Renaissance Moms
Here at Petite Purls we love to honor all mothers. We all know that mothering is the most important (and hardest) job on earth. We are happy to announce our new series on the blog, Renaissance Moms. Renaissance Moms is an interview series celebrating some of the most beloved and talented working mothers in the craft community. We already have a beautiful list of women lined up to share their stories with us, but we thought we’d kick off the series with our very own Brandy Fortune.
Hi Brandy, thanks for being the first interview in our new series, Renaissance Moms. Why don’t you start by telling us how you got into crafting.
I grew up with a mother who always was very supportive of my creativity. In grade school I was active in Creative Writing, Photography and I also worked on our newspaper and literary magazine. I remember cutting and pasting page layouts in high-school. I was always active in art classes and loved working with my hands. I never had any exposure to true crafting until my adult life. I didn’t grow up exposed to any sewing, knitting or crochet. After I was married and moved into a house away from the city I wanted something to occupy my spare time. I thought I was taking a crochet class, but it was actually a knitting class so I went with it, just happy to be learning something new. A year after that I asked my husband to get me a sewing machine over the winter holidays. I’ve been experimenting in design and various crafts ever since!
How did your indie pattern line Pixie Purls come about?
After much encouragement from my knitting circle, and a lot of inspiration from my first daughter I designed my first pattern, and began selling it via my website, ravelry and etsy. I continued to design patterns slowly (while taking care of baby!). I then set a personal goal of making one thousand dollars in sales, and once I made that goal I went ahead and registered the business name, etc. properly within my state. I think goals are really great: setting a goal and then taking it to the next level. I like working towards accomplishing something specific. I already had my logo and business name via my blog, which I had originally created only with the intention of having it be a knitting blog, but it worked really well as a brand for my pattern designs so it all just came together.
Are you a work-at-home mom or do you have a work space out of the home? If you are a work-at-home mom, how do you juggle your work duties with your mom duties?
For the past 3 years I have worked full time on and off and been a Stay At Home Mom on and off. I don’t think it would be fair to say I was a Work At Home Mom while home, I was just designing the patterns for fun initially, and not spending as much time on it as most working moms spend. I was on leave for one year with my first daughter, and spent some spare time designing. I returned to work for a little over a year, and continued to design in my spare time, and then after the birth of my second daughter, I went on leave again. So my life is a bit of back and forth. Now that I have been working on Petite Purls, that takes away a lot of the time I have for my personal pattern line, so I have even less time to design then before! It’s a lot to juggle, but I enjoy the outcome.
What inspires your creativity?
I love fashion, and nature. A lot of the time the children themselves inspire the pattern. My daughter loves apples, and that was the primary inspiration behind my “Them Apples” design in the Fall 2009 Petite Purls. Sometimes yarn inspires me, often times events and locations can inspire me (a trip to a large city, or the ocean which inspired my newest design “Bubble Frock“). Lately I’ve been experimenting with designing tiny patterns for dolls, and the inspiration will come from the doll itself, or an outfit or fabric used in the dolls clothing will give me fun ideas. I draw my ideas from anything and everything I see. Sometimes a well decorated/designed children’s room will inspire an idea for clothing design, and I think to myself “what would a child be wearing when sitting in this room reading a book, or playing with a tea set?”
What do you think has been your biggest struggle as a working mom?
I’ve experienced being at home with both of my children full time, and I’ve experienced working full time with a toddler. It’s really nice to have been able to fully experience both and have an opinion on the difficulties of both. I have found them to be equally hard but in different ways. If you work from home and don’t have anyone to help watch your children while you work, well, it is just extremely difficult to be able to focus on anything for an extended period of time and really get things done quickly. Anytime you are in your home, and your children are underfoot, it can be difficult to focus, even if you are good at multi-tasking. I always feel a bit frustrated that I can’t execute more of my ideas faster. I have about 30 sketches just waiting to be knit up, and I just need the time to knit them!
What are your goals for yourself or your business for your future?
I always set goals for myself, many of which I set 6 months out, 1 year out or 2 years out. I can honestly say I am not 100% sure where I want to be in 10 years from now, it’s an awfully long time! Things have changed so much for me in the last 5 years. Marriage, two pregnancies, and now being a mother of two, I can’t even imagine all the amazing things that will have happened that many years from today.
What other hobbies do you like to dabble in? What is your favorite way to relax?
I love sewing, and I enjoy crochet. Right now I think three core crafts is more then enough. I’ve always LOVED spinning but the wheel has been put away until the girls are a bit bigger. I like to relax by reading, or watching a movie.
Do you have any advice to give other women that are interested in starting their own small business?
Do what you love and are passionate about and the rest will follow.
What is your favorite game to play with your kids?
I love having a special moment. Just a few nights ago the baby had fallen asleep on a hotel bed with me, and it was bed time so my older daughter wanted to snuggle and wound up in the bed with us. Then I had my husband come join us. This had never happened before with all 4 of us snuggled up to sleep, and it was such a fun moment. Sometimes at night we have a “party in BG’s room!” and all of us sit in my Big Girl’s bed and look at books or have tickle wars.
How did the idea for Renaissance Moms come to fruition?
The whole concept of being multi-crafty has been floating around for quiet a while now, I would often say to my husband that I felt like a “renaissance man” in that I love to dabble in many different things. I love trying new things, learning and mastering crafts. When I first began knitting, I also tried spinning, quilting and scrap-booking. There are so many wonderful ways to “create” all kinds of different things that add value to your life. Add on top of that running two small businesses (pixiepurls.com & petitepurls.com), while also attempting to master photography; throw in a bit of web design, and taking care of two kids, and it’s easy to see how the concept came about. Allegra and I decided we wanted to celebrate Renaissance Moms everywhere, starting with some fun interviews to find out how these amazing women juggle all the many aspects of their lives.
Thank you Brandy for letting us peek into your world!
My pleasure!
