

We all offer different things and come from different viewpoints, mine is about sharing this art form and encouraging people to reuse and recycle fabric that would otherwise end up in landfill or hoarded in stashes around the world

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If you read this far, thank you, it’s appreciated. I wanted to share my story and how DWS Designs developed. 

Many thanks and happy crafting.  Dee

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/