‘Redundancy gave me the push I needed’
Pollyanna Gunning, 42, lives with her husband and daughter. She runs a jewellery-making business from her home in Buckinghamshire
My favourite bracelet had broken and I was devastated. But then I looked at it and thought: It’s just some beads held together with elastic.
I decided to try to recreate it myself, so I went to a craft shop and bought what I needed. From that moment, I was hooked.
At first, I made things as gifts for friends and family. Then people started asking me to make things for them and I began to wonder if I could turn this into a business.
I’d been unhappy in my job in the music industry for a while, but making jewellery excited me. My first proper commission was from a friend who was getting married. She’d seen me wearing a necklace I’d made for myself and wanted me to make the same one for her bridesmaids.
After that, I opened my shop on Etsy. For the first month, I didn’t have a sale and I thought: This is never going to happen.
I didn’t know how I was going to be found among all the trained, professional jewellery makers out there. But I loved making things so much, it didn’t stop me. I kept learning and experimenting, reading books and watching online tutorials to widen my skills. My husband encouraged me to keep going too — even when he found a bead in his cereal one day!
Then one Christmas, I suddenly got a rush of orders. I thought it would drop off again after that. But in the January, I had almost the same number of orders. That was the moment it really began to take off. Soon after, I was made redundant from my job. It’s never nice, but it gave me the push I needed to make a go of the jewellery making.
At first, I continued to do some freelance work too. But after having my daughter, I stopped doing that and focused on my business.
It meant I could work from home and be around for her, which was very important.
She’s four now and I still work from a room in our house. It’s covered in beads and other equipment. That’s where I sit and create.
Like all parents, I’m trying to juggle work with family life, but I feel lucky to finally be doing something creative that I love.
‘I’d embroider while my daughter was napping’
Carly Minnis, 34, lives with her husband and three children. She runs her business Sew My Name from the kitchen of their home in Essex
When I had children, I loved getting those lovely, personalised gifts with their name or initials on them. They always felt more special.
So, when I was on maternity leave after having my daughter, I was looking for something creative to do and thought I’d try machine embroidery.
I bought myself a machine and my friend’s nan taught me how to use it. I started just doing things for my own kids, like embroidering their initials on to new pyjamas.
Then my mum asked me to embroider a hooded towel as a baby gift for a friend. Soon other family and friends were asking me to embroider things for them.
I started looking for new ideas of things to do. I put song lyrics I liked or nursery rhymes on to clothes and pillowcases.
I’d post pictures of my work on Instagram and soon I’d have people contacting me to do something similar for them.
Then, whenever my daughter was napping, I’d set up my sewing machine on the kitchen table at home and get to work on orders.
My latest commission is from a mum who’s organising a birthday sleepover for her daughter. She’s asked me to embroider the children’s names on to pyjamas and to personalise some little canvas bags, which she’s using as party bags.