The Flour Loft and a bit about us...

This is the Flour Loft studio where Alice and I design and handmake textiles from our large collection of recycled fabrics.

It is in an old bakery building in a pretty market town in Hampshire where we grew up. Alice and I have been friends for a very long time now, since the age of 11, many many moons ago. We went to secondary school together during which time we took an evening class in batik and indigo dying in this very room. So when the studio became available it was fate, like a full circle as here was where our love of textiles began. The room, like us, looks a little different now .. the large dye vats have been replaced with crates full of fabrics and one end of the room has been closed off completely to create a small kitchinette area.


Our business started over 5 years ago , very much from the kitchen table and very much around our 4 children. We are still primarily mothers and proud to be so, but as the children started school we were able to put in more and more time and although lovely to work from home, we soon realised that we needed a shared space. We moved into the Flour Loft 3 and a half years ago and feel fortunate to be there.

It is a lovely place to be.

The building is situated just behind the Market square, so we are right in the centre of town. To get to The Flour Loft , which is on the first floor, you must climb a decorative spiral staircase. Very pretty but not practical for moving furniture and stock up and down for shows! Inside the studio we have 4 old crickle windows, 2 on each side so we get plenty of sunshine streaming through. We have one large cutting table which came from a local fabric store which had closed down and 4 sewing machines. 2 lovely old Berninas ( both family heirlooms), a more modern Pfaff ( from my costume making days) and a reconditioned industrial which at this late hour i can't remember what it is.. another Bernina i think. Anyway we are well equipped.

We also have created a little office area and the best thing we bought besides an essentail computer was a 4 in one printer, scanner, photocopier and fax machine. We tend to mess around with scaling up and down different designs and this is invaluable.

Even more essential we have a little area to make tea and keep biscuits. The kettle is always the first thing to go on each morning!


This is a late post , so I'm off to relax now.
Happy dreaming.
G x