Interview with Shelly Leer of Flipt Studio

S. Denise Hoyle | July 17, 2009

Shelly Leer provides the “best of home ec and shop class with lots of tools and fabric and no cooking” at her Flipt Studio blog. We were impressed with all the re-styles, re-design, and re-purpose projects that she shares, both through her blog and at Curbly.com under the moniker ModHomeEcTeacher, so we asked Shelly for [...]

Spotlight on Rebecca Ray Designs

S. Denise Hoyle | June 26, 2009

Rebecca Yuhasz Smith started her Rebecca Ray Designs handbag business about eleven years ago, but says she feels like an overnight success, even though she’s been working at the business for years.  A couple of years ago she says her business made $24,000, but that all changed pretty rapidly when she won the Country Living [...]

Bikini Designer Launches Swimwear Label Online

S. Denise Hoyle | May 22, 2009

Canadian designer Wendy Floyd launched her online business this month and has already sold 50 swimwear sets.  Floyd has had a lifelong love of sewing and after making her own business clothes for years, decided to try her hand at sewing a bathing suit because she had major difficulty in finding one that fit.After working as [...]

Great Cloth Diaper Hunt Supports More Than 400 Work At Home Moms

S. Denise Hoyle | May 15, 2009

The 9th Semi-Annual Great Cloth Diaper Hunt has begun, and the popular event promotes over 400 cloth diaper business that are run by  work at home moms.  Diaper Decisions organizes the event twice a year which allows businesses to pay to sponsor the hunt by “hiding” a badge of a cloth diaper like the one [...]

High School Senior Gets Backers For His Pillow Business

S. Denise Hoyle | May 12, 2009

Bobby Jones, a high school senior ar Greece Athena High School, started his own designer bedding and pillow business last year for a program at school.  The Young Entrepreneurs Academy program, or YEA! for short, teaches students how to write business plans and pitch investors so they can create their own job opportunities.Jones’ creations have [...]

Garter Belt Designer Enjoys Successful Niche Business

S. Denise Hoyle | May 8, 2009

Ouida Davis in Salisbury, North Carolina has carved out her own little niche business by making fancy garter belts and selling them online at her Originals By Ouida website, as well as through her mother Ruby’s formal wear shop.  Ouida says her frilly accessories are a growing trend for proms and other occasions and that they’re [...]

Idea for Fashionable Clear Handbags Launches Family Business

S. Denise Hoyle | March 31, 2009

Judy Clark, an obstetrics nurse in Fort Worth, came up with the idea for fashionable clear handbags while she was at work.  She’d noticed that clear backpacks and tote bags had become very popular as more hospitals, schools and retail establishments began requiring them for security purposes, but the designs she’d been seeing were far [...]

Fabric of Life Gives New Life to African Girls

S. Denise Hoyle | March 27, 2009

The Fabric of Life store in Edmonds, Washington opened last fall and is interested in more than just making a profit.  Sales from the store go back to the girls who made the fabric in Mali, Africa.These girls live in one of the poorest countries in the world where it is common for young girls [...]

Fashionable Workout Wear for Shapely Women

S. Denise Hoyle | March 20, 2009

Kim Ellis-Durity quit a successful career and quit smoking a decade ago to make a change in her life so she became a fitness instructor.  On her way to getting fit, at 200 pounds and five feet nine inches tall, Ellis-Durity had trouble finding fashionable, comfortable workout clothes that fit her.She felt ignored and frustrated [...]

Price of Diesel Causes Truck Driver to Trade His Semi for a Sewing Machine

S. Denise Hoyle | March 19, 2009

Neal Way was a truck driver for ten years when the ever increasing price of diesel fuel caused him to look for a different line of work.  Way says he learned all about sewing and design from his mother, that she drafted her own patterns and made it look so easy that even “a dummy like [...]