SEWDANISH!!!!!!!

 

2. How long have you been doing your hobby?
 - My mother taught me to knit when I was six years old. As a child I could always be found with a ball of yarn or a piece of fabric. I'm Danish and I have been very fortunate to grow up in a country with a very strong crafting culture. Creating things has always been a huge part of my life. It makes me happy :-)

3. Where do you market your products?
 - Last year I took the plunge and opened my shop SewDanish - Scandinavian Textile Art, Unique Handmade Supplies http://SewDanish.etsy.com on Etsy. I decided to open my shop based on the response to my items that I had received, when selling at craft fairs, farmers markets and after taking part in a textile exhibition, where I sold really well. I decided to try another type of venue, to reach a wider audience.

For promoting my shop I mainly use my time on my blog http://SewDanish.blogspot.com   Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. I'm in the Etsy Forum on and of and I belong to three Etsy teams/ Yahoo groups: 'DesignStyleGuide' for my interior design items, 'Acetsy' for my ACEOs and 'Unique Women In Business' 'UWIB' a very supportive and active all round group, that is fun to be part of. A lot of the ladies make beautiful treasuries, something I still have on my to do list.    

 

4. What inspires you to do your work?
- I take loads of 'weird' photos. I'm always having my little 'point and shot' camera with me when I'm out and about. You never know when you find some wonderful peeling paint, a great wall feature, crack in pavements etc. I do a lot of hiking and in nature I often find inspiration for my work as well. I can get very excited about textural 'things' like layers of bark etc. On my blog http://SewDanish.blogspot.com I often post my 'weird' design inspirations. My textile groups are great for gathering inspiration, as we all work in very different styles. And there is nothing like an exhibition dead line, to focus my brain :-)

 

 
6. What makes you work different then others?
- My work for exhibitions and for my shop http://SewDanish.etsy.com  are based on my own designs. When you go through the design process, you'll explore and develop your work. It is a living process. I often incorporate several techniques in my work. For the moment I'm exploring and combining quilting and free style machine embroidery in mixed media pieces. I love building up my own textured surfaces from scratch. I work with a lot of recycled materials. I love re purposing, giving an item a new lease of life in a different setting. Probably due to my Scandinavian background my work is often quite minimalistic with 'clean' designs and I tend to gravitate towards the medium to light colour scale/tones.

 

 7. How does you shop name reflect your items?
- SewDanish. Well, I love to Sew, I'm Danish, and I'm Sooo Danish. Initially I put a lot of thought into my shop name and after a year I'm still happy with it. As an added bonus it gives my customers and readers in the etsy forum, on my blog etc., a hint that English is not my mother tongue, when things sometimes aren't worded or spelled quite right :-)

Places you can find SewDanish:

My shop: http://SewDanish.etsy.com