Handmade Love: Lil’Alice

You Guys!! Its Handmade Love: Small Biz time again!!! I’m so happy to have the lovely Katy and her gorgeous creations featured on the blog today 😀

Tell us how you got started…

Growing up my nickname was lil’ alice™. I had her facial expressions, her love for bread, her nose. She taught me how to shop on Saturday mornings. When I got married and had to learn how to cook, I found out I had her cooking skills. When I had kids & they would request certain items to hold their treasures, I found out I could sew, just like she enjoyed doing.

So who is “her”?

Alice is my Grandma Vaughn. She had a heart of gold and she wore gold on every finger. She loved to work and she loved to shop. Alice loved to cook and she loved to eat! Grandma Vaughn passed away from cancer on Aug. 23, 2004. Too soon! After she passed away I inherited her sewing machine, a few tubs full of fabric, many with the tag still on it. I have a huge bin of threads & many needles & buttons & spools of ribbon & many notions that only a sewer knows what they are used for! I get a kick out of the spools of thread because many still have the price on them. Many say, WALMART….$.25. That’s unheard of. A quarter for a spool of thread!!!

After years of making odd and end things, I broke down and bought an apron pattern for $2. I admired aprons and the thought of wearing one. A picture of days gone by! I made my first one in October of 2009. Over the year, I’ve improved the apron etc. Proud of my accomplishments, I posted pictures on Facebook and started getting an order here and there. I was quite shocked that someone was paying me for something that I enjoyed doing. Then I made a tote bag for a little girl whom my son was invited to her birthday party. I posted that picture and got some people interested in purchasing a tote bag. Really? And so it began. I started a fan page on Facebook in March of 2010.

After a hand full of orders, I wanted to label my products with a tag and a unique name. So I rattled my brain for something catchy & fun that was affiliated with me but didn’t scream my name either. That was when lil’ alice™ was born.

I love what I do. I love to sew. I love to create fun things that put a smile on the faces of others!

In the Fall of 2011, I received my husbands blessing to take lil’ alice from a hobby to a business. This was truly an answer to many prayers that were prayed in my little sewing studio as I would stitch away on orders. By January 2012, lil’ alice™ became a business!

lil’ alice™ is a one man show! lil’ alice™ items are created with highest quality fabric & threads. If I am not proud of it, it’s not leaving the room. There have been many errors and many items that don’t make it out the door because they don’t meet my standards.

 

What inspires your creative process? Why do you do what you do?

I’ve always been creative from the time I was little. I don’t know life without a creative outlet. When I first started sewing I used it as a way to relax after a long day as a Stay At Home Mom.

I live in Michigan where we have all 4 seasons. All four are different. Each season inspires me differently!

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I’m pretty much in love with all of the Lil’Alice goodies… but I’m in desperate need of that Cupcake XL Essential Zipper Pouch!! Its just too adorable 🙂 Be sure to check out Katy’s shop and say hello!! 

Which of the Lil’Alice items would you love to have?