Foos are your friends.
The first time I made a plushie was when I volunteered to test a beginner pattern for a friend. It was a cute bird ornament. The pattern required felt, but I was too lazy to go to the craft store, so I used an old sweater. I lived in the middle of nowhere surrounded by dairy farms and cotton fields, without a craft store in sight. I loved making that little bird, and I ended up making a dozen for an ornament swap. After my first try at hand sewing I began creating my own patterns and continued to use recycled sweaters as my fabric. My first attempts I gave to family and friends. Sometimes I would ask people what is their favorite animal and make one for them. One sad & humiliating day I broke my foot sparring in kung fu class. (Protip: don’t kick like a black belt when you aren’t one.). I ended up stuck in bed while my foot healed, and passed the time making plushies. I ended up with a small army of animals and monsters. Fearing this new plushie invasion, I put them on Etsy – where people naively let them into their homes. I have been selling them on Etsy, in boutique shops and at craft shows for 3 years now.
Recycling is important. I try to recycle and reduce waste as much as possible – from composting my kitchen waste to reusing (clean!) packing material for shipping my orders. I like to think my efforts combined with the efforts of others will make a positive impact on our world. That is one of the biggest reasons I use recycled sweaters, but it is not the only one. Old sweaters are just an awesome material to work with. I love finding new color patterns and textures -- shopping for sweaters is a fun treasure hunt.
My designs are always evolving because I’m constantly finding new material to inspire me. Because of the broad range of patterns I find, each Foo is special and unique. (At least that is what I tell them when shipping them out to cause havoc in someone’s home). I get tremendous satisfaction from turning a castoff sweater into a super cute toy that someone will love.
