Looking for a cute way to warm up this winter? Well, when we posted this creative project by UT stitcher Tanja on facebook, everyone went nuts wanting a tutorial. Lucky for all of us, Tanja is awesome! She created an easy to follow tutorial on how to make and embroider your dragon, and even included a template for a fox version too!
Check it all out here.
There’s a great tutorial by klixcreations over on Instructables on how to make these cool reversible monster winter sets using the Monster Factory collection.
The little ones will look extra adorable bundled up in these during the cold winter months! A last minute gift? You still have time!
Back again for another edition of Urban Entrepreneurs!
Urban Entrepreneurs is where we feature sellers of any kind who have decided to take the plunge (with the help of some UT designs) and start their own small biz. We’re lucky today to be able to share our very first feature showcasing a hand embroiderer! Machine embroidery offers a lot of ease in speed and finish, but there’s nothing to beat the charm of a gorgeous hand embroidered piece, especially when they’re so darn adorable. One 2 Stitcharoo is that stitcher, and she’s here today to talk about what it’s like diving into a business as a stitcher who does all her work by hand…
What started you into embroidery?
I first started needlework when I was younger when my grandmother bought me my first cross stitch kit. The pattern had a very celestial sort of theme to it. You know… with a sun, moon and stars everywhere. Then some time after that, I took a stab at hand embroidery and thought this is easy-peasy! And the rest is history.
Where did you first find Urban Threads?
It was back in February of this year, around Valentine’s day, and I did an image search for “Love/Valentine Embroidery patterns”. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I went through hundreds of images of hearts, cupids, boxes of chocolates, you name it. When I was about to call it quits, I came across an image of a robot professing his love to a toaster, a pattern called Robot Love.
I clicked on it and that’s when my love/addiction to UT started.
What made you take the plunge into starting your own store?
Well, I love, Love, LOVE to hand embroider. I love searching for patterns, picking the colors & I love the patience, time and effort myself (and other hand embroiderers) put into stitching each stitch. Well, I had stitched so many pieces, I had decided (on a whim) I wanted to share them with the world. I simply just thought, “I love doing it so there has to be people out there that would appreciate it.”
What kinds of folks are your customers? Who do you hope to cater to?
Being that my shop is very new, my recent customers consist of friends & family (Hi Mom!) But I hope to cater to anyone/everyone. I don’t want to have to choose who I stitch for. Embroidery is such a flexible craft, I don’t want to have to put any limitations on it.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since you began?
1.) Write down your ideas as soon as you think of them! I’ve had so many stitchy ideas, brilliant stitchy ideas that I’m still trying to remember to this day. I swear it’s like trying to remember a dream you had the night before.
2.) Don’t get discouraged that you haven’t sold anything. Success doesn’t happen overnight. Everybody has said this but it’s so totally true.
Where would you like to see your shop in one year? Any fun stuff planned for the future?
Oh geez, I haven’t really thought about where I would want my shop to be in a year. I’ll just say if it’s still open, I’ve made some sales and it’s still full of hand stitchy goodness, I would be happy. There’s so much I would like to try but I do have some things up my sleeve I would like to achieve in the future.
For the immediate future, I’m hoping to add some customizable items to the shop.
Thank you so much Jennifer for letting us share your adorable work. The wit and humor you bring to each piece, and the extra added joy of the captions really brings them to life. It’s such an honor to feature the amazing work of hand embroidery along with our fellow machine stitching entrepreneurs. We wish you all the best for your shop, your stuff is so cute, we just know people will love it!
Do you use Urban Threads designs to create one of a kind products? Want to see your story or your store featured here and join our gang of Urban Entrepreneurs? Send us an e-mail at blog@urbanthreads.com with a link to your store/website or attach sample photos, and you could be featured!
A hearty and monstrous congratulations to Stephanie, creator of the awesome little Monster Plant, pictured above. I’m assuming she might also be somewhat responsible for that little monster eater devouring our poor winner.
So without further ado, I present your new monster regent, voted on by you, King of the Monsters!
Have a peek at a few more shots of your Monster King…
Trying to be incognito amongst the house plants….
All the lovely little eyeballs…
Check out the awesome scale detail on the back!
Congrats again Stephanie, your monster will appear soon in our new updated lookbook, there in all his fame and glory for all our lookbook visitors to see! I hope you had fun making your monster, and I hope he doesn’t eat too many of your houseplants. Or, get eaten by the terrifying monster plant eater.
Do your little ones need some motivation to get their chores done?
Chore Monster is here to help. With a chalkboard fabric tummy and pocket full of cookies just waiting to be eaten, he’s the perfect new way to get your little tykes into crossing off their chores.
How does he work?
Start by writing a couple of chores on your list. For each chore you write, drop a cookie in his front pocket. Every time you complete a chore, you feed your monster one of his cookies and cross your chore off the list.
Once you’ve fed your monster all of his cookies, your chores are done! When your monster is full you can retrieve the cookies from the back pocket to do it all again.
Easy peasy!
Besides, they HAVE to get their chores done now, or monster goes hungry. You don’t want a hungry monster hanging around in your room. Before you know it they’ll have eaten all your pillows. True fact. Saw it on Discovery Channel.
Want to make your own? Get the tutorial here.
