Becky

Clothes & Textiles

Art & Design

Welcome to The Tulip House, a Norfolk based textile craft business, specialising in designing and making high quality home accessories and gifts made from repurposed textiles.

I have always loved fabric and designing with fabric but was increasingly concerned about the sheer amount of fabric that is thrown out every year and how natural fabrics, which should last years and be cherished, often end up being dumped.

As a bit of a fabric hoarder I decided to see if I could turn all this into beautiful home accessories so, about 7 years ago, I made some tentative forays into the world of handmade but it wasn’t until 2019 that I decided to make a full time career of it. The fabric I use comes from all sorts of places: fashion industry remnants, discontinued stock and repurposed fabric.

I am now in the process of turning ideas into designs and up-scaling my making of those products I developed 7 years ago: the cushions, gloves and bags.

The beauty of my applique cushions is, I hope, not only in the designs themselves but in the fact that they close the loop of any waste textile from the other products I make. Specialising in applique designs I can use the remnants from the gloves and bags in those applique designs.

The starting point for all my products is the fabric. I can have a piece of fabric for years before I decide what to use it for! And sometimes inspiration can be very close to home: I used a cashmere jumper to make my first pair of gloves, for instance.

Inspiration also comes from my surroundings. I am lucky to live just a short walk from acres of forests. Great for walking my three dogs, it is also an area full of wildlife which you can now see reflected in my applique cushion designs. Although every now and then I throw in the odd exotic creature, such as the Australian King Parrot who has recently appeared in my designs. I have not yet spotted one of those flying around the forest!

I aim to design and make beautiful, useful products and something which is a ‘bit different’. Everything is made by me, by hand and nothing is mass produced. Even my more popular cushion designs vary in the fabric made to create the applique, making each one slightly different and special.

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