Boondocking:

In a nutshell, its free camping. There are parks all across the US (and maybe the world) where you can park and camp on the land, free of charge. These are places with no amenities so you really need plan! But oh the sights you’ll see!

It was gonna be an epic adventure! I’d drive my Wrangler across the country and be the ultimate explorer! Stay in random places toting my camping trailer/quilting studio behind me, boondocking from here to there. I would visit various fabric shops, mills, stores, and warehouses across the country, gathering incredible fabrics and stories along the way. I would learn about the owners and how they ended up where they were, how their businesses came to be, and tell their tales and the tales of the towns and share it with anyone willing to hear. I named it TheBoondockQuiltCo incorporating my love of both quilting and boondocking.

I always felt quilts would tell amazing stories if we could read their threads. So, I would tell it for them. I would use the fabrics I gathered to design beautiful quilts and share its story with the new owner. I would have a small store somewhere, with a plethora of quilts in varieties of fabrics and who knows what else I could have found!

That plan took a turn… to say the least!

Ah yes, quilts are in the name, but hangers have become my full-time game.

I have been making things all my life. Clothes, curtains, pillows, … you name it. I loved to draw and especially loved photography. I absolutely love art and design and have always incorporated it into my world somehow. For instance, I made scrub caps when I was a cath-lab nurse and that’s really what started the need to design accessories and to become an entrepreneur. I loved paring fabrics and coming up with new ideas and seeing them being worn and used!! I wanted to be able to do more!! I decided way back then I would create my little business and when my life allowed me to, I would set off on my journey seeing where the wind blew making sure my sewing machine was along for the ride.

I built it little by little.

I knew how to sew, a gift passed on to me by my family. I was no pro by any means, but the love for the craft was there. I watched my mom sewing at the kitchen table growing up and just about everyone else quilted. I was born to sew. So, I worked and sewed. And worked and sewed and worked and sewed.

They say for a product to work, you must see a need, and fill it. They also say, when you see an opportunity to seize it.

An idea with a need to fill was given to me that suddenly threw my designing and all that sewing into an absolute tizzy. A definite whirlwind indeed!

Dude… Hangers?

I don’t even make hangers. ???

I helped my sister with a photoshoot for Chicago Style Weddings Magazine resulting in my redesigning the luxury satin hanger.

Brides had been voicing their general displeasure with the lack of bridal hangers available on the market to the top “whos who” in the industry. First, the hanger had to be personalized. Secondly, they did not want wood but that was the majority of the personalized wedding hangers available. Additionally, they did not want anything painted, glued, or a hanger with metal bars or clips across the bottom. They were tired of the mediocre padding and snaggy satin hangers that the usual big box stores and online giants had to offer. They wanted something that equaled the splendor of the wedding dresses they were buying, and it just wasn’t available. It was clear brides had a need to be filled.

So, there it was. An idea. A need to fill. An opportunity to do what I have so much passion for! Design.

Yeah… but how do you do a hanger differently?

I had to design something unique and something that took care of as many of the complaints and needs as possible. I knew I had to design something that was going to hold up not only getting ready robes, but potentially heavy, beaded gowns and still photograph well; it had to be strong but look pretty and delicate. I knew it had to be something gorgeous and stunning, after all, it is for a bridal event; so luxurious bridal satins, double faced ribbons and something dazzling to top it off!!

I knew it had to be well padded. Fabric does not do well over time hanging on hard or sharp objects because it leaves damaging marks and can distort, pull and snag. I had some of the key ingredients figured out, I just had to combine it all and make something that looked like it belonged in that bridal magazine!