INSPIRE: The Road Less Travelled...Jill Govier

For our final inspire interview this year, we follow the amazing story of Jill Govier who travelled the world and now runs a successful textile business called Touchy Feely Textiles.

Please introduce yourself

My name is Jill Govier also known as JayGo and founder of my textiles business Touchy Feely Textiles. I create quirky textile gifts and home wares in the form of purses, cushions and key fobs, all of which contain quotes, some motivational, some funny but something there for everyone!

Although Touchy Feely Textiles is in its infancy I’ve been sewing and sharing it in one way or another for a great number of years. I have a very early memory of tackling mum`s treadle Singer sewing machine, making Barbie doll clothes and stuffed creatures from whatever fabrics I could find around the house. I had an old book called `A 100 things a girl can make` and believe me I had a go at all of them!

Naturally I was making clothes in my teens, not only because it was cool to wear stuff that no-one else had, but mainly out of necessity because there wasn`t much money about.

Remodelling and recycling gorgeous old bits and bobs, far too beautiful to throw away has become an obsession over the years. I reckon I was born with an unabated obsession with textiles and what I can make out of them and now I get to do it for a living!

I left school at 16 with a meager amount of qualifications and clearly remember my appointment with the school careers officer. I trooped in and was given a choice of 2 jobs – a stable hand mucking out stables for £12pw or a factory sewing machinist mass producing clothing for M&S for £23pw….no competition really, I went for the big bucks and later in life delight in the fact that I am a real hot shot on an industrial sewing machine, boy can I rattle stuff out when the pressure is on!

A brief spell as Post woman followed and when the kids came along I began sewing from home making children’s` clothes as well as running a vintage clothes/bric-a-brac market stall once a week. I became a stay at home Mum who beevered away sewing in the attic on a night.

What prompted you to pursue a creative career?
I have always considered myself a late developer (I get there… but I get there in my own time!). At the grand old age of 30, I had a bit of an epiphany. I realised that there was so much more I could get out of my life with than I was and that I wanted to challenge myself and get a better education. A City & Guilds Clothing Manufacture qualification and a soft furnishing course seemed a good place to start… I was really good at this…my confidence was growing…and I began to think about what I could do next…

My marriage broke down. Panic and self doubt followed and a major rethink was the order of the day.
I was 35 when I timidly enrolled at full time Art College, I managed somehow to carve out a breathing space in my life that was all my own, and in between bringing up my children, running the market stall and sewing from home to make ends meet I found a place where I could begin to grow and give a free rein to my creativity. Five years later I qualified with a 2.1 BA(Hons) Fine Art for Design with a teaching qualification cobbled on for good measure, the flood gates were well and truly open!

The roller of coaster of life continued and a year later, the day after my teaching practice finished my dad died and almost one year later my mum did too, both taken by cancer.

For reasons that are a complete mystery to me I seem to function at my best when my back is against the wall. In my grief and panic I had the stirrings of a plan…my children were now 19 and 22 yrs old, happy and not in dire need of my attention 24/7 …I had no dependent parents, in fact there was just me, a bit of inheritance money and a gap appearing in my life through which I glimpsed an opportunity for some time out, an adventure perhaps, I`ve got it ….A GAP YEAR and I'll take my youngest daughter with me!

A year later I packed up my house and rented it out, I gave most of my stuff away (not my sewing machine of course) and off I went with a tiny suitcase into the wild blue yonder. My eldest daughter dropped the bombshell of telling me she was expecting a baby 6 weeks before I was scheduled to leave, that was so hard but I held fast. I took both girls to New York for a week and then the eldest came home while my youngest and I carried on our journey coast to coast across America on a train. We slept in dorms in hostels, calling in at the Florida Keys, Chicago, the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, then off to Fiji for 3 weeks. On arriving in New Zealand for 3 months my daughter told me she wanted to go home, she had boyfriend blues!

The long and short of that dilemma was that I swapped travel partners for an `old flame` who will become my husband in May next year. We continued up through Singapore and Thailand and then to Australia where I found myself teaching art in a private Catholic school in the NW Australian outback. The gap year had turned into 3 years.

Whilst we were travelling I always homed in on craft fairs and art exhibitions wherever we were. I used to draw & paint, and needle felting small `boobilicious` mermaids and `spindly legged` punk rockers was something `textiley` I could do in the hostels on an evening to feed my `I need to make something` appetite. I felt as though seeing what everyone was up to in far away places during my travels gave me a great insight into where I fell into the grand scale of things… telling myself “you know what …I could do this…”

On my return home from Australia I searched for a full time teaching position but instead was offered a part time position which freed up 2 days per a week which I could spent on making stock for my occasional craft stalls . Then came the summer holidays, this meant I could give it my full time attention and see if I could turn it into a viable business.

What was the most difficult thing about this decision? And what was the easiest?
I feel as though I’m joining the dots of my life now, and random things I’ve learned along the way are slotting in and making sense. On one hand this is the easiest thing I have ever done. Sewing, sourcing fabrics, hunting out vintage haberdashery, making stuff … it’s my absolute passion and has been forever. The good old fashioned tailoring that I learned way back combined with my art skills are standing me in good stead, I never thought all those years ago when I was learning how to make a jetted pockets that I would one day be making recycled handbags out of jackets with the very same jetted pockets, it makes me smile to think about it.

The difficult parts have been around money, cash flow was a big worry to start with, I needed a regular income so I did stints of supply teaching to bring in the money. I do like that mix though, they’re like two extremes of what I do and I love them both.

How supportive of your decision were your family, friends and (former) colleagues?
I have had an enormous amount of support from my family. Our house is practically taken over with all my ‘stuff’, and I certainly wouldn’t have done it without them. Friends have been amazing too, I couldn’t have gone anywhere (college in the first place) if my best friend hadn’t babysat, we laugh now as I used to pay her with stuff I’d made whether she wanted it or not!

If you could give one piece of advice to someone considering taking up a creative career, what would that be?
I truly believe that you should live your life boldly, make bold decisions. Nothing worthwhile is easy, whatever it is you want out of life, however be realistic and look at your long term goals. Baby steps are the key!

What are your plans for the future?
I’m making steady plans for Touchy Feely Textiles, people respond well to my work wherever I take it, the words and quotes in my work strike a chord with people . Next year I aim to attend more larger events and shows, and I’m also planning to develop the wholesale side of my business by exhibiting at the British Trade Craft fair. I’m planning to get more galleries and shops interested and get my website set up, and in the meantime I’m enjoying meeting people at fairs and markets. Pop and say hello if you`re passing by, it`ll be good to see you!

You can see more of Jill's beautiful work on her blog and you can friend her on Facebook. Her website is a currently a work in progress, but you can follow her on Twitter too.

Happy Christmas everyone!