Our Story
My Sewing Box - Our Story
My Sewing Box is an online fabric & haberdashery business set up by mother-daughter duo Amy and Angela Gilbert, based in Bournemouth. It all started with a hypothetical business plan, and a big love for all things fabric... and of course, growing up learning to sew ourselves!
With mum and two daughters all into sewing, the three of us running our sewing machine into the ground, we of course spent half our time running around to local fabric shops for supplies.
But we soon found that after we'd done a lot of basic projects, there wasn't a lot of choice for better quality fabrics around, and none of it was particularly inspiring. We started investigating what was out there and found so many good quality, well-designed fabrics which we'd love to use but just weren't available in our area.
After following a load of sewing blogs for inspiration, we also realised that a lot of the fabric shops didn't do a lot to inspire somebody who might struggle with choosing fabrics or simply felt like they needed ideas for how to use their fabrics. So we decided to set up our own business online to supply not only fabrics but also the ideas, inspiration and support alongside to make sure that everyone's sewing journey was a pleasant and on-going one.
Ever since we first set eyes on Makower fabrics, we knew it was the designer for us, so we started with selling exclusively Makower fabrics. We loved the fact they were all British designed, as well as great quality and style. Before long, more British designers like Lewis & Irene started popping up too!
And so we grew from there... We added kits to our range, to help encourage new sewers to have a go without feeling like they had to commit to buying lots of equipment and fabric if they didn't like it (plus they also make great gifts). Now we have a great range of fabrics, kits, habby and accessories, as well as our renowned monthly sewing subscription boxes - and we're always building!
We handpick all our fabrics, and carefully curate the contents of all our monthly boxes, as well as spend many hours coming up with and putting together all of our kits. It's very hands on, but we love it, and our customers do too!
In 2019 we have also been shortlisted for Family Business Entrepreneurs of the Year in the Natwest Great British Entrepreneur Awards for the South West region. How exciting!
The company has continued to grow over the years, building a reputation for quality fabrics and great customer service. Sadly we lost Angela in 2023 after a short battle with cancer, but Amy continues to build on her legacy, with a small team of helpers to make sure we can deliver all your goodies in the same way we always have done.