Hello everyone!
Abby here, the owner of Pincushion. Welcome to the Pincushion Blog!
I want to take a minute to tell you all a little bit (or a lot) about myself and why I started Pincushion. I also want to tell you a little bit about our new blog.
First things first, I am a Kansas girl, born and raised. I've got that sweet Midwestern charm (if you've been to the shop, you have seen it in action). I grew up in Andover, Kansas where my sewing journey started. Both of my grandmothers sewed. I still have some quilts from my grandma on my dad's side and I have the sewing machine from my grandma on my mom's side. My mom also taught me so much about sewing, mostly because I would force her into making a bunch of my Halloween costumes or formal dresses (Thanks Mom!). When I was in high school, I joined our local
4-H. If you don't know what 4-H is, it's kind of like Scouts but with a farming focus. In our 4-H group, I raised steers and I sewed. My very first competition project was a set of flannel pajamas, I don't think I won any awards, but at least I got a new set of pj's! After high school, I went off to study Theatre at Wichita State University.
Initially I wanted to be a High School Theatre teacher, but after a few years, I dropped the teaching part and just studied Theatre. While I was in school I worked in our department Costume Shop, which is where I learned the most about taking a design from paper to a physical product. I learned about draping and pattern drafting from scratch. I also studied various other parts of theatre: directing, stage management, lighting design, even acting! My heart truly belonged to sewing and costuming. During the summers, I worked in the Wardrobe Department for Music Theatre of Wichita. It was an incredible experience! I was able to work with Costume Designers from all over the country and worked on a variety of costume elements.
After college, I was a little unsure of what I was going to do next. I ended up working as Wardrobe for the touring productions of Barney Live and Sesame Street Live. I learned so much about costume mechanics and working with foam and fur. Touring with these shows taught me a whole other side of costuming. Some people think that it's just beautiful outfits from various time periods, but there is so so much more out there! After the tours ended I really did need to decide on where to go. I knew I needed to go to an entertainment capital but I hate cold weather; so, I thought I would give Vegas a try!
I moved out to Las Vegas in 2012 and immediately fell in love with the city. There is so much creative energy that flows through it's veins and you can't help but be inspired. I started working in the Wardrobe Department for Cirque du Soleil and after 5 years, I decided to leave and start my own business. I had been freelancing on the side for several years, but I hated working out of my home. I could never get the workspace right and it was uncomfortable having clients come over for fittings or meetings. The idea for Pincushion grew because of my frustration with working out of my home. I also knew several other sewists in town that were working out of their home and the struggle was always the same: no room to spread out, not having access to the right machines, and always working when at home.
So, Pincushion was born! I wanted to open a space that home sewists could use to spread out, to learn new things, and to be a part of the community. You probably know that the biggest part of Pincushion is our Alterations, but our heart belongs to fostering the community of local sewists. I'm incredibly thankful for all of our loyal alterations and custom order clients. Alterations and custom orders is what keeps our brains pumping! There is always something new and different that comes thru the front door to keep us on our toes. The love of our sewing and crafting students runs deep. I love to see new faces who are eager to learn the art of sewing and I also love seeing what projects our advanced sewists are working on. Basically, I love each and every person that walks through our doors and I hope they feel that! I pride myself on making Pincushion a comfortable and fun place to be.
Anywho, enough gushing!!! You're probably wondering why the heck I'm starting a blog?? Basically it comes from my desire to talk to all of you! This pandemic has been hard on so many people, especially small businesses. But, I realized the other day that what I miss the most is chatting with our students and clients. I have a brain full of random sewing information with no one to spill it out to. So, I decided to start a blog. Sometimes I will talk to you about fun projects we are working on, sometimes I will talk to you about different patterns I'm trying out, and sometimes I will talk to you about random tips and tricks. I hope you find it useful and entertaining! I also hope that if there is anything specific you would like to read about, you will let me know! If I don't already have the info stored somewhere, I'm happy to do some digging!
So, that's the end of this intro blog post. I hope you found it interesting and I hope you enjoyed some fun photos. I'm not exactly sure how often I will be posting, but I do know that I have some cool posts in the works! Please stay tuned!
Okie dokie!
-Abby