One year since Make it at Market
- cbhembroidery
- Jul 4
- 5 min read
This week marks a year since I started my experience with the team at Make it at Market, and as so many of you have joined me in that time I thought it was a great opportunity for reflection.
How did I end up on the show?
In early 2024, I was contacted by a researcher for BBC Ones Make it at Market. With just a handful of embroidered pieces, I was casually sharing them online. Fast forward to the summer of 2024 I arrived at Waterperry gardens in Oxfordshire to take part in the Make it at Market show- a 12 week experience to try and take my casual hobby into a successful business.
The entire process of featuring on the show took months of chats with production teams. On the day that I received the confirmation call I was working on a boat doing freelance work for a marine consultancy. Which couldn’t be more different than embroidery. Infact, I’m a woman of two halves and have spent the last 15 years of my life studying Animal behaviour to a PhD level working across the conservation sector as an animal keeper, scientist and teacher.
I began embroidery during my PhD as a means of finding something that would silence my mind. I wanted to stitch the wildlife I’d spent much of my life observing and create windows into their lives. It was all just a bit of fun, I never in a million years could have predicted that I would end up here.
Preparing for the show
The preparations for filming were intense, we were given three challenges to make specific items:
a) The favourite piece: The puffect couple
b) The mentor's challenge: The window for a wood mouse
c) The volume piece: The badger in the gorse
The puffect couple was an idea I had been dreaming up for months, and the show gave me the push to bring it to life. I had originally planned on adding 3D flowers to the piece but it felt so impactful as the puffins against the dreamy pink sunset I left it as it is.
The wood mouse was created to celebrate one of my unique approaches- which creates the animals habitat using textiles in 3 dimensions outside of the frame.
The badger in the gorse was an experiment to test if I could produce something quickly for a good price to maximise profit. But, hand embroidery isn’t a quick art and so the fastest I could create that piece was 8 hours. It was the one and only piece I made and it was sold late 2024.
Filming in July
I arrived to Oxfordshire the night before filming- and I hadn’t completely finished my puffins, so I sat until 11pm finishing them. On the first day of filming I woke up at 5am incredibly nervous with no plan as to what to wear. It was a drizzly summer day that was feeling incredibly surreal as a driver waited downstairs in the lobby to take me and others to set. I was in the embroidery zone with the lovely Catherine from Stitching spirit. It was a rainy and windy day and we were set up under two gazebos, thankfully our lovely camera woman Nicola lent me her coat so I didn’t freeze.
We were in the throes of filming from the moment we arrived- partaking in personal interviews, being filmed creating and talking through my work. The whole crew and production team were amazing- welcoming and warm they made us feel at home. In between takes I spent time talking with my newly assigned mentor- Stephanie Carswell from Hawthorn Handmade. I absorbed Stephanie's advice like a sponge. Her first suggestion was to put a stamp on my work by taking ownership of my embroidery as art. I was apparently now an artist. I was left with a huge amount to think about and put into action- a new name, business cards, websites, amongst the challenges that were set over the 12 weeks where we were sent away to in fact ‘make it at market’.
Filming finished the following day, where a driver took me to a hotel airport for me to fly home to N.I the next day. I sketched out my ideas and phoned Nick (my husband) to talk about the advice I had received. I was filled with joy. It was the first time in a very long time that I felt hope and excitement about my future. The next morning on the flight home I changed my social media handles to Connie Baker-Horne Embroidery.
I wasn’t messing around here, I was giving this my all.
12 weeks to Make it at Market
Stephanie as a mentor was outstanding. Each week she scheduled a zoom to discuss all things business. I had a long way to go- I hadn’t even done a market before. Along with Stephanie, the lovely Will from production called weekly to offer support and check on my progress. Will connected me with so many wonderful groups across Northern Ireland, and even connected me with the amazing North Down Craft Collective. Joining the NDCC really changed my life in N.I, giving me a sense of community I lacked before. I’ll never forget the support I had in that first call with Debbie McCann. I had expected everyone to laugh me out of the door.
In the first month since filming I created a website, trialed new techniques, planned new designs, and found a local business (Rush Digital) to scan my work so I could create printable products. I ordered cards, sourced luxury notebooks and decided on a business model for selling art prints- I wanted to choose a sustainable route producing high end prints that would be kept for a lifetime. Within a month I had all of the things ready to attend my first craft fair. I went along not knowing if anyone would buy my products. I made £250 that weekend, I could have cried with joy and shock that people actually liked what I did.
Suddenly I had all of the tools to sell my work, and the basis of a business. Returning to Waterperry in September after the summer I had just had felt very emotional. I was overwhelmed that I had been chosen for this opportunity, and deeply saddened that the experience was ending but also full of hope for my new future.
So, where am I now a year on?
Well, firstly I am incredibly busy! I work 3 days a week with a conservation charity and spend the rest of my time pursuing my embroidery. I have created more original works, sold out of limited edition prints, sold countless notebooks and cards and now I’m fortunate enough to select a limited range of craft fairs. I have developed workshops for children and adults and I am currently fully booked for October and November with commissions taking me up to September. With my first exhibition booked for 2026! Along with being involved with community projects longer term- one I am particularly excited about is working on a Rathlin Island wool embroidery project later in 2025.
My experience on Make it at Market undoubtedly changed my life and shaped my future. It has helped me connect with such a wide audience, even internationally. I could not do this without you, so if you’ve made it through this blog I thank you personally for supporting this venture to celebrate the natural world through thread.
Comments