My name is Ollie (she/her), and I make things because I genuinely can't stop.
I grew up in a small town between Leeds and Sheffield, eventually made my way down to London, and now spend my days working in human rights research. In 2024 I picked up a crochet hook for the first time because I needed a creative outlet — and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. I have ADHD, and there's something about the rhythm of crochet that just works for my brain in a way I wasn't expecting. What started as a way to wind down after work became something I think about constantly.
It didn't take long before I was making things for the people I love, and honestly that's still what drives me most. My mum is my biggest inspiration — she has the best taste in fashion of anyone I've ever met, and making things for her is my love language. If I finish something and she loves it, that's the whole point. The tutorial I filmed making her a sweater vest for her birthday is still my most watched video, and I'm pretty sure that's because people could tell it was made with a lot of feeling behind it.
Ollie Stitches grew out of all of that — the need to make things, the love of colour, the satisfaction of finishing something and thinking "I actually made that with my hands." Everything is crocheted by me, around a full-time job, in the evenings and on weekends. Every bag is lined by hand. Every piece takes far longer than most people would guess. I make things I'd genuinely want to wear myself, which is probably why half my wardrobe is now things I've made and refuse to sell.
On giving back
10% of every sale goes to a cause that's meaningful to my life at that moment, which means it changes over time and always means something real. I donated to Sarcoma UK when my cousin was battling bone cancer, to Carecent — a homeless charity in York where I used to work — and to my boyfriend's mum's Repair Café, which is this brilliant project where people bring broken things along to be fixed for free, because the idea is that not everything needs to be thrown away and that learning to repair things is a skill worth keeping alive. I love that last one in particular because it feels like it rhymes with what I do — making things carefully and by hand, rather than buying something cheap and disposable.
The causes change depending on what's happening in my life. The commitment to giving something back doesn't.
Born up North. Made down South. Stitched with a lot of love.
