Hello all! We're Chantal (35) and Ruby (25) of R.C. Bespoke Designs. We joined forces early last year, after meeting in our Narrowboat community, and embarked upon our creative dream; build an independent sewing business. The dream came alive when we set up shop in Keynsham, Broadmead Lane Industrial Estate.

This past year, we poured our hope and hearts into building our sewing business from the ground up, and were building momentum. We'd just been asked to do our first large scale job, an awning for our marina! On the 19th January, our studio—home to our beloved craft, was completely destroyed in a fire.

In less than an hour, the vicious flames tore through multiple buildings, and catastrophically consumed a large community of small business’ in its’ path, including ours.

We lost everything: our equipment, our tools, our stock, jobs we had completed for clients waiting to be collected, and the home where our work and community lived. This studio wasn’t just a business. It was our livelihood, our creative home, and a place we poured our time, money and heart into.

We’re incredibly grateful that no one was seriously hurt—but the loss has been overwhelming. Rebuilding from scratch is something we’re determined to do, but we can’t do it alone.

We’re raising funds to help cover:

• Replacing essential equipment and tools

• Securing a new workspace *DONE*

• Getting back on our feet so we can re establish and continue building our business.

Any contribution, helps more than we can say. And if you’re not able to donate, sharing this page means just as much.

Thank you for supporting us during one of the most devastating moments of our journey. We can’t wait to rebuild and come back stronger.

If anyone’s able to donate anything instead, these are the essentials we’re trying to source to get us started:

Overlocker *DONATED*

Pattern master

Scissors *ORDERED*

Pattern paper *ORDERED*

Thread

Fabric

Iron

Shelving

Storage

Tables for sewing machines

Large table for fabric cutting and measuring

Meter rule

Rotary cutter

Adjustable chairs

Cutting board

Big love,

Chantal and Ruby