And Now For the Fun Part...

I have been spending a lot of time sewing.  I want to spend more time designing.  Who can help me?!

Baby Hobo is on the cusp now, I think, of needing to make some big decisions.  As a hobby, it has become hard work.  I had several commissions over the holidays and was forced to really sit through and sew sew sew for dollars.  I don't need the dollars that bad, so it was hard to do so much work for not that much money.

As a business, there's a ton of potential in this tiny brand.  I have an abundance of design ideas and I go ballistic with zen happiness when I have the time to work on them.  What I need to do is make a bridge from the small, personal scaled production that I do for one store, to a larger scale operation that will at some point pay me for my efforts.  I have that entrepreneurial craze, I can't help it.

Problem is, I don't want a job!  I mean, not a real job where I am slaving away at my sewing machine hours and hours on end.  But there's got to be a way, right?  I am interested in finding models for design brands made from re-purposed materials that have found a sane way to grow into money-making ventures.  I could, surely, find some benevolent soul to trust in me thousands upon thousands of dollars, and make what the business people call an "investment".  I may have to do that.  I would rather grow from the inside out though, if possible, and take on very little risk in inching this whole shebang forward.

I have been looking at brands like Cate & Levi, for example (see here, a supremely adorbs monkey from re-purposed sweaters). 

This is a brand that started, seemingly,  exactly as I have started.  With a parent who ventured into design using re-purposed materials.  He has in the last few years found a way to systematize the specialized creation of these one-of-a-kind items, such that the brand has grown large enough to be offered through West Elm! 

Now, I don't know if dude had a money tree in his house or what, but he describes the trajectory of the brand in terms that seem really doable.  Starting with him and a few artist friends sewing in a small studio office together.  I can do that.  I just need help.  I have interviewed a couple of people, still waiting to see how it will all work.  What with the no capital and all.  There's a lot more to be discussed about this. 

In the meantime,  I wish I could spend more time on the most fun stuff.  Like this part (bib colors):

 And this part (working on a design for floor textiles!):

Stay tuned, my trusty reader, and I'll find a way to get this show on the road.