Laura Strutt is a freelance journalist, author and designer/maker. She is the former editor of Craft Business magazine and launched Sew magazine, a monthly contemporary stitching title, in 2009 and continued as editor until 2012, leaving to pursue freelance work. She is a passionate designer and shares free projects, technique guides and crafty inspiration over on her creative lifestyle blog, Made Peachy.
Hi Laura, what is your source of inspiration?
Colour is always a huge source of inspiration for me. It is very satisfying to work with different shades, and experiment mixing and matching tones and creating colour palettes. There is so much colour around us in everyday life: from the clothes we wear, around our homes, in architecture, art, and in nature. Looking at how different shades work together or create dramatic contrasts, how they can set or change a mood or style simply by working with different intensities and parings, is very inspiring and often the starting process for many my creative projects.
Where does your passion for handmade bracelets come from?
Making jewellery, and bracelets in particular, is a very satisfying craft, because they are, by nature, small and self contained pieces they are great for trying out new techniques – beading, braiding, crochet and so much more – in a small bite-sized project. They are great for a quick creative fix, because you can work with almost any materials that is to hand. Bracelets and jewellery are a very personal form of accessories, it is a fantastic way to stamp your identity on an outfit, set your own style and add a flash of your personality. Bracelets are easy to wear and complement almost every outfit, they can be create to suit any style or trend, so they make wonderful gifts too!
Who would you give your handmade friendship bracelet to?
Friendship bracelets are so satisfying to make, it is a great way capture your sense of style, passion for colours and unique way of mixing materials and supplies. I love that this is a great way to make your own signature accessories, a way to create statement pieces that reflect your personality. Also, these make great gifts to share, the small and compact nature makes them ideal for popping in the post – I love to make a selection of colourful and modern designs to gift to my snail mail chums!
What is your favourite material to work with?
I enjoy working on a wide range of creative projects – from jewellery making to knitting and crochet, quilting and hand lettering, and probably everything in between! Because of this I like to work with a range of materials, it is hard to have a favourite – combining a selection of materials, threads, beads, crochet and stitching, is probably my favourite aspect of creating designs.
Could you describe a typical crafty day in your life?
There is no real thing as a typical day for me, every day is so very different – and that is what I love the most! There are a few tasks that are everyday occurrences checking emails, working on my website and general admin that comes with running a business, creative or otherwise. I start the day walking our sweet dog and making plans for the day, I’m a fanatical list maker and schedule out all my daily tasks. Creative projects often take longer than I expect, so I’ve found it really important to be organised each and every day in order to make sure that nothing important gets forgotten. The creative portion of my day is often spent drafting up sketches and proposals for future commissions, working on sewing, knitting, crocheting or making samples, running photography shoots and writing up projects and how to guides. The making portion of my day is by far my most favourite – this is the time when I can explore ideas, materials and working on bringing the ideas from my head into a reality.
Arm Candy (Pavilion, £9.99) by Laura Strutt is available now
