Meet the mother and daughter team behind fabric recycling business Yorkshire Blankets
A creative flair and a propensity for repurposing led Victoria Cawthorne into a new career recycling fabric that would have gone to landfill. Sally Clifford reports. Pictures by Tony Johnson.
It was the introduction to a mill-owning fabric producer that gave Victoria Cawthorne the idea to find a new home for the blankets made from redundant yarns left over at the end of the week, diverting them from landfill.
With a range of home furnishing possibilities in mind, Victoria approached the mill to see if she could buy the blankets and began selling them at the Christmas fair at her daughter, Frances’ school. “I made the stall look wonderful – I had all these blankets and they sold out,” says Victoria. “I was working in a bank at the time but I thought ‘wow’ I’ll book another fair. I rang the mill up and asked how many blankets I could have. I was asked how many I wanted and I bought them all.”
She began selling the blanket seconds at craft fairs and enjoyed similar success until she discovered her goods didn’t fit the criteria for craft stalls, because she wasn’t making them herself. With a little help from her mum, Victoria began using the basic sewing skills she learned at GCSE, creating decorative hangings for the home out of blankets.
“I asked my mum what we could make. I said I’m sure we could make lavender hearts so we hand-cut them, stitched them and sewed buttons on.” It was her mum’s suggestion to make cushions that led to them creating envelope-style zipless covers.
“We dug out the old sewing machine from the loft that my mum had used making school skirts for me,” says Victoria. Soon demand was out-stripping supply as they began to expand the range. When the blanket seconds supply wasn’t as buoyant they expanded their pool of Yorkshire mill suppliers who made blankets for them in colourways and weaves from left-over threads on the reels during production.
“We are using all the bits of yarn that are left. Sometimes we can get two or three blankets in one colour way. Sometimes they change colour half way through, but all the fabrics are woven perfectly,” explains Victoria. Within six months Victoria left the bank and, after completing her English degree, daughter Frances joined bringing her web design and social media skills.
Beautiful window pane checks; herringbone and diamond weave blankets in an expansive colour palette, deep blues, rich reds and lighter neutral tones are stacked neatly within the Barnsley workplace which became Yorkshire Blankets’ home eight years ago – three years after launching in Victoria’s spare room.
Picking up one of the wool blend blankets, consisting of 80 per cent wool and mixed fibres with a simple fringe, Victoria explains how something as simple as a hairy fibre can lead to rejection from the production line.
“I like the fact that we are able to sell at reasonable prices a beautiful product that is locally produced and saved from landfill,” she says.
The range also features 100 per cent pure wool blankets with full tassel fringe. “We have some that are mixed with mohair and cashmere on occasions,” says Victoria. This natural fibre is easy maintenance too. “Wool is a natural fibre. It is fire retardant as well. It keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer. We recommend pure wool is handwashed or dry cleaned, but wool blends can go in a cool wash.” King size bed blankets are a new introduction to the range. “A lot of people have king size beds and super king size so we have a batch of extra large pure wool blankets,” she says. Luxury home furnishing or picnic companion, blankets are a practical piece and, considering Victoria and Frances are collecting an abundance of blankets each month from mills around Yorkshire, they are growing in popularity.
“There has to be a need for products. With blankets you don’t have to keep your heating on – after four days it has paid for itself,” says Victoria, who believes energy costs could be playing a part in demand as people return to old fashioned ways of keeping warm. Funky bag-design doorstops and stylish handbags add a fashionable dimension to the range. Pouffes beautifully covered in a patchwork of eye-catching colours are hand-stuffed with surplus fabrics.
“We don’t throw anything in the bin,” says Victoria, who is waste averse. I think it’s our Yorkshire ethic. You put on your plate what you want to eat. I don’t see the point in waste. I would rather give something than throw something away.” This eco-friendly approach to their production – they also use recycled packaging – along with adapting and evolving has been the secret to Yorkshire Blankets’ success as Victoria explains. “We have got over 20 different products. It’s been a case of listening to our customers. For a long time people asked us to make capes out of blankets. They are now one of our biggest sellers and we have seamstresses who work with us.”
Victoria recalls how a conversation on one of their stalls led to them creating a pair of ponchos for two builders. Yorkshire Blankets’ bag range also came from a conversation. “A customer bought a blanket and came back to show me the handbag she had made. I said ‘can you make some more of them for me?’ She has been making them for seven years.” Selling at regular farmers markets including Harrogate, Ilkley and Malton, and through stockists across the UK, including Barnsley, Halifax and Grassington, their hand-produced home furnishings and fashions have also attracted a following all over the world. “A lady bought a handbag on a visit to Yorkshire and wanted five purses for her friends overseas in America. They have gone all over the world.”
Hanging owls fashioned from beautiful blanket remnants have been photographed by appreciative customers after arriving at their overseas destinations. Crafters can indulge in the blanket yarn balls and bags of off-cuts, available through the Yorkshire Blankets website where the extensive collection, including ‘Warm Woollen Blanket’ candles can be viewed. Popular products are the DIY rag wreath kits they initially produced in lockdown. Victoria explains how the wreaths are made from recycled Selvedge Edge, which keeps the fabric taut and prevents fraying during production, and their offcuts.
“Mum had a new shiny black door and wanted a Christmas wreath so we made her one and I ended up making them all that winter,” says Victoria. Such was the response from introducing them to the market stalls they run, they began running regular rag wreath-making workshops. When those were curtailed due to lockdown restrictions, Victoria recalls one of their customers asking if they would parcel up the supplies for her to make her own at home. This gave Victoria and Frances another enterprising idea. “After sending her the kit we thought we may as well make five more to put on the website and it went beserk.” Working from their homes, Victoria recalls they were making wreaths day and night in lockdown “It got to the point where we ran out of selvedge so we had to cut up blankets into strips to keep up with the demand,” says Victoria, who ran the packaging department at her home with her eldest daughter while Frances took care of the cutting in her garage.
Victoria’s parents have also been a great support sewing and stuffing pouffes over the years and, with Frances expecting her first baby in September, Yorkshire Blankets can look forward to eventually handing the baton to the next generation.