Kirkcaldy crafter's 'brilliant' experience on Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas

Rachael Nixon, a nurse from Kirkcaldy, appeared on the festive themed Channel 4’s Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas on Tuesday, December 20.

Rachael was approached by producers of the show via Instagram to appear on an episode where she competed with four other contestants to create a festive wreath. Having not heard of the programme before being contacted, Rachael said the approach came “totally out of the blue”.

Once she’d agree to appear, there was initial trepidation due to a previous health scare. However, the team on the show put her at ease.

She explained: “I took unwell a while ago and was left with some neurological problems and a speech impediment. My biggest fear was that I would just freeze and I wouldn’t be able to get my words out.

“But I spoke to the team beforehand and they were really good. They said ‘you can have all the time you want and we wouldn’t ever put any of that into the show’. That really put me at ease, but I’d still say the whole thing was terrifying!”

Whilst she might not have left the show as the overall winner, she said that she and her fellow contestants saw it as an opportunity to showcase their skills and learn from each other.

She said: “When I was looking around, I was thinking ‘these people are so talented’. We were told in the green room that we could only talk about our crafts during filming.

I was looking around and thinking 'I want to know how to do that’ or ‘how can I incorporate that into my hats?’. It was really good just being with these massively skilled people and being surrounded by creativity. It was brilliant”.

“One girl made these amazing plastic and paper flowers who I want to get in contact with to ask her to give me a tutorial because they’re waterproof and they’re durable. I think would be interesting to put onto my hats”.

You can find Rachael at https://www.facebook.com/ChanixMillinery/