In the September issue of Bustle & Sew Magazine we were delighted to feature an interview with Leigh Bowser from Leigh La Loves You. Based in Leeds, Leigh makes wearable, personal art, creates unique, one off pieces and stitches the most wonderful pet portraits and badges.
We asked Leigh how her business came about. She told us;
“I always knew I wanted to somehow make a living from doing what I love – essentially painting with my sewing machine. I always thought I’d have to do this through becoming an illustrator and create artworks for other people, but one evening it just came to me that I should start selling embroidered brooches of the things I like to stitch – at that point it was mostly people and icons from TV/art/film. I used free social media to promote myself and slowly built up a customer base. One day I was asked if I could create a pet portrait and I thought I’d give it ago, not sure if I actually could. That’s when I realised this was absolutely what I was meant to do!”
We also asked Leigh where she looks for creative inspiration…
“I LOVE Instagram! It is the perfect social media platform to connect with other creatives and artists. I follow some amazing embroiderers and textile artists and seeing them working hard every day really keeps me motivated to do the same. There is a sense of community amongst some of the embroiderers and everyone loves to promote each other which is so important.”
You can visit Leigh’s website here & Etsy shop here. You can also find her on Instagram and Facebook – do be sure to go and say hello!
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