Inspired by her grandmother’s crafting skills, Levina Bowman followed her passion to create useful and beautiful crafts using needles, thread, crochet hooks, embroidery cottons, yarn and more. Today, these heirloom skills are the base of her business, Craft Legacy. Through her business, she shares her skills, knowledge, passion and creativity, and inspires others to craft and create.

As a child, Levina would go with her gran to Germiston, a town in the east of Johannesburg. She watched with fascination as her gran sketched the designs of garments she saw in shop windows on cigarette boxes. When they returned home, her gran would create patterns and stitch the garments. Her gran was a great inspiration, sewing not just her own clothes, but also garments for the family, curtains, toys and soft furnishings.

One of Levina’s favourite memories is of a reversable Cinderella dress made for her, to match her doll’s clothing. Her talented gran also made two tapestry carpets big enough to fit a room (5m²). One depicted the story of Creation and the other was Joseph’s technicoloured dream coat. These were done even though her gran had a broken back. By stitching, her gran was able to manage the pain.

While Levina’s gran taught her embroidery, her mom taught her to sew and knit with a knitting machine.

After school, Levina studied food and beverage management, then she went on to work in the pharmaceutical industry. Feeling there was more to life, she moved to Durbanville, Cape Town, to study fashion design under Victoria/Tomas.

Heirloom crafts, which were once survival skills, have largely been phased out of our busy society. However, besides being able to create beautiful and useful items, there are many benefits to learning crafting. The skills can be put to good use as a hobby, to maintain your household’s furnishings, to keep garments in good shape or even to become a source of income. Most importantly, we believe creativity through crafting can reduce stress and heal the heart.

It is our calling and purpose to rekindle an interest in crafting. We seek to pass on the love of creating to all generations, so each can leave a legacy for the next. While some think of creativity as being a purely artistic attribute, we believe creativity is the essence of innovation and progress. So, let us connect, collaborate and create, and so ignite your passion for crafting! After all… “To be creative is to let little pieces of your heart go and place them into each project you make.” – Pat Bravo