I love to sew. It is my absolute passion in life. If you knew how many hours of the day I spend dreaming up new things to sew, it would probably scare the hell out of you. I know it would scare the hell out of my husband, lol.
My mom has sewn for as long as I can remember, though she thinks she sucks at it, but she sews beautifully. She made my jr prom dress and I loved that dress - she later told me, she couldn't believe I wore it out, thanks mom, lol. There were many nights my mom stayed up all night to make me something for those stupid special school days like "jams" day...do you remember jams? Oh nostaglia from the 80s
So to begin with my sewing -- my mom signed me up for classes when I 11 or 12, I can't remember for sure. It was summer in junior high. She signed me up for a sewing camp at Stretch & Sew. I was scared shitless, mainly because I'm shy to the point of death. But after we got there and started picking out my fabric, I was hooked. Remember that Units store that sold that hideous knit wear? another late 80s thing, well that's the stuff I was learning to sew. I went through that sewing camp made a pair of knit shorts. So after that I signed up for sewing camp II and I got to pick my own patter and I chose a mock turtleneck knit shirt.
Well I found my addiction because soon after my mom and I were circling stuff in the Hancock Fabrics ad and I had my own fabric stash. I was making more shirts and shorts and even pants.
Then school started and I got busy. But every summer after that I got the sewing bug. I even made myself sundresses with zippers.
Then I went to high school and got heavily involved in skating and didn't get back to sewing until I was married. I married at 19, sophomore in college. The sewing addiction came back and I no longer had my mom's sewing machine, so I was handsewing things.
Then my husband bought me a crappy sewing machine from Walmart. And I started making quilts for everybody. Then we had a baby, and I discovered the secret world of cloth diapering. And I wasn't about to spend money on expensive cloth diapers when I could make them myself. So my fabric addiction got bigger as I discovered fabric co-ops for diaper making and fabric stores on the internet. Then I discovered I could sell my diapers and buy even MORE fabric, lol. So I opened up a cloth diaper business, RosieCheeks Diapers. Well it was a booming success, too much so, I was so busy I didn't have time for my own child as I would have to stay up all night long to finish orders, so after a year I closed it down.
And then I taught myself how to make waldorf dolls, and I started making waldorf dolls on the side to sell on eBay and was approached for wholesale orders of knotty dolls....so off I went with a new business named SnuggleBees. It was a lot easier to maintain a small little thing like this than the diaper business. I moved on to design several waldorf doll patterns and started the beginnings to sell the patterns. During this time, I became quite popular again and was approached to sell my business. I turned them down, but then I got pregnant with my second child and decided it was best to sell it as I was sick as a dog with morning sickness.
Then I discovered sewing boutique children's couture on eBay and created myself as "Tiptoe Fairy Designs". I was making a small killing on appliqued overalls and quite a following as well for custom orders. But life with a newborn severely limits sewing time, as in non-existent, lol. So once again I had to hang up my sewing machine when my son was born.
But I still had the undying urge to create and design, so I started working on designing boutique patterns. There were things I wanted to make, that I couldn't find directions or patterns or anything, so I wrote up my own. My first pattern was Tiptoe Fairy Totes and I sell it mostly on eBay. My newest pattern is the Mommy Diva diaper tote, it's just a few months old. I'm currently working on others a twirly skirt pattern and boutique overalls, but it's hard to find the time to do them.
And now we are at the present. My son is now 2 and I can sew again, so I've been designing children's couture outfits for eBay again. I've been a couple of those boutique designer eBay groups, but I wasn't ever happy in them, I felt limited. But I was recently asked to join a new group, CFSS - Created for the Silver Screen - and we just had our first launch, and it's been very successful and I really like the group of designers I'm with.
So that's me for now. Off to get the nightowl baby to sleep.
