All about yourcraft.co.uk

About Us

McKenzie Crafts offer bespoke crafting lessons tailored to meet the needs of existing and would be crafters.

With decades of crafting experience, borne initially out of need (see below), Our founder, Pat Whitehouse, feels that the time is now ripe for her to share some of her skills and talents with others.

Our Crafting Experience:

This page: We have two Tutor(s): Pat Whitehouse (Full-Time), and Pat Smith (Sessional). Both ladies have acquired their skills over many years. Please read on to hear their stories…

Pat Whitehouse MBA.

Pat learned most of her crafting skills (except Digital Crafting, which she learned at a local college) at the University of Life. Like many, her love for all things crafty started as a child with TV programmes like Blue Peter, Magpie and Take Hart.

Like many, her practical crafting started because she had an old house in desperate need of repair and she adapted many of the art, craft and design skills she had learned from watching children’s TV to smarten up her home. Indeed, her talents ranged from filling gaping wall cracks (due to subsidence) with wet sand and cement which, when dry, were covered with papier-mâché and painted, to painting frescos on bare bedroom walls.

These early success led her to make cushions, curtains and draft excluders for her cheery little home; she even learned how to peg her own rugs made from old hand knitted sweaters – purchased at jumble sales. Recycling the yarn, she would spend her evenings pegging rugs of all sizes adding colour and texture enabling her to introduce bespoke furnishings and art into her home for a minimal cost.

As a young mum, living in a poor area of Staffordshire, she found that by learning to knit and crochet, make her own clothes and teach herself tailoring (mainly from books) meant that her boys could have fashionable clothes in the latest styles at a fraction of the cost that they would be in the shops.

As with many families, the run up to Christmas was always fraught with challenges as to what presents she could afford to give to family and friends. Pat would busily beaver away making Christmas cards and calendars, scented candles, hand lotion, scarves and gloves and even knitted dolls, animals and puppets. One particularly lean year, she knitted a set of glove puppets for her young son for Christmas. It turns out this was the best present he ever got; at least that’s what he says!

Pat feels that whilst she has never been particularly wealthy; she has been incredibly lucky developing her crafting talents and skills, and wants to give others the opportunity to benefit from her experiences.

She says… “Everything comes full circle if you wait long enough; people are beginning to find that unemployment means they no longer have enough money for themselves and their families to live as they would like; this is bringing about a revolution in Crafting and DIY”

She believes the crafting skills she learned through necessity - which helped to raise her self esteem at a time when she lacked self confidence - might assist others to build their self esteem so they feel proud of what they make.

Pat says…“Learning these new skills may encourage some to possibly going on to make other achievements and growing in confidence as they do. If this turns out to be the case, I will be very happy with what I am trying to accomplish.”

Pat Smith

Whether it was just the era that we grew up in, or just a happy coincidence, Pat Smith also started on her crafting journey when she was a young mum. Learning to knit, crochet and use a sewing machine enabled Pat to save money whilst making various items for home and family, ranging from curtains, duvet covers and cushion covers, to dresses, trousers and lined coats.

As time went by she also developed an interest in various styles of embroidery, card making, glass painting and jewellery making. She has always found any form of crafting to be a relaxing and therapeutic antidote to a sometimes hectic life. She feels that traditional crafting skills may be lost if people do not start to practice them again, and is keen to share her skills with others.

Being privately run, we have the flexibility to respond to demand from our students. Qualifications are not given, or exams held, but we aim to help people if they want to take their newly found skills to a higher level.