Meet the expats: Fibrous

Whenever I think of Thea's shop, Fibrous, the words - cuteness overload - come to mind. I use the phrase because her pieces always makes me feel warm and fuzzy – they never cease to put a smile on my face.

Her work has a lot of depth and the reason I like them so much is due to her amazing ability of infusing personality and character into them. They each seem to tell their own story. She uses the word 'quirky' to describe her pieces and I have to agree with her.

Thea makes needle felted creatures, jewellery and functional objects - pincushions, houseware and magnets.

Thea was kind enough to answer some questions and a to give bit of background on herself so that we can get to know her better.


I’m originally from America, a Los Angeles native. Everyone thinks it’s super glamorous there, but a friend of mine recently described it, accurately too, as the place where the zombie apocalypse will start.

Since living in Newcastle I’ve lived in Edinburgh, Scotland (my favourite city, ever!) and now I’m living in a small city in Western England called Swindon, which has no bakeries.

I make things out of wool. Little wool animals, pincushions, and felted soaps. I ran a wool shop with my father for a few years before moving to the UK, so I originally had a love of knitting and yarn, but became addicted to needle felting (shaping fluffy wool with barbed needles) because it’s so easy to actually sculpt cute things.


I also love how wool is eco-friendly. The little sheepies get shorn each year, so it’s a renewable and sustainable material.


Why did you move?
My partner wanted to study Paper Conservation and there’s only about six universities in the English speaking world which offers courses in it.

It was a combination of an interesting sounding course, not needing a car, and the weather (yes, we actually went to England because of the weather!) that we decided she would go to a university in Newcastle, UK.

Biggest challenge being an expat?
The biggest challenge for me was actually trying to figure out what people are saying. Newcastle is notorious for having a very hard to understand accent, and there were so many times at first that I just had no idea what someone was telling me. I eventually got used to it though. Mostly. Not being able to go back home for Christmas wasn't very fun either.

Biggest joy being an expat?
The biggest joy was trying out all the amazing candies (especially chocolate bars!) over here! It’s awesome, seriously. I think that’s all I’m going to have in my suitcase when I move back to America (visa runs out soon)

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me Thea.


You can find her online:

• Shop
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Blog

Are you a soon-to-be, been-there-done-that or currently an expat? If you sell on Etsy come and join our team.

Post by: Jacqueline Fouche (Tangentine)