Jane Kent is a self-taught freemotion machine embroidery artist and designer based in rural Staffordshire, creating positive handmade embroidery hoops, greetings cards, tea towels, and textile gifts from her home studio.
After graduating with a degree in Decorative Art from Nottingham Trent University in 2001, I worked for many years within the mental health and care sector working with people with eating disorders and brain injuries. My roles were to provide therapeutic and creative activities for our residents and patients. I adored these jobs and they have definitely helped inspire my work today.
Once I became a Mum I decided not to return to work, instead I decided to go back to doing what I loved and start making and selling items at fairs and markets. I began trading in 2012 and I haven't looked back. Now I am able to do the things I love for a living and work flexibly around family life.
My business has developed and changed over the years into what it is today, As a textile artist and maker, I love stitch, colour and pretty patterns so I guess that's my business in a nutshell. I also like to draw and in 2018 I launched my first tea towel range and expanded my greetings cards, all of these items are designed using my own original drawings.
The main focus of my business though is to spread kindness and positivity, I really do believe that we can all make the world a better place by being a little kinder to others and also ourselves too.
I live and work in rural Staffordshire where I'm lucky enough to have a home studio, my dog Pringle keeps me company most of the day sleeping under my desk. I love working from home right now, long term I'd love a studio outside of the house to allow me to run workshops and expand the team.
I sell mainly online now and to a select number of wholesale customers. I also attend a handful of craft events and maker markets each year, please pop over to the events page to have a look where I will be next.
All my pieces are made using a technique called freemotion machine embroidery (also known as free motion embroidery).
All my wording is stitched by free hand embroidery, which uses a standard domestic sewing machine and I guide the fabric around with my hands to write the words. I'm completely self taught and it's taken many many hours of practice to get my writing so neat, in fact I think my stitched writing is neater than my handwriting!
Please pop over to my shop section where everything has either been handmade or hand-designed by myself. I hope that you find something that you like, if not keep an eye out for the customisable tag, these products allow you to choose words and colours so you get something just for you. I also have a range printed greetings cards and tea towels which have been printed from my designs and illustrations. I have plans to expand this range so watch this space!
