North Star Quilting which is based in Hartlepool began when Luke Forster and his partner Bryony welcomed their daughter Emma into the world. Bryony was inspired by the birth of their daughter to recycle her baby grows and turn them into baby quilts which the family would cherish.
When it came to looking for a professional service to quilt her quilts, she noticed this service wasn’t available within a hundred miles, let alone a service that was affordable.
As her love for quilting grew and grew, so did an idea for a business. They wanted a business that is something more, which would be sustainable for the future and one the family could all be involved in.
Luke had been working in publishing, doing freelance portrait commissions and supply teaching. Bryony worked as an activity co-ordinator for a care home working with dementia patients. Whilst she was on maternity leave, the care home closed down. Work was also becoming harder for Luke to find. It became clear that a new beginning was needed.
Tired of struggling and worrying about the future they decided to create a business providing an important service to fellow quilters as well as building up a family business for the security of their daughter. They decided to launch ‘North Star Quilting’ utilising Bryony’s passion and talents, with Luke managing things including the social media side of the business.
Luke applied for a Start Up Loan via Five Lamps for the purchase of a ‘Long Arm’ quilting machine, and after developing his Business Plan and sales forecasts with support from Five Lamps funding approval was obtained. Long Arm quilting is the process by which a longarm sewing machine is used to sew together a quilt top, quilt batting and quilt backing into a finished quilt. Quilting using a longarm machine can take significantly less time than hand quilting or more traditional machine quilting.
Five Lamps Enterprise Loan Officer Vince Rogers said;
“Luke & Bryony are obviously passionate about their venture and worked diligently in putting the business case to ourselves. The website developed by Luke is user friendly, whilst Bryony’s creativity is very impressive.”
Luke said of the service received from Five Lamps;
“After struggling to get funding or any organisation to believe in our business concept, contacting Five Lamps was our best decision. Vince Rogers at Five Lamps supported us all the way through the application process to get us where we needed to be, but importantly for us, he believed in our idea”
‘Luke Forster’ can be contacted on; 07446102171 or via http://www.nsquilting.com/
Five Lamps is a Delivery Partner for Start Up Loans Company which offers government-backed personal loans for business purposes. The loans are available to businesses yet to launch or those that have already started trading. The Start Up Loans Company works with a network of Delivery Partner organisations. The partners support loan applicants in all regions and industries throughout the UK.