ABOUT US

Hello! My name is Barbara Jessop and I would like to welcome you to The Needle Workshop web site.

Having sewn since I was a small child, it was almost inevitable that at some stage it would become a large part of my life. After leaving school, I went to college and did a course in Business Studies but sewing was not far away! After getting married, I went back to college and took a City and Guilds Advanced Course in Dress. Having made clothes and soft furnishings at home whilst our two boys grew up, I gradually became involved in teaching crafts and needlework at adult evening classes. A lack of available materials at the time led, in the mid 1980s, to my starting a business selling needlework materials. I made my first two padded box kits in 1987 for a class I was teaching. They were so popular that my students wanted other shapes and sizes, and so the padded box side of the business begun. Since then, we have made many different designs - some have stood the test of time and some haven't!

In 1994 my husband John took early retirement from the motor industry and, in a complete change of direction, joined me in the needlecraft business. We decided at that point to trade under the name of The Needle Workshop as I was still running workshops for all kinds of needlework. Since that time we have developed the publishing and retail side of the business, and are now concentrating on Patchwork, Applique, Quilting, Fabric projects and our popular Padded Box kits. All the patterns and kits we sell are designed by me and then handed on to John for production and sale. I still enjoy teaching as it helps me to try and iron out difficulties my customers may have when making up our products.

We produce a range of Course Workshop Notes as an aid to learning most of the techniques needed to make quilts and smaller items. Allied to these course notes are Patterns, Patchwork Designs, Fabric Projects and kits to make by hand and machine. We aim to help beginners and experienced needle workers to enjoy making simple items and inspire you to make larger items as well.

The Needle Workshop is in Greenfield, in the English county of Bedfordshire. We are about 50 miles north of London, close to the M1 motorway and only a few miles from historic Woburn Abbey. Although some people think we are a shop because 'shop' appears in our name, I am afraid that we are not open to the public.

We are a Mail Order business but we do exhibit at some of the leading needlecraft shows in the U.K.

Finally, and most importantly, our aim is to provide you with a varied range of high quality products at reasonable prices, with a fast delivery service. We normally hope to turn an order around in less than a week.