What a delight it was to learn more about our March Featured Member! Sit back and enjoy learning a bit more about Tamara (aka tkcuddlers).
1. What is your name?
Tamara
2. Do you have a nickname?
Most people call me Tami (which is great) but you will always see me sign things "Tamara"
3. What is your boutique name?
tkcuddlers
4. What design groups do you belong to?
5. What types of products do you offer?
I mostly offer boys & girls appliqued sets of all kinds
6. Where can we find your products?
You will note that both the website and facebook are primarily utilized by my dd who does cloth diapering. That is where we started with this venture and then I got hooked on the boutique world at ebay and branched out on that limb. I just need to be more proactive and get my items onto those venues... time & technology... ugh!
7. Do you take custom orders from clients?
Absolutely yes... I love custom orders and working with clients to see their vision come to life in the form of applique! It's very rewarding to me. Contact me at either t_kcuddlers@yahoo.com or tkcuddlers@yahoo.com to inquire.
8. When did you first decide you wanted to enter the custom
boutique field?
I think it was Fall of 2006, and I was amazed at the boutique items, not even sure how I came acrossit. I thought I could do this sort of thing and started to brave the waters.
9. What made you decide to give the custom boutique field a try?
I had been sewing for myself and my children since I was very young. I had always done applique on my kiddos pants and dresses... what I saw on ebay intrigued me and I wanted to give it a try.
10. Do you remember the first item you designed that sold?
I remember that I was doing some Thanksgiving overalls that sold for something like $32 and I was floored! Sounds crazy now, they were so simple and the pictures were horrible...
Just a few months later, this was what I was offering, selling for around $89...
Then I branched into character sets... and it took off from there with more and more details and more elaborate sets...
11. Where does your inspiration for design come from?
Definately my grandkids, they are always telling me I am the "best sewer of the world" followed by" can you make me something in your workshop?"
12. Do you sketch your designs out, use patterns, or just go with it for new designs?
I rarely sketch out an entire design; however, I have been known to do so. In fact here is the sketch I provided the client on the above Nightmare Set...
13. What materials are your favorites to work with?
I love working with knits as well as good quality cottons and denim. For the actual applique work, I like to use ultra or alova suede as it has great color fastness and doesn't fray and comes in a wide variety of colors. I also love to find fabrics that "make sense", by that I mean that if I am doing a wood boat or tree, then I will search to find a woodgrain fabric to use for that applique project.
14. Do you have a favorite theme?
I love to do Halloween and Christmas, the only problem is that I have a demanding work load outside of sewing during the fall months, so I rarely get to offer those items. My goal has always been to sew those items in the summer and have them ready to list and ship as OOAK's but that hasn't happened yet!
15. What has been your favorite design to date and why?
I actually love my Epcot set that I am offering right now on ebay...
I plan to do a girls set in a month or so for a customer and willoffer that on ebay as well. I love all the details of the different countries on this set and all the colors! I also love my TinkerBell Feliz that I did last summer. I utilized some 3D effects on it and love the way it turned out...
16. What has been your most original and creative design?
I don't know if I can say it is original as it is a character... but I do love the color combinations and the overall design of this set (the pants are a design that I came up with... sort of looks like the boys who wear their pants around their hips with their boxers hanging out... but not really)...
17. Who would be your dream client and why?
Not really sure on this one... I just love working with clients who want something very specific and unique. I love the process of trying to pull out of their head what they are seeing and then thereward of seeing their excitement when it all comes together.
18. Where would you like to see your brand go?
Just on the kids to enjoy!
19. Tell us something exciting about your brand that we may not
know.
I am a perfectionist in my sewing, I think most designers are... but you will never really find any two sets that are exactly alike, because I always embellish or do something a little different on each set. I think it is partly because I get bored, but I also keep thinking about the final product while I am constructing and something always pops into my head and comes out on the design board.
20. Do you have another job or is this your primary job?
I officiate volleyball at the HS and Collegiate level in the fall. That keeps me really busy during that season, I am also the treasurer on the College Officiating Board and the Assigner (assigning officials to over 1000 assignments in a 3 /12 month period) making sure that every match is covered and every official is kept busy at their individual level of skill.
21. Tell us about your family.
My hubby and I will be celebrating our 29th anniversary in May. We raised 5 children (2 from a previous marriage) who are ages 32- 21, two boys and 3 girls. We now have 7 grandchildren, ages 6 to 4 mo with one set of twins. They are soooo much fun to watch grow and experience life!
22. Share something with us about you that we may not know.
My hubby bought a boat a year ago last summer and we have taken up the sport of fishing! It's turning out to be a lot of fun and something that we both enjoy, being able to sit on a boat in the middle of the river and wait... My oldest son says "It's a fine line between fishing and sitting on a boat looking like a fool." We would actually like to do a lot more catching than just fishing...but here is a picture of my biggest catch to date...
23. What do you do for fun?
Play with my grandkids or games with the family... we get together at least weekly for a round of poker, or Cities & Knights, or Killer Bunnies! All in fun and no money lost!
24. hat has been your most memorable vacation?
That's a toss up... for different reasons! 3 years ago, we took our youngest 2 (still living at home and in college) to NYC and DC, we had a blast and there was so much to see and do.. but not enough time. Then a couple years ago we took them on a road trip up through Glacier Nat. Park and down through the North Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho to spread my hubby's father's ashes. We met up with my hubby's brother and sister for that trip and it wasa very moving experience for me... not quite what I was expecting and it is hard to put into words what I felt. It was a week long trip that ended with my family's (annual) reunion in Boise as well as our annual White Water Rafting Trip down the Payette River!
This one was actually taken in the parking lot at Glacier.
We met up with the rest of our kiddos for the rafting trip... One of our daughters refuses to go!
25. Where would you love to visit?
I would love to go back to FL (we lived there for 5 yrs when the= kids were little) and visit DisneyWorld. I would also love to go up through Virginia as well as visit DC again and see the "Old" sites of our country! I was amazed when we visited before how Old our Nation really is... living out west for most of my life, it is really not so apparent how much history our Nation holds.
26. What are your pet peeves?
Sloppy clothing on children! I like them to look neat (when appropriate of course), when they are at play... everything goes!
27. Any habits you want to share?
They would only be bad.. so I will keep them to myself, lol!
28. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it
be?
Organization! and Procrastination! ... for the better
29. What is your best trait?
Attention to details
30. What awards have you won?
I have several awards from our local Fair as well as recognition with several ebay groups, but nothing major.
