Under new ownership

Textile designer Petra Bradley specialises in giving the pre-loved a beautiful new life. Sharon Dale reports. Pictures by Gary Longbottom.

When two creative and practical individuals live together, you can be certain they’ll have a house full of bright ideas.

Textile designer Petra Bradley and former theatre production manager Bob Irwin have the perfect artistic union. She is a whiz with a needle and thread, while he is dab hand at DIY and make do and mend, which helped enormously when they bought a former student let in York.

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The previously rented terraced property was in need of some TLC when they moved in nine years ago.

“Most of the rooms were bedrooms, including what is now the sitting room, which was separated with a curtain strung across the arch leading to the dining room. It was all a bit shabby,” says Petra.

“But we liked the fact it had a small garden at the back and it had potential.”

The couple, who have twin teenagers Laura and Alastair, have transformed the house adding a loft extension and revamping the interior.

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Both are enthusiastic foragers with an eclectic collection of what Petra calls “the found, the liberated from skips and the salvaged from shows”.

The 1970s sideboard in the dining room came from a charity shop, while the white table is a 1970s Habitat piece that belonged to Petra’s parents. It is teamed with chairs from a junk shop in Mold, North Wakes, where they lived when working for Theatre Clwyd. Petra covered the lift-up seats in retro floral fabric.

The wing-backed chair in the sitting room was Bob’s father’s but has been re-upholstered in wool check by MB Smith of York, while the grandfather clock is Petra’s and has been passed down to the eldest girl in the family since it was made in 1790. The art deco lamp came from a skip in Leeds.

When Petra, a former theatre costume supervisor, and Bob lived and worked in London they added to their collection and acquired a cabinet from an old magistrates court that was closing down.

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“We’ve collected on the way and Bob is very handy at DIY, which comes from creating theatre sets on a shoestring,” says Petra.

He help give the kitchen a makeover with shop bought units and hand-built shelves.

It was his idea to create a cost-effective stair runner by taking off-cuts of striped carpet. He had the edges bound and then nailed the pieces of carpet onto the treads.

Bob also built Petra a shed in the garden for her screen printing and constructed a huge workbench in the spare bedroom.

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This is an ingenious dual purpose piece of furniture. The “table” is two old doors hinged together standing on two struts over a spare bed.

The table and struts can be lifted, folded and fastened to the wall when the bed is needed for guests.

The shelves in the room are also Bob’s work and are full of bobbins and threads and piles of what Petra calls her “found fabrics”. The fabulous vintage cloth is the basis for most of her pieces.

She uses it to make beautiful bags and purses that are sold at fairs and galleries and cost from £6.50 to £35.

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She also screen prints her own designs that are made into purses and pictures, though she does some bespoke work too.

“One man asked if I could make bags for his wife from one of her favourite Liberty print dresses. She was going to throw it out as she didn’t wear it but it held a lot of good memories. I think she wore it when they met. He gave the bags to her as surprise present, which was lovely and thoughtful,” says Petra, who started her business in 2006 after joining a Visual Enterprise Scheme at York College.

“That was a big help and support, though I always have a part-time job too. It’s hard to make a living from the designing and making alone and I like to keep it affordable,” she says.

Petra’s designs and her home will be on show when she takes part in the York Open Studios. The event will see scores of artists and makers open their studios to the public.

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“I’ve done Open Studios before and I really enjoy it and getting feedback on the work and it’s lovely to see people’s reaction, I have started using the old chair back covers and table clothes that are stencilled for embroidery and they certainly evoke nostalgia, which is lovely.”

Visitors will also see Petra’s pottery collection, which she uses as inspiration in her screen printing.

“I love old pottery. I buy it from charity shops and the car boot sales. It has inspired my designs, though it’s not always good for the people who live with me,” says Petra, who has a penchant for 60s and 70s coffee pots along with plates designed by Kathie Winkle from the 1950’s to the mid 70s.

The shelves in the kitchen and dining room are full of her pottery displays, but the pieces are decorative rather than useful.

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“They’re just for show and they do take up quite a bit of room, so I’m having to curb my obsession.”

• Petra is opening her home for the York Open Studios event and her work can be found in the Cooper Gallery in Barnsley and Rural Arts in Thirsk. wwww.petraprints.com

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