Building It Up

When you're born with a creative mind, it's hard to turn off the juice. You're constantly hashing out and rehashing ideas in your head. You can wake from a deep sleep, grab the sketch book and pen that you keep next to you and almost half awake/half asleep sketch out those ideas until the morning sun peeks into your window. You'll spend hours creating and perfecting your creations. You'll worry and fret and wish there were two of you instead of one so that you could do all the things you love to do and balance that with all the things you need to do all at the same time.

That's me. I wake from a sound sleep with an awesome idea, flip on the lamp next to my bed, grab the sketch book and pen and through sleep-deprived eyes I draw out all of these amazing ideas. Some have come to life at my sewing machine. Some are still resting in that sketch book waiting patiently for me to bring them to life. Sometimes I get extremely frustrated because I don't have the materials to create one of my sketches. The frustration burns through me, keeps me awake at nights and screams inside my head like a caged animal wanting to be freed. It's a frustration only other creative souls will understand.

I am never complacent just doing any old thing. I have to be who I am and not defined by who others think I should be. I have so many dreams and ideas; things I want to do and things I need to do. One thing I have never faltered on is my love sewing. It grows with each and every new project that my YouTube subscribers challenge me to make - even the projects I have yet to start inspire and drive me.

I have always wanted to make & sell children's clothing, but I've settled for bows and bags in my Etsy shop. You see, most of the time I stretch out my fabric budget so that instead of buying 5 yards of one thing, I buy 5 yards of five different things. This makes it hard to be able to sit down and create all the frilly little things that I've sketched out.

Another issue I've dealt with is taking care of 3 teenagers. Not that my children get in the way. I love them and that's why I put my children before everything else. But now, my boys have decided to go it on their own and my daughter and I are moving into our own place. My little girl is more the independent type herself. She spends her free time drawing and reading history books. This leaves me with the free time and the desire to grow a little sewing business. We will be moving to a more populated area where there are lots of crafty shops. We will also be living on the same street as my daughter and granddaughters. This is a plus, because hunting down someone to model my creations is tougher than it sounds. Even when you offer people a free outfit or a free photo session, they are reluctant to partake.

I've created my IndieGoGo campaign because I want to raise the money to buy the materials I need to start a serious sewing business. I know. I know. I said I'd never try using a serger again, but the last time I tried was 13 years ago. Things are different now and my mom has advised me that if I'm going to make clothing to sell, nice, neat serged edges sell better. So, my goal is to raise enough money to buy a serger and supplies to for it and enough fabric to actually make a couple dozen (or more) little dresses and outfits.

This is not a fly by night idea that I just came up with. I have actually been making these plans since my daughter and I decided to move to Asheboro (since about January). My oldest daughter and I have talked about me making clothing and selling it. She has encouraged me to make my sewing into something much more serious than just bows and handbags. The whole reason I bought my first new sewing machine (16 years ago) was to make dresses and things for my daughter and the daughter I had on the way. My girls always had snazzy pants or funky hippie tops and they loved wearing them as much as I loved making them.