Fabric of the Community with Kayleigh from Fleur et Ours

In this episode of the Sewing Social Podcast, Kayleigh shares her journey from a self-taught sewist to the owner of a fabric shop, Fleur et Ours. 

She discusses her early influences, the challenges of understanding fabrics as a beginner, and the emotional connection to her fabric both in the shop and her personal stash. 

Kayleigh emphasises the importance of community in sewing, the ethos of using natural fibres, and the significance of creating safe spaces for sewists. 

She also reveals her plans for the future of her business, focusing on sustainability and seasonal fabric drops.

Key Takeaways:

• Kayleigh's fabric shop is named after her children, symbolising love and creativity.
• She was largely self-taught in sewing, influenced by her grandmother.
• The excitement of sewing comes from the ability to create unique fashion.
• Beginners often struggle with understanding different fabrics and their uses.
• It's important to embrace mistakes as part of the learning process in sewing.
• Kayleigh emphasises the emotional connection to fabric stashes and the guilt associated with them.
• Community and support are vital in the sewing journey.
• The Sewing Community doesn't yet realise how powerful it is.
• Kayleigh transitioned from accounting to running her fabric shop, driven by passion.
• Her shop focuses on natural fibres to reduce consumer stress about plastic.
• Future plans include seasonal fabric drops to promote sustainability.

Follow me: 

Instagram: @thesewingsocialpodcast

                       : @thedalythread

Email: thesewingsocialpod@gmail.com

Guest details: 

Website: www.fleuretours.com

Instagram: @fleur.et.ours

                   : @kayleighmirandamakes

Facebook: Fleur et Ours

Youtube: Fleur et Ours

Email: hello@fleuretours.com

*Unfortunately since recording this episode, Kayleigh has decided to close the business. You can still support her by purchasing from the website. 

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Kayleigh and Her Journey

00:51 The Evolution of Sewing Skills

05:14 Understanding Fabrics and Beginner Challenges

09:32 The Emotional Connection to Fabric Stashes

13:50 Transitioning from Accounting to Fabric Business

21:20 Ethos of Natural Fibres in the Fabric Shop

25:29 Sustainability and Community in Sewing

27:34 Building a Supportive Sewing Community

38:10 The Importance of Safe Spaces in Sewing

45:59 Exciting Future Plans for the Business

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09.614)

Kayleigh, welcome to the Sewing Social Podcast. It's so lovely to have you here.

Thank you for having me, I'm so excited.

Could you introduce yourself to the listeners?

Yep, so my name's Kayleigh and I have a fabric shop and I've been running it for just over four years. It's called Fleur et Ours and it is French for flower and bear. The names come from my children. So flower is from Emily Iris and Rupert is my bear. but it just sounds, it sounds so much nicer in French and also it calls back to...

long time ago when I used to basically be obsessed with languages and I used to spend all my time studying languages and French was my first love. So it's all a culmination about love.

Speaker 1 (01:01.006)

amazing. That's really sweet. I wanted to sort of explore your sewing journey. So did anybody teach you to sew or are you largely self-taught?

largely winging it all the way. In terms of like sewing machine wise, I taught myself completely. In terms of actually, you know, like hand sewing and things like that and creativeness, my nan was my biggest influence. She taught me to hand sew, to embroider, she taught me to knit. So yeah, it largely comes from her, really.

And yeah, I've always just been very interested. it feels like for me, the idea of being able to sew was to sew my own clothes and to be able to define my own fashion. It gave me this sort of like inner spicy feeling. I don't really know if it's excitement or inspirational, what you could call it, but internally it feels quite spicy in a good way.

And I remember being nine and cutting up this t-shirt that I'd got from the charity shop. I mean, it was an awful t-shirt. It's just like beige, beige t-shirt. But I had these grand designs of like, was going to glue on these gems and I was going to sew up the hem hand stitching it. And I remember my stitching was so wonky. It was awful. But I was so excited this idea that I was going to have this amazing top that everybody would want.

the passion and the interest in creating my own clothes has been there for a very, very long time. But I actually didn't get my first sewing machine until I was, I feel like I was maybe 17, 18. It might have even been a little bit later than that. And it was one of those like, you know, those mini ones you could get? Ended up with two of those actually, because it was kind of like a weird thing where I found one, I feel like I

Speaker 2 (03:06.638)

ordered it off of eBay or something. And then my great aunt also found one in a charity shop and gave it to me. So I ended up with two and I was also like, oh, well one does a better zigzag stitch and one does a better running stitch. They'll both fall. But yeah, I was just, I had the two and then yeah, it just kind of grew from there really.

You

Speaker 2 (03:30.786)

gained traction, I made awful infinity scarves on the sewing machines for my family and my best friend. I don't think anybody still owns their scarves to this day.

You never know, you never know.

for now, but that was actually my first touching with Minerva as well, actually. I had absolutely no idea about fabric, none whatsoever. I thought the pictures looked quite nice of these fabrics. I still remember quite vividly the fabrics as well. In fact, I still actually have some of the fabric. I'm staring at some right now, actually. So one was like, it was for my brother-in-law. It was like this blue, tartan-y, of like loose

weave almost wool but you know it's not wool it's definitely there's a lot of poly in there but this is hollowing back to the days where I had absolutely no idea what went into our fabric so that was for my brother-in-law so quite a heavy fabric and then I had the other end of the spectrum where it was like this really light voile like poly cottony really light and it had this big tiger motif on it

And I tried to sew up with that as well. And I was just like, I ended up giving up with that one. I think I glued it together. Oh my then the third one, I know, I know. These are all the sins coming out now. The third one was from my sister. And that was out of this jersey fabric. Again, still an infinity scarf because I'd seen them on probably Pinterest or something. I was like, this is it. My life is now infinity scarf. I've still got some of that jersey because I actually still quite like it.

Speaker 2 (05:08.494)

I'm not throwing this away one day. is, I'm not donating it to somebody. It's going to be something useful one day. God knows how much I bought of all this stuff because I got so much shit left over. But yeah, so is my first sort of exploration.

You

Speaker 1 (05:24.142)

That's interesting though, and it's an important point to make because as a beginner, you literally have no idea what the fabrics are, do you? I mean, you've worn and you've seen different clothing, but you don't often know that's what the fabrics

Yeah, absolutely.

It is a big learning curve.

is and I mean this is going back to a time when I mean this is before Instagram, know, makes it sound so old. So and I feel like we're really lucky now that we have like YouTube channels, your podcast as well, you know, all of these little things just give us nuggets of information and direction and I honestly think if you are a beginner the easiest way to find out about fabric is just to jump in.

make those mistakes. Try not to make too many expensive mistakes obviously. If you see a fabric that you love, buy it initially, you know, and probably I shouldn't really say this, but if it is poly cotton, if you, I mean, if you don't know it's poly cotton, then like, I don't think that any sins should be held against you whatsoever. But if you do know it's poly cotton, but you still love it, I would, I would still say, you know, buy with care, like if you love something.

Speaker 2 (06:44.514)

then you tend to look after it more. And it's very much about looking after what you create. And yeah, I feel like there is a time and a place for poly cotton as well. Like depending on what it is that you're making, which I know probably sounds really controversial coming from me because I pride my business on natural fibers and I do, I do, but I also really pride myself on

making beginner sowers or sowists feel comfortable. Like this is the biggest thing. I feel like we could really preach to beginner sowers only by cotton, only by natural fibers. But as you just said, like as a beginner sowist, you have no idea what anything is. You can't just be like, buy some cotton. Because if you look into cotton, you've got gauze, you've got

Jersey, you've got poplin, you've got quilting cottons, you've got lawn, you've got voile, you've got seersucker. I mean, that's just like twill, all of these things, canvas. So like that's just one substrate, you know? So yeah, I just say dive in, try not to overbuy. It's really hard to not overbuy when you first start because it's like all the, all the shiny things, isn't it?

I kind of also feel like we all need to go through that grace. You can't just tell somebody to do it a certain way. And we're really fortunate, I think, as a community, we're all, majority of us, are conscious. Like that's one of the reasons why we sow. So somebody has gone out and bought all of this stuff and then a year down the line, they're more

knowledgeable about what everything is and actually what they would use that fabric from. Actually, perhaps they've bought something that really is never going to work for something. We're really good at stash busting and selling our stashes and you usually find some sort of community fabric swap. They've become huge as well recently, haven't they? I feel like let's not guilt trip everybody.

Speaker 2 (09:09.77)

into what they've bought in the past.

I mean, I do it to myself because I have a decent stash, but it's, guess it's kind of why we call it a sewing journey, isn't it? Because I definitely went through this process of you buy a little bit, you try it. that went okay. I like that. And then it spirals and spirals and you build a collection. I suppose it is, we should

Speaker 1 (09:41.666)

generally think of it as a collection because it's like any other hobby, everything gathers things doesn't it? But then we beat ourselves up a little bit if that collection gets too much.

yeah, yeah, the guilt. I mean, I don't know about you, but the little time that I have to be able to sew these days, I often just get overwhelmed. I sit there and I, because I feel like I have to sew up everything that I've got in my stash as quickly as possible in order to justify why I have that stash. Yeah, I often just sit there getting overwhelmed. When I bought all of these fabrics and funnily enough, I've actually written about it in my

most recent assignment in my textiles degree that every single time I go through my fabric stash, because I rearrange it regularly to try and feel better about it, I see the potential in every single piece. I've got some really weird fabrics in there and I'm not talking, I'm not hollowing back to the early days. I'm talking about just absolutely the charity shop and I've that's pretty.

Or, you know, friends that like I have a friend, has, she sells vintage mid-century furniture. So she often comes across all these bits and bobs are a bit different. And if she sees something that she thinks that I like, she'll give it to me, which is so kind of her. And I'll be like, this is amazing. You can see this is like a kimono or something like that. When am I going to sell a kimono? I don't know, but it's so...

Speaker 2 (11:16.522)

at every single piece, I can feel the life in it. So it is really hard to just go, no, I've got to get rid of it in order to have a more sustainable stash. And probably it's wrong because you're kind of stealing that inspiration away from yourself. So I do feel like we need to change the narrative a little bit to be a little bit more supportive. I don't know what the word is that I'm looking for, but just...

You know, not so negative about ourselves all the time, you know? We all have a big stash. We have to admit this now. Yeah. Yeah, we do. We do.

And I think it's remembering the reason why you bought it in the first place, isn't it? Because there was a love there for it. And whether the idea of what you're going to make with it has changed or not, hopefully you can still make something that you'll love.

Yeah, definitely. Because oftentimes it'll be the fabric held to some sort of inspiration for you. Like I'm looking over at my stash now and I'm just looking through them. Like there's one piece that's in there and I'm like, that was going to be a really outlandish two piece that could potentially be pajamas or, you know, if you're going out and could prepare a of heels of it sort of thing. And then there's, there's another piece in there that I'm like, that's my days where I just really want to just feel earthy.

And yeah, so I think that that's really, you've got to hold on to those sort of inspirations. As you say, even if they change over time and one day, it doesn't become a really outlandish two piece, but it actually just becomes this really beautiful buffet dress so that I can go and eat loads of food at barbecues or something. You know, that's what it comes down to. that. I love it. Everybody needs a buffet dress. Oh it does, yes. Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1 (13:04.45)

Yep, hides all sins. Or just enjoyment. 

just sit there and like, it was only, oh, what was it? What we are now, May. So maybe it was April, yeah. We went to the zoo and it was a really nice day. So I actually wore my wilder gown. I think it was my wilder gown. And I turned around to my husband and I was like, oh, it is so nice not to have any trousers on.

I'm just wafting.

Yeah, it's just like so nice not to have any elastic around my midriff and I can just live. I'm not sure if she should say this on a podcast or not, but you're basically naked under there. It's like,

It feels so free.

Speaker 2 (13:54.54)

next to the iguanas.

Fantastic. So what made you take the leap into sort of setting up Fleur et Ours? Because I know that your professional background is quite different to that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had the most boring and sensible of jobs. Well, what made me push? Well, a few things. I mean, what really gave me the kick up the bum was my husband, because he just like, I'm very, very, very lucky, I know, because I am very supported by my husband with my crazy ideas. So when I come up with an idea, like a business idea,

example. He doesn't go, oh yeah but you've got to think of this, that and the other. Like I don't know, where are going to store fabric or something like that? He goes, yeah why not? Absolutely, I'll build your website, let's get cracking. So yeah, he's the biggest boot up the bum. The other contributing factors, my love of fabric, I wanted it to pay for my fabric habit.

obviously. I thought I would, basically had in my mind this fairy tale life where I would be able to sell fabric by posting pretty pictures of them online but whilst people were buying fabric I would be sewing up lovely quilts and clothes and you know my life would look beautiful. I have to break it to everybody that's not how it actually pans out.

Speaker 1 (15:40.27)

No, don't break the-

I'm sorry guys, I feel like, unless somebody has managed to do that, in which case I am going to put that toxic energy out there. I'm so jealous. But no, was the second factor. mean, these are in no order of like heaviness, you know, like they're all kind of like a mixture. But the biggest one was definitely my children. So when I had

my children or I had Emily, she's my eldest. I felt so empowered. Like I felt really empowered. Like I had just had a baby. I'd done this amazing thing. This, my body had done an amazing thing. I'd lived through it. How amazing, how fortunate, how privileged, how strong, you know. So suddenly I felt this confidence to

in myself as a human being, as an energy, I felt stronger. And having children has driven me to follow my creativity so much more. It also was a driving factor in that I, so before Flores, I was an accountant.

So different, but I bet you use those skills in your job as well, do you?

Speaker 2 (17:08.927)

Yeah, well, yeah, I do. I do my own accounts, guys. Basically, when I, right, I feel like I should finish one stroke before I go on to the other because otherwise people are going to go, but she never answered the question. So, which is a risk. So after this, we're going to go into the depths of why I went into accountancy. But the final thing was I got very stressed out as an accountant. I feel very deeply.

my clients, I wanted their business to succeed. Of course, and not just from the shallow aspect of their businesses pay for my business, I'm very passionate about people and business. And so I wanted them to succeed and feel that succession. But often I would bring the stress home with me and it didn't make me a better parent. When you're already stressed out, it makes you

tolerance, lower. And I didn't want that, I didn't want to bring that home to my children. I didn't want them growing up with that they deserved more. So I retired from counting basically. To fair, I'd done everything that I wanted to, that it brought me my freedom. I had done everything that I needed to as a young person to get to where I wanted to be, which was to have my home.

and my settled relationship and my family. So that was a big tick that was done. But the reason that I went into accountancy originally was because I did believe it or not go to college for a term. And that's a whole big story in itself, as is everything apparently. But basically.

I left college after a term and I was, I felt it deep in my soul, shall we say. I wanted to contribute more. I wanted to do something. I wanted to actively chase something. And in order to do that, I wanted to know how businesses worked. And I felt the best tool to have would be to understand how.

Speaker 2 (19:28.802)

the money works in a business, so, and how to set up a business. And to be honest, accountancy or bookkeeping, also running my family for some reason. And it seems to be the thing that we fell back on in order to pay the bills when we needed to. So I'd always been exposed to that side and I'd been exposed to small businesses. And I then went off and worked in a finance department of a company.

and did my AAT whilst I was there. And then I qualified and left there and took over managing my mum's bookkeeping practice and created my own clients through that and built that up. And as I say, then it got to the point where I was, where I wanted to be and could make the choice, which obviously is quite privileged because not everybody has that choice. But I did have

quite a few comments whilst I was an accountant that why are doing accountancy Kayleigh? You are too interesting to be in the accountants department. I do hold it's a bit of a badger on her. No I have to say guys, accountants are cool too, okay.

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (20:44.558)

My husband would agree with that, he's one as well.

you go, you know, don't judge accountants. Also, can I just say another contributing factor as to why I had to give up accounting is because nobody's happy to see you. Nobody's happy to see the accountant walk through the door. And as a sensitive person, it had an impact on me. I wanted to be a person where you'd be, look, you know, I'm glad you're here, you know, rather than, no, what.

what's the tax bill this time then and you're like you know it's not it's not a thing. So yes follow your dreams to be an accountant if you want to be or follow your dreams to become a fabric shop lady.

Speaker 1 (21:31.724)

you dream to be. So we touched a little bit earlier when we were talking about beginners and different fabrics, sort of your ethos for the store, you only stock like natural fibres, don't you?

do. Yes. So that was one of the sort of core beliefs. When I was starting up the business or not even when I was brainstorming the business, I said, you know, I'm only going to stock natural fibers because it's something that I follow myself now. As I said earlier, I do feel there is a time and place for polycotton.

because there are just some jobs that it does better, but I'm also very much like, you know, repair it, look after it properly. Don't overwash it. If it's something that needs to be washed, that kind of thing. But I wanted my shop to be a place where people could go to and just not even have to worry about whether or not there was any plastic in the product. It's essentially like something you don't have to even think about. You just log on.

shop takes a worry out for the consumer because I felt like there's so much responsibility on consumers. You know, when you go to Tesco or any other shop, and there's plastic packaging on everything and you know, you have to pay more for it to be in ethical packaging. Obviously I appreciate some of the reasons behind that in that it costs more to create these things.

But as a consumer, there's stress on you to make that choice whilst you're there and how, you know, basically research as you're reading the back of packets and things. And I thought, do you know what? You don't need that stress. You're coming on to shop for fabric. You want to relax, you want to chill, you want to be inspired. So that's why, that's why it all kind of came. So I use plastic free packaging. And even that, like I'm constantly kind of auditing what I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (23:39.886)

because I was wrapping things in tissue paper as well. And then I was kind like, yeah, but a lot of water goes into creating tissue paper. So I cut it out and I try not to put too many leaflets and things in. I put, although it isn't perhaps the most finesse on packaging, I know that, you know, some people do prioritise that over it. I use just...

normal paper for some of my things so I put a planner sheet in and I use normal paper for that because you can compost it so much easier and there's less, you know, like when you've got like a premium piece of paper that's really thick and it's like think of all the product that goes into creating that one sheet of paper. I do overthink it a bit, yeah I know, but that was the whole idea is essentially that

It's a safe place to go when you want fabric, a fabric fix, but also for interest in fabrics. So obviously there are fabric shops out there that specialize in really, really natural fabrics like hemp and linen and using very earthy dyes and things. I wasn't so much that I wanted to dive into that, although I still love those fabrics.

my magpie eyes more after like bold, bright, fun prints. So I wanted to be able to offer that without the worry of, is it poly cotton? See ya.

We had a bit of a conversation last week because we do a little bit of work together just for an FYI on Kayleigh's social media. But we were talking about sustainability as a topic and you said a really interesting thing about try and do your best. Do your little bit.

Speaker 2 (25:26.19)

Very like

Speaker 2 (25:39.928)

Just...

Speaker 2 (25:44.286)

Yes, definitely. So this is something that can rile me up sometimes. Just because I think I still take things too personally, I think, because basically one of the avenues that I have gone down with the fabric shop is that I like to stock dead stock slash overstock. And one of the things that comes up in conversation sometimes is that

do you know if you're getting true dead stock? then this sort of like lengthy conversation about the dead stock is really dead stock or if it's the mill that's overproduced and things like that. And I basically say, look, there's got to be a line somewhere. Like we are not here to be perfect because Voltaire said perfect is the opposite of good. So, you know, take from that what you want. But that hollers back to the term of college that I did.

But the point is that, you know, if we all do our best, we'll be doing so much more than if we all strived for perfection. Because perfection could really drag you down. It can be really negative standard and, you know, we can't know everything. Like you don't know what you don't know. So it's like you're hollowing back to the whole like beginner-soists.

You know, I don't preach it at Beginner's Sewist to get particular fabrics because they don't know what they don't know yet, you know. And if you then say, right, you've got to have a perfect, dead stock, perfect sustainability and all of this, it's like, you know, I probably would never get started. it, cause the standards are too high and ultimately it is about doing your best and enjoying it. You know.

Do you have anything that you're most proud of from running your shop?

Speaker 2 (27:46.67)

I feel like I know where you're going with question. I might be wrong. might be wrong. there is, yeah, there is, I mean, I'm proud of lots of things from the shop, most of the time I have to stop and like, you know, physically go like Kayleigh, realize what you've done in four years. So it's a bit crazy sometimes. Most of the time I feel like the new kid on the block still, even though I've been around here for quite a while now.

with this.

Speaker 2 (28:16.81)

The biggest thing that I am proud of is not actually the fabric itself. It's so for a very short period of time, about six months, I had a physical fabric shop as well. And I wanted it because I actually thought that everybody says, seeing the fabric, being able to touch the fabric makes all the difference. So I, and everybody kind of has that little fantasy of having their own shop.

one day, didn't they? So I set up the little shop and again, it was Chris going, yeah, do it. So I did. And it was all, you know, bumping along. It was all fine, but getting people to discover the shop was tricky.

And one of the ways that I ended up doing it was that I started offering workshops. I had absolutely no intention of teaching anybody anything because I don't have a piece of paper that tells me I can do that. know, I have no credentials to tell you that I should teach you how to say also, probably shouldn't say this on the podcast either, but.

The way that I teach people to sew is not necessarily the way that I actually sew. I'm teaching everybody the best, best way to do things, best habits. But yeah, I don't do those things all the time. know, don't pin everything perfectly. I don't press seams. I don't at all. If I can get away hemming something without having to press it first, I will.

I know the feeling.

Speaker 2 (29:59.028)

Obviously, if you come to a workshop, I'm going to do it perfectly and so should you. But going back to the story, I set up workshops and I set up a social as well. I set up, so the social was really affordable. Well, I think it's affordable. was three pounds to come along to the social. And it was essentially subsidized by everything else because

I wanted the social to be somewhere that everybody would be able to come. didn't want anybody to be priced out. what ended up happening was everybody that, so I'm a bit spicy. My brain is a bit spicy and no, I don't yet have a diagnosis, but I am going through the whole process and that is important to me for a sense of validation. And also so that I can actually say, yes, I am.

diagnosed. But what ended up happening essentially is your vibe attracts your tribe and people were attracted to coming to the shop that everybody had their own story. Everybody had their own story. And I mean, I don't know why I did these, well, I do know why I these socials, but can I tell you, every time I did a social, I ended up in tears because,

Because everybody had their own thing. We had people that had been suffering with anxiety and depression pretty much their whole lives from one event that happened a long time ago. we were the only place, or I was the only place that they would go to on their own without their other half. It was the only place that they didn't feel overly anxious and they could be honest about what they went through.

And I had people that had Tourette's come in that were autistic. Everybody was at different stages of their diagnosis, whether they, or if they didn't want to have a diagnosis, it was just, could all be together and be our special. And I mean that properly, not horribly, own special selves. And

Speaker 2 (32:21.67)

it was, it was really beautiful. It was so beautiful. And to be honest, even now I kick myself to a point that I closed up the shop. I did it obviously for a couple of reasons. Financially, it was not making a great difference to how the business was operating. And also my children were young and I didn't, I didn't want to not see them. So.

especially because some days, like some Saturdays, nobody would come in the whole day. You know, it wasn't like, oh, I was really busy and it made sense. But I lost that social. I still hold a social every month, but the community that we made, because I did it on a Friday and a Saturday, so I'd have different people on a Friday and different people on a Saturday. And I'd have one lady that would come in, not even on the social, she'd just come in every Friday. And

She was an absolute sweetheart. I loved her. She'd come in and she'd tell me all about her grandchildren in Italy and all this kind of stuff. And yeah, she was just so, so lovely. it would just basically, it really, it became more about the people. And to this day, it is more about the people than it is about the fabric.

which is a challenge as well because obviously I need to sell fabric to pay my bills. But the sense of community that you get from running those events and seeing the impact that it has and also the impact that it had on me, because I felt supported and seen and loved. That's why if anybody approaches me like, I'm doing this frock tails or I've got this social, would you support it? I'm like, I will shout from the

top of this hill about your social event because I cannot stress how important it is that we spend this time together, especially as people that really value our alone time to come together because we're off the same minds, you know. Yeah, I just, I could talk about community and sewing and creative people.

Speaker 2 (34:39.595)

forever and ever and ever, I think, to be honest. And I did come away like going, I'd really like to set up a podcast about that side of it, as in how you can get involved. because there's people behind their sewing machines that are sewing amazing things. There's, I always get it wrong, the name of it, and probably I should have looked it up before, I project.

Linus, I think it's called L-I-N-U-S. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. And they sew quilts for children. And I have a lot of people. I had one woman, okay, she won a giveaway or something that I'd done. I'd sponsored, that's it, I sponsored a quilting challenge. She won a 50 pound voucher and she spent it on fabric for Project Linus. Like I was just, when I read that she'd...

that was what she was using it for. I was just, I just, yeah, I cried a bit because...

I'm just, I mean...

is so selfless, isn't it? That is so selfless. So there's people behind those sewing machines that doing that. Then there's the Patchamama project, which is sewing up sanitary pads for period poverty areas. I've been supporting them for a few years now, but that just gives me all the goosebumps as well. you look into that, just how amazing that project has been, how much it's grown.

Speaker 2 (36:14.894)

And then one of my ladies that comes down to Quilt Block Club, she does, I can't remember the name of the book, Josie Bags, that's it. Sorry, I've got it pinned up on a little, I've got a poster over there. They're bags for people that are going through chemotherapy to put their bags in. I don't know the proper name for it. She tells me every time my brain's awful. But basically when you have chemotherapy, you obviously have to have all the liquids and everything.

in a bag and you have to keep it with you, don't you? And that's what goes in that. And so those are just a few examples. And I just wanted to raise awareness of these things because there's lots of people out there that don't know about these things that really want to be involved and make a difference. And I really feel like as a community, we're so strong, like we achieve amazing things, amazing things.

And you can almost feel the power behind the fact that together, but separate, we create these things and we make real change to people's lives. And how amazing is that? Like, you know, how good does that make you feel? It makes me feel amazing that we do those things. And it's, as I say, I could talk forever because...

I just think that the power behind the people that make up the community with all of our little stories, these people, you know, just going back to the social days, like the things that they've lived through and they're still here and they have no idea as well. Or they do have a little bit, well, maybe they don't have an idea. They don't feel very good about themselves, but I could just feel how...

amazing that human being is to have lived through all those things and to still be here and to be able to share it as well. felt so privileged really to be able to hear their stories, but just I really don't think people understand how amazing they are, you know.

Speaker 1 (38:26.7)

And that's a really, really special story or group of stories. Cause I know from chatting to you behind the scenes, how you feel a lot, don't you? You're very, you feel everything. I love that because I do it too, but probably not quite on the same scale as Kayleigh, but a community is a real core value of flirters. And you can feel that when you talk to Kayleigh.

yourself. But I think it's very special and it's a thread actually that has come through a lot of the interviews. So sewing itself can be a solitary hobby, but when we come together, it's so strong, isn't it? It's so lovely

Speaker 2 (39:13.804)

Yeah, and I think that this is the thing is that whether you're together through like physically or if you're like this, I'm so pleased to see there's so many virtual sewing groups becoming a thing as well because not everybody can get out and not everybody, you know, not even just physically, but you can live in an area that makes it difficult to commute or, know, you could just really not.

want to leave the house. So having those opportunities, it's really, really vital. Like it's like a lifeline. You can feel it when you're there in the moment. You can feel that it really is so, powerful. And it's crazy as well because you go, know, sewing is the thing that connects us all. But I don't think I see anything that connects us all because we all seem to have this sort of moral compass as well.

You you look at all the sewing events that are held every year as well. I don't know if the sewing community has realized quite how powerful it is yet. You know, I do hope that one day it does. just also the biggest thing for me, which, cause I'm kind of like trying, I'm like at the same time as talking to you, I'm like reliving the moments in my head and kind of re-experiencing the emotions. But the biggest thing for me actually was, and still is to this day.

So it's feeling welcomed. so for example, if I teach anybody, I often have people go, oh, I'm so sorry. I've done this wrong. I'm so sorry. And I say, first of all, I tell them off. And I don't mean that I'm just like, oh, you've done this all wrong. How dare you? It's like, babe, in this space, we don't do things wrong. You haven't got this wrong.

Yeah, okay, it's not up to the standard that you have in your mind, but the standard that you have in your mind is somebody that's been sewing this for a very long time. You know, so first of all, you'd come down from there. There's a lot of people that will go, I've only just bought this sewing machine, so I'm not really good enough to be here, but I thought I'd come along anyway. And I'll go, you are good enough to be here. And don't be afraid to make those mistakes.

Speaker 2 (41:34.028)

You know, every time somebody makes a mistake and they apologize, I say, don't be afraid to make those mistakes. Nobody's upset with you for making those mistakes. I'm not upset with you for making those mistakes. So with Quilt Block Club, it's quite funny really that I'm teaching Quilt Block Club because I am not the queen of accuracy. I'm more accurate because I teach people and I want them to have an example that is, you know, accurate to go by.

If somebody cuts something wrong or they haven't got the corners perfect, and I'll be like, bye-bye, who's going to see it? You know it's there, but the whole point of Quilt Block Club, the whole point of Quilt Block Club is for you to mess up with free fabric. That is it. You you've got fabric that I've provided for you to sew up and make wrong so that when you go home and you recreate this block, you get it bang on.

and you're really happy because you used a good fabric for it, you know? And that's the whole point with every workshop. Come to my workshops, get it wrong, have a great time, feel, because this is the thing I've had people say and it genuinely makes my heart so like full is that one of my ladies that comes to me, she did the last sewing challenge that I did, I did,

The Great Flirter Sewing Challenge. I mean, I really set a challenge as well. So it was a blind pattern challenge and the blind pattern was the zero waste work wear jacket. The reason I chose it was not because I wanted to see everybody crash and burn, asshole. We chose it because it's unisex and it's size inclusive. So I knew that everybody would be able to take part in it.

how my lovely lady, she had only sewn up hats to that point. Okay. And I was just so proud of her for being there. I mean, she's such a gorgeous lady. How the scraps that she had, obviously it's meant to be zero waste, people did fluff up their measurements a little bit. Okay. So bless her. She bought the bits that she got wrong off of me. And then she made up this really lovely little bin that I can use because I save all my scraps.

Speaker 1 (43:53.358)

I'm

day and it's out this beautiful sunflower fabric. It's over there somewhere so I can't even show you. But she said to me on the last workshop that she did, because she has since been back for other workshops, she says the reason why she likes coming to my workshops is because she never feels stupid. I never make anybody feel stupid. You can just be yourself and you don't have to feel embarrassed or shamed about it. And that was probably the biggest compliment I could get.

because that's what I genuinely want. It's, yeah, I have this high standard in myself that I'm like, everybody must finish their project. But ultimately what people get from it is that they've had a really lovely time in a safe space. And it's so important to have those safe spaces. Safe spaces to be yourself, safe spaces to fluff up and not have somebody say to you, you haven't done it right. You know, your corners aren't touching or something like that.

because otherwise you're never going to try anything. You're never going to fall in love with anything if it's always horrible to you in the first place. So yeah, that's what I get from it. I genuinely, I do my workshops for the people. My Quilt Block Club, it's my ladies that come along to it. I go and I love seeing them. And do know how many people have worked in the NHS? Maybe it's just my corner of the world.

But a lot of the people that come along to my workshops and my quilt block club, yeah. And you know, the stories that they tell, it just gives me all the tingles and the fact that they love coming back time and again. And I get to hear about their families and their stories and everything. And they hear about mine. They don't have a choice. They hear about mine. It's just lovely. You end up growing a family.

Speaker 2 (45:46.604)

And this is what happened with the socials. And that's why I kick myself because we grew a lovely, weird little supportive family. and I genuinely loved every single one of those people. You could have removed the fabric from it and we still would have just turned up just for the cups of tea and the chats really. It was great. Yeah.

I get that.

Do you have any exciting plans coming up for the business?

Do I have any exciting plans for the business? I feel like this is a question maybe you know the answer to, but I've probably forgotten about.

What we've been working on a little bit behind the scenes is more of like, so to fit in with sort of like a sustainable slash slowing down pace of life. You came up with the great idea of like seasonal fabric drops.

Speaker 2 (46:40.994)

Yes, following the seasons. basically I was having a bit of a, or I've continued to have whilst owning a fabric shop, an existential crisis in that I do like to be ethical, like it powers me as a person, as a human being. Even before having a fabric shop, I was using, you know, I was the weirdo and I say that in just...

if anybody's listening to this and not watching, there are like the little bunny ears using dry shampoo long before it became a thing. Because it was just a thing that I felt deeply again was something that I should be doing, that we should do. It makes complete sense why we're not doing it. And so with the fabric shop, the thing that I was really struggling is overconsumption because

We love fabric. We all love fabric. We know that. I don't need to keep on going on about it. know, but the way that a lot of fabric shops operate and we operate in order to keep in the black is by keeping people interested with new fabric. And the thing is, that it is kind of like when it comes to dressmaking, especially it's kind of like,

a reflection of the fashion industry, you know, because we're sewing for our own outfits. So what we like changes and unfortunately it changes really quickly. I mean, at beginning of this year, I thought brown was the in color and now everybody's going on about buttery yellow and I'm like, I didn't get that memo. But no, the point is, that

Speaker 2 (48:32.534)

I was getting to a point where I really wasn't happy because Fleur-et-Ours wasn't reflecting my own ethos. And I was provided in a fabric shop that was tailored to what the sewists wanted, but that wasn't giving me the fulfillment that I needed. And it was very much like, if I was employed, then I would do these things because I'd be complying with the business.

but I'm not, I run this business and therefore it should really reflect me to a great extent because, you know, my business is part of my life. I want to say it is my life, but I don't mean that in the extent of like it runs my life, you know. My business is an extension of me and therefore should be a reflection of me. So at the beginning of the year or the end of last year, I came up with the concept of following the seasons. And the reason for this was

quite layered in that it slowed down how often I would be able to drop fabrics, which was important because I was exhausted. I was exhausted with getting new fabrics out all the time. I couldn't keep up. There'd be fabrics that would just be there and not on the website. I mean, to be honest, there's still some fabrics over there that aren't on the website.

It was also about honouring my own pace of life. I'm a very slow person. Though some people will go, well, if you sin, how quickly she'll sell a T-shirt or something. There are some things that I will go speedily at and more because I know I only have like a very feeny amount of time. But my natural pace is very slow. I've always been very slow, even as a child. And one of the things that I had noticed as an adult in very, very, very recent time is that

Speaker 2 (50:27.534)

I'm still trying to hold myself to everybody else's pace of life and I cannot keep up with that. If you gave me a task like an admin task to do, I would get it done, but I would stay up late getting it done. Like I probably take twice the amount of time as a normal person a day to get it done, but I don't realize that because I'm working myself so hard in order to try and keep up.

So it was in order to honour that part of myself as well. Also, I am a gardener. I love nature. So it was kind of like, you know, why am I not doing this? You know, when so much of my, the way that I feel is dictated by nature, it's true. Like I move with the seasons. And so it was like, isn't Flora Err's moving with the seasons as well?

Speaker 2 (51:24.27)

And really, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense because I thought, rather than pushing new fabric all the time, I should be highlighting the fabric that I've got because just like the fabric in my stash where I touch it and I can feel the idea of what it, the life that it's meant to lead, I do the same with the fabric that's in the fabric shop as well. You know, I can, and that actually, to be honest, that has been a big.

big sucker point for me because I usually end up with fabric from the shop because I'm like, oh yes, I like that. That could be this. Even if I'm like, love the fabric, but perhaps isn't my colors that I would use. I am also a sucker for it if somebody orders some fabric and like they've told me what they're going to make with it. And then I'm like, oh my gosh, now I need some of my life because I need that as well. The thing is because I feel things deeply, I can literally.

Speaker 2 (52:17.982)

sap off that excitement and inspiration. So it's dangerous. But that was the whole idea behind it. It's just the business needs to serve me because I am the business. Other than you, Gemma, there's nobody else here. Is it from Chris occasionally when something goes wrong with the website and I can't work out what's going on? But ultimately, it's me. So if...

It's going at a pace that I can't keep up with. It's kind of a bit bonkers really, isn't it? And I did think, gosh, this is, this is a big risk because the fabric shops that sell fabric like me aren't doing it. And it makes absolute sense as to why in order to keep in the black, in order to keep up with trends, they're going to just drop fabric as and when they need to, like, you know, all the time.

I just thought I can't continue to live in this feeling like I'm being split in two basically between saying one thing and doing another. And it was making me feel really cheap. yeah, that's why I did it and that's what I do now. And so that is what is exciting. That's the exciting news that's coming up. Summer is arriving. Which is what Gemma wanted to say all along.

Yeah, that's right.

But yes, summer is arriving and I am really excited about it. It's my job for this week is to take photos of all the summer fabrics and we are building out. We've already started to build up the inspiration behind our summer capsule. But you know, it's just been so lush, know, to adopt this way of working is one thing. It feels like a

Speaker 2 (54:12.23)

moved into a space that I'm meant to be in. I'm in my lane now, but it's not just that, but Gemma is brilliant. Honestly, I know, I know, but I do say this to like, when I'm having a conversation with people about, it makes me sound really posh because I'm like, I have a lady that helps me with my social media. But Gemma actually goes beyond this. Okay, guys.

get you on just to say that but...

Speaker 2 (54:41.646)

She actually organises my thoughts. So one of the things with running a small business, especially as the only person in it, is that you don't have anybody to bounce ideas off of. So for one thing, you don't know if you're completely hitting the mark, but also, and oh my goodness, this is just giving me an epiphany, when you come together and you share ideas, they tend to grow. And the epiphany that I've just had is.

my textiles degree that I'm doing at the moment. The current project that I'm just about to submit my assignment for is where do ideas come from? And one of the things that I put in there is that I'm not very good about working with other people because I'm very solitary. But I completely forgot about the fact that I employed Gemma specifically to bounce ideas off of. So I need to listen back to this podcast episode to remember because I'll forget by the end of this.

I need to put that in.

But you are good at working with people. think it is hard to do anything alone, really. And we both come with different ideas, don't we? And we sort of mould them together.

Yeah. You've got your feet firmly like in the nigh and on the ground, you know, and I'm just like floating around. And together, yeah, just really, we just jowl, don't we? Yeah, it's good. Wow, it is really good. yeah, Jemma seems to kind of like know what I want before I've said it, so that's great.

Speaker 1 (56:17.55)

I don't know how.

I don't know how, but it works and it's great. that's, and it just really has helped to give focus because that's something that I struggle with. So we have our monthly little meetings, don't we? And we go through everything that we want to achieve for the month. There's a theme and we build on it and it's really starting to take a really good shape. you know, we've kind of like settled into our little.

groove haven't we? Yeah. And I love the fact that Gemma is just really enthusiastic.

about everything. love it as much as you. Yeah, it's great.

because when I'm like, know, going, oh, I've had this idea, but I'm not really sure about it. And you'll be like, oh, that's a really And it'll be like, oh, okay. Yeah, this is good. So no, it is good. And yes, summer is dropping very soon. Emails will be dropping, social media will be updated and new fabric will be arriving, which honestly,

Speaker 1 (57:17.464)

Yeah, watch out guys.

Speaker 2 (57:29.324)

The three months goes by so quickly. Also, another exciting thing is there's going to be a new seasonal spotlight, sewist. And the idea behind the seasonal spotlight sewist, beyond being a limerick, is there's four sewists, one for each season. These sewists were handpicked by me and I chose them because they have supported Fleur Airs since forever.

they are the Fleur-A-Ours community. Actually again, here's how the whole community thing comes in. See, Gemma's really good about connecting these dots, whereas my bro's going ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. And it does connect, but I'm not very good about telling people in a linear way. But the seasonal sewists are Fleur-A-Ours, essentially. They are Fleur-A-Ours. Basically, Fleur-A-Ours without any customers would just be a lady with a lot of fabric.

And it's true, I am a lady with a lot of fabric, but I am so, so lucky and I find it so absolutely bonkers that people want to buy fabric from me. Not because I have bad fabric, but just it is mad. You know, that people put faith in me in the beginning and it took those people to have faith in me to get to where I am now.

We've had the lovely Debbie doing a spring. Debbie's been with me since forever and she's such a sweetheart. We had a chat and it ended up turning into a therapy session. were both in tears by the end of it, in a good way, not a bad way. Then the next seasonal size we've got is Alison from Sew Like Dottie and she's gorgeous. Alison's just, she's shouted about Flora as whenever she's got the opportunity, she's just been...

She's been brilliant. think it's because she's come from that background as well. I'm really excited to hear what she's got planned. She's going to be choosing her fabric very soon. And then we're going to have a bit of a chat with her as well, aren't we? And get a general idea. But essentially, people that are sewing for the seasons, the idea is that they take us on a journey with their garment. And the journey lasts roughly for the season.

Speaker 2 (59:54.83)

because the whole idea behind it is that, you know, it reinforces the idea of slower sewing and really loving the garment that you've created, like appreciating the journey that you go on. So don't expect them to take the whole season to sew up their garment. Obviously life does happen and that could happen. If it was me, it probably would. But these people, they tend to sew up quite quickly, which is great.

The idea is that, you know, they take us on this journey of how they chose the fabric. And it might just be as simple as, it's gorgeous. I saw it. I knew I needed it in my life. And that's great because it tells us that there's joy in that fabric and there's going to be joy in that garment. And then once it arrives, you know, maybe they tell us their ideas behind that. You know, now that they've seen the fabric in person, perhaps they've got new ideas in comparison to when they saw it online.

just take us through that process of how they chose that pattern and things like that. And then we get to experience watching them create this garment. So if they have any tips and tricks, then that's obviously lovely to learn on the way because YouTube, blogs, vlogs, all that kind of thing, they're like little nuggets of gold for tips and tricks. And also just to be able to see how the fabric behaves.

And were there any challenges behind working with that fabric as well? Because, okay, this is another thing. Let's not pretend that some fabrics are easy or harder to work with than they are. Because this is another thing. Obviously, I want to sell you some gorgeous rayon fabric, but it would be mean of me to go, it's so easy to work with. Because some people really struggle and there are tips and tricks like my tip would be.

use a sharp, fresh needle. Otherwise you're going to pull the threads. You are. It's going to happen. I did it myself. I don't let you look too close at some of my things I've made. But yeah, and then obviously we then have the final garment that we get to see and we just get to experience that appreciation for the final garment because we've lived that journey with them and that's the whole point. You know, we are living this season with them. It's about

Speaker 2 (01:02:15.768)

connecting across the magic of the internet. It's about experiencing it together and just making the whole experience much more collective than it is because I think as society, we really segregate parts of our life. We segregate the seasons from our businesses, from what we create and actually

you know, when you create something, you're influenced by so many parts of your life. You are the art, not necessarily what you're creating, because without you, that wouldn't actually exist. So you're like the hidden part. And I feel like that's just like, it's really magical. And I know that sounds so cheesy and hippified, but it's true. Like this whole

This whole thing is that everything is connected and we should be celebrating the little bits of life. Every little good thing. It should be like, Oh wow. It's like fairy dust. You know? Love that.

I love that, it's very special.

It is special, So, and that's the exciting news.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31.982)

That's it. Keep an eye out. I like to tie up the interview, Kayleigh, with a little game. It's like a quick fire game of this or that.

I don't know if I can do it

You've gotta be quick, we've been on for over an hour.

No, I'm sorry guys, I'm sorry. Right, okay, I will do my best.

Right, let's go. right. Prints or solids? Wovens or knits?

Speaker 2 (01:03:56.281)

Prints.

scissors or rotary cutter.

There's a time and a place for both. I'm sorry guys, I'm both.

A meal out or a takeaway.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13.07)

depends on the day of the week. No, meal out. Yeah, definitely meal out.

One project on the go or more.

no, a hundred billion that never get finished. That's me.

Yeah. An organised stash or creative chaos.

Creative chaos that endeavours to be an organised stash.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34.83)

Sewing for yourself or others.

I find myself sewing for others a lot more than I do myself, but I love sewing for myself.

podcasts or YouTube.

I listen to more podcasts. That's because I get distracted by YouTube. I won't be doing any sewing. I'll just be gawking. 

Tea or coffee.

Tea all the time. Yep. Every kind.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02.068)

and spring, summer or autumn, winter.

Autumn, I'm an autumn baby. Autumn's the best. Crispy leaves and woodland walks and the smell, the smell when you walk outside and you can smell that autumn's coming, best smell ever.

And where can people find you, Kayleigh?

they can find me online. So you can find me on Instagram. The business is at Fleur dot et, that's et dot ers, which is spelt like hours. Or you can find my personal sewing on at Kayleigh Miranda Makes. I'm also on YouTube, but I don't really, I'm not very good about uploading onto there, but you can find me and my website, obviously fleuretours.com.

I have a Facebook page if you're not on Instagram and you can email me if you want to it's hello at fleuretours.com but yeah that's where you can find me.

Speaker 1 (01:06:02.158)

Everywhere. Everywhere.

I try to be everywhere at all times, all... yeah.

well, you've been amazing. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.

today. Thank you for inviting me to witter on for an hour plus. Thank you, lovely. hope you have a lovely rest of your day.

You're fabulous.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22.04)

Bye! Thanks so much for listening. Don't forget, hit that follow button so you don't miss out on any of the amazing content we've got coming up. Until next time, happy sewing!