The Chasing Threads Story

Stitching through time, and maps

The Chasing Threads travel gift range was born out of a simple idea (one that even rhymes): "to sew where you go"... But the original idea was unintentional, and developed into the brand it is now over many years. I’ll take you allll the way back, because it’s interesting how ideas evolve and can lead somewhere you never expected.

2015

Back at the start of 2015, my boyfriend and I went on a road-trip from Las Vegas, across the Joshua Tree desert to LA, then up the coast to San Francisco. It was an awesome trip and pretty special driving through the Mojave desert in our rented Mustang.

For his next birthday I stitched the road map that we’d used to navigate the whole way with some colourful thread to mark the route we’d taken. It made a pretty nice gift with the neon thread sewn imperfectly across the map. We framed it and hung it in our living room.

This idea of stitching your travels and using thread to show a journey hugely appealed to me. Staring at this road map, I wanted to develop this idea. Paper was fragile so I started looking at alternative canvases that could be sewn.

Winter 2015

After a weekend trip to Toys R Us for cross-stitch kits to experiment with, the idea for the fabric Cross Stitch Map was born.

2016

I pitched the idea to quirky gift company, Suck UK, where I worked at the time, and the design made it through the in-house ‘would you buy’. We developed the product and some months later the Cross Stitch Map was on the shelves. 

These caught the imagination of many customers, being stocked with some dream retailers such as Urban Outfitters, John Lewis, Uncommon Goods & many more. There are some amazing examples of the creative results at #crossstitchmap

Summer 2016

Not long after, an opportunity to move Hong Kong arose, I left Suck US, and we moved our lives to the humid metropolis in South East Asia. In a new city, and full of inspiration to create new products, I was motivated to start my own brand and develop products full-time.

2017

With access to a laser-cutting machine the first iterations of the ‘stitchable’ Passport Cover & Luggage Tags were made and the hand-stitched prototypes accompanied me on my travels.  The concept worked better than I had ever expected, even though the first samples needed some work..

Some months of development and prototyping with suppliers later, and production was underway- the products were launched under the initial brand: Maid In China (which still represents my Circus Tea Set collection, combining the tradition of afternoon tea with all the fun of the fun-fair...)

2018

In 2018 we re-branded the travel products under Chasing Threads and the collection grew... 

2019

We've continued to develop stitchable products and now have big plans for new ranges that go beyond just the 'stitch where you've been' concept, watch this space!