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“I made
her wrap-around dresses before I sewed. Poor Barbie, she never
went on dates
with Ken,” she says, laughing. ”She stayed home on Friday
nights so I could try
out my latest fashions on her.” Anna Maria
received an honors bachelor of
fine arts degree in drawing from the
University of Tennessee, sewing clothes on
the side and dabbling in
nearly every medium from painting to photography. Soon
after
graduating, she and her mother opened Handmaiden, a successful clothing
and housewares boutique in Knoxville that showcased her designs. “But
duties
started to overwhelm creativity,” she recalls.
Licensing her work offered a better alternative. She designed artful images
for several companies’ existing product lines. The Anna Maria “look” began
appearing on paper tableware, giftwrap, ceramic collections, and greeting cards.
“I definitely took on some projects to
get a foot in the door,” she says. As her
client list grew, so did her reputation for fun, punchy designs. Destiny
struck when FreeSpirit Fabrics came calling in 2006, requesting an Anna Maria
fabric line. “It brought me full circle. I didn’t know at the time that it would
push me toward a niche, but it has guided just about everything else I do now,”
says the artist, recalling that well-received first collection, “Bohemian,”
followed by “Chocolate Lollipop” in confectionary colors. “When the first
fabrics rolled in, I stared at them for the longest time,” she recalls. “I’m
thrilled that people are creating quilts and clothing with my inventions. The
permanence of that is a real inspiration.”
The next thing on the horizon?
Perhaps clothing patterns. “Really unique ones. I’m not going to put it out
there if it’s too watered-down and simple. It has to be interesting,” Anna Maria
says.
Whatever her next step, she’ll have a fantastic time doing it. “If I
weren’t doing this for a living, I’d be doing it for fun. My work is my
hobby.”
(i) A “Lollipop Kitchen” half-apron with rickrack trim. (j) Towels of the same
collection embroidered with dairy delights. (k) Companion full-length baking
apron. (l) In this mixed-media offering, Anna Maria’s signature
textiles are sealed onto a canvas painting. (m) A giant jar of old
wooden spools and needles.
Sew you want to start a business?
stitch together a plan:
- Peruse the
internet for companies that create the type of goods you want to sell. Get a
list of that industry’s trade shows.
- Do research by attending trade shows
to see what products are out there. Ask yourself, “Do I have something different
to offer?”
- There’s no such thing as a waste of time when pursuing true
interests. Although there’s no guarantee of immediate income, there’s value in
exploring for future career or personal benefit.
Originally published in the April/May 2008 issue
A Repeat Performance page
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