A woman whose passion for crafting began in Bishop’s Stortford is returning for a book-signing session at the place where it all began.
Norfolk-based cottage crafter Jodie May Seymour will be in Waterstones in South Street on Saturday (May 11) from 1pm to sell and sign copies of her 272-page hardback A Handmade Cottage: The Art of Crafting a Home.
The songwriter and musician added crafting to her list of creative passions when she moved to Bishop’s Stortford with husband-to-be Andy Platts in 2006.
Jodie found that craft was a much-needed therapy from the stresses of everyday life and started a community-based craft club at Waterstones. Around 15 women would meet weekly in the bookshop’s café upstairs – and so The Cottage Crafters were formed.
After returning from honeymoon, Jodie began her craft and rustic lifestyle blog, A Handmade Cottage. A few months later, she became the former Herts and Essex Observer newspaper’s craft columnist, and she subsequently presented a craft segment on ITV’s This Morning.
Then, in early 2019, after 12 years in Stortford, Jodie, Andy, their young daughter Frankie, now 6, and Jack Russell dog Ralphy moved to an 18th-century flint stone house in the Norfolk countryside – and she has been turning it into her own handmade cottage ever since.
“We loved our little house on Portland Place, and we loved living in Stortford, we really made a home for ourselves there,” said Jodie, 45. “But we were keen to buy a house and we’ve always loved being in the countryside, which is how we ended up in living Norfolk.”
Her new book is a cottagecore enthusiast’s guide to sustainable upcycling, thrifty decorating and achieving an eclectic, cosy and picture-perfect cottage frugally and simply.
Jodie shares her projects and ideas for every room in the house using simple creative craft ideas and and a little DIY know-how. Almost everything can be made by an absolute beginner, yet there are also inspiring projects that will appeal to the more skilled crafter.
From candles and lampshades to dressers and curtains, there’s a range of projects and an introduction to some of the most useful DIY techniques, such as sanding, sewing and painting.
Restoring old furniture, repurposing forgotten fabrics, decorating your home using whatever nature has to offer – you too can make a beautiful home that’s uniquely yours on a tight budget.
Jodie said: “I think a lot of us would love to have a go at making things but we think it’s either too costly or it’s simply beyond us. But hopefully, with these simple but effective projects, you will see it is absolutely achievable, regardless of your skill and ability.
“I regularly find myself referring back to my own instructions for making things and I thought it would be so lovely to compile a collection of all my favourite projects in just one book.”
The photos in the book were taken by Jodie’s musician husband Andy, who in 2007 formed soul/pop five-piece band Mamas Gun and is one half of London-based yacht rock duo Young Gun Silver Fox, formed in 2012 with American multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee.
Saturday’s signing session starts at 1pm. Jodie said: “It made sense to do it there as it’s my craft home, I had my craft colour there and it’s where it all began.”
*A Handmade Cottage: The Art of Crafting a Home is published by Murdoch Books with a recommended retail price of £23. It’s available online and at all good book shops in the UK, USA and Australia.
