Sandra’s story begins in the most northerly point of the Outer Hebrides, a place called Port of Ness. Her father John Murdo Macleod was a boat-builder, and a lecturer at Lews Castle technical college. Her mother Morag had a cottage business making oiled wool knitwear.

The eldest of a family of four, the sea, craftsmanship, cooking and wool, those great anchors of Hebridean life, infused Sandra's upbringing from an early age.

In 1970 Sandra went to Glasgow School of Art to study Drawing and Painting. Teaching then became her career, and she moved to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. With a passion for beautiful fabrics and hand-stitching, she gradually established herself as an artisan maker of Bespoke. Exceptional textiles became her hallmark, and slowly her business grew by word of mouth. In the years that followed, Sandra's tale evolved into one of experience, observation and imagination, with no real end.

Her work has been showcased as far afield as Tokyo, New York, London and Nanjing, and been featured in exhibitions, collaborations and photo shoots.

A Gaelic speaker, Sandra is a regular contributor to BBC Scotland on the subjects of art and fashion. She presented two series of Stoidhle/The Dressing Up Box for BBC Alba. In 2009 she received an MBE for services to fashion and textiles in Scotland, and she is a Fellow of the University of the Highlands and Islands. In 2017 her portrait by acclaimed Dutch photographer Carla van de Puttelaar for her book Artfully Dressed: Women in the Art World, featured at TEFAF (The European Fine Art Foundation) New York.

During lockdown, she created 10 miniatures, on mini-mannequins, of pieces for which she has a special affection. Inspired by the French travelling exhibition Théatre de la Mode, they were photographed by Royal photographer John Swannell, who previously photographed Sandra's Hebridean Collection.

In 2024, Sandra was commissioned to create an artisan piece for the Inverness Castle Experience, which opened in Spring 2026.