My Story

Hi everyone, how are you?

Thanks for clicking through to read more about me and about how Shropshire Sews came into being.

I guess I'll start with the basics shall I. 

I'm Ruth McIntyre, born in 1979 (yes I'm getting on a bit now lol). I grew up with my parents and 3 siblings in Milton Keynes and stayed there until I was in my teens when my Dad went back to college and we moved to Yorkshire. After he finished his training we moved to Shropshire and I have been here ever since. 

I am married to Neil, a carpenter by trade, he's currently working in the construction industry on hospital projects all over the UK.

We have 5 sons between us, the eldest is 27 and the youngest is 14. We also have an adorable Grandson who is almost 2 and a furry friend named Frank.

I worked in Financial Services for many years, the last 5 in Risk Management which I actually really enjoyed however, at the end of 2024 I was made redundant along with 75 of my colleagues. It wasn't expected and as you can probably imagine, it was a bit of a shock. 

But, I'm always one to look on the positive side and so I took it as an opportunity to try something that had only really been wishful thinking up until that point.

I'd been involved in the online sewing community for a few years, I'd done some vlogging and set up a thriving social sewing group with a small fabric pop up shop so it felt like the next right step to expand that element of things. I started out on Etsy but soon found that while it was a great platform for beginner business owners, the fee's were quite high. And so, I taught myself how to build a website (that was a big learning curve), set up shropshiresews.com, and here you are reading this page on that very website!

It's crazy what life can throw at you sometimes, I was settled, in my mid 40's, good job, children all at various stages of independence and now here I am starting a brand new business venture but you know what, I am so so happy that I got this opportunity!

I am passionate about the power of community and I know first hand how spending time with friends can transform your mental health. I also care deeply about the environment and so what you can expect from Shropshire Sews is a welcoming and inclusive space where everyone is valued and respected plus high quality products with an emphasis on natural fibres and sustainability wherever possible.

I would absolutely love for you to join me on one of my social sewing days, the bookings will go live at the beginning of each month so keep an eye out for that.

Thank you again for taking the time to visit with me here, if you have any questions about stock, social sewing or anything else, feel free to drop me an email at shropshiresews@outlook.com

Much love

Ruth xo