GUEST BLOG:  SAMANTHA BROWN

Growing up with the world of embroidery is not something everyone gets to do. But it is something that I can say I have done which has taught me many things over the years. When my mom first started learning about embroidery which progressed to launching a business and buying a few big machines I was young and curious. As the years went on I began to also dive into the endless possibilities of embroidery.

To begin, I learned how to use my imagination and even how to communicate better with those around me. This happened when I would see a cool design that someone was wearing or even something that I had seen out in nature. I would often to home and tell my mom about what I had seen during the day and we would come up with something together. This is also where my drawing skills came in handy, because mom always told me that if I can draw a picture, then it can be turned into embroidery. Of course, this lead to me being pretty popular at birthday parties that I was invited to because I would pick something that my friend liked (like maybe their favourite sport) and would work together with my mom to put their name on it by choosing fonts and colours that worked well together with the design we had come up with. This always made going to birthday parties really fun for me because I always knew that my gift would be remembered by others because it was so unique. I eventually became known as the kid whose mom could make some of the coolest gifts ever (which I couldn’t complain about because I always got invited to birthday parties).

Another thing that I got to learn from the world of embroidery is how to actually use the embroidery machines. When I first began helping out my mom with the business I was young and interested in the technology that the machines were equipped with. At that point in time, we only had two machines (now we have four) and I got to learn how to use the 6 needle one when I was eleven years old. Now that was something most kids couldn’t say they knew how to do. Soon enough, I was programming words to be embroidered, changing threads, and even beginning to hoop (with supervision). After I could easily do those tasks, I started to dive into the embroidery programs and how they worked. I spent lots of time beside my mom watching how she was able to turn pictures into embroidery, how she was able to manipulate objects into something amazing. The first program that I used was Embird to set up nametapes (a 5” by 1” strip of material used to identify whomever is wearing it) and then even got to help set up the patches that were going to be embroidered that day. From all of this, I learned first-hand about work ethic, and so when I was working with mom I was putting my all in and giving the tasks at hand my best, but also not being afraid to ask questions when I was unsure of myself.

Finally, the last thing that I got to work on learning as I grew older and the business expanded was the world of digitizing. While I do have to admit that this was the most time consuming and potentially frustrating task, it was also the most rewarding. One memory that sticks out when I think of this is when I got to digitize a patch for a group of soldiers, it was a simple one but it took me a few hours of asking questions to be able to produce the patch. After it was test stitched the patch ended up looking really good which made me very proud of all that I had taken the time to learn and do. I still have this patch sitting on my dresser in my room to remind me that my hard work will pay off.

Embroidery has taught me many things as I have grown up, and I am glad to have spent time learning about it. It’s amazing to see just how far this business has come from the beginning and all of the things it has given me such as a stay-at-home mom as I was growing up. Embroidery has ultimately taught me to never give up and to always follow my dreams, that if I put my heart into something, that I can achieve it. What has embroidery done for you?