My First Blog

Hello everyone!
Welcome to TracysDesigns1 blog!  My name is Tracy and I am the sewer and crocheter for TracysDesigns1.

My grandmother on my dad's side was always crocheting and as I child I thought it was so cool to watch her creating beautiful items and wanted to do that too, so I started begging her to teach me.  When I was 5 years old, so finally agreed to teach me, and I picked up on it right away and have never put the crochet hook down!

My grandmother on my mom's side was always sewing!  She made from crafts, like sewn clowns all the way to making historical costumes (like pioneer dresses)!  It looked like so much fun that I wanted to sew, also.  At around 7 or 8 years old, my grandmother started teaching me to sew.

The more I learned in regards to sewing and crocheting the more I wanted to learn and grow my skills!  In high school I took sewing classes and that's where I first learned how to use embroidery machines!  Oh, the fun!  Since then I've also purchased a Cricut machine, and the fun continues!  I love that the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating fun, beautiful, and useful items.

I have been selling my creations on Ebay for many years and have now opened an Etsy store, so of course the next logical step in my creative life is to start blogging.  So here I am!  Welcome, again, to my blog.   

My goals for my blog is pretty simple: To share my love for creating!  So, if it has to do with sewing and/or crocheting you may find it here!  I also sell my creations, so there will likely be posts about selling handmade items, too.  Oh, there may even be some posts "from a doll's perspective", from time to time, as it's fun to make up stories about the 18 inch dolls and their lives!  I invite you to join me on this journey of creativity.

I shared with you how my journey of creativity started, now let me dive in a little deeper.  

When did I start selling my creations?  As a kid.  I don't remember my exact age of when I started selling them but I know it was before I was 12 years old, because that was how old I was when my grandmother and I started sewing cute little clown decorations.  Some people saw them and wanted us to make them some, then other saw those and wanted some, and before long we were very busy one summer making these little clowns!

Why did I start selling my creations?  

Sometimes I wonder if my family encouraged me to sell the items I made because I was filling the house up with handmade items and there just wouldn't have been room to continue to keep them all, yet at the same time my family didn't want to discourage my creativity, so selling became the natural way to go. 

Where did I sell my hand crafted creations? 

 Well, as a kid, it was mostly through my family's help.   After college, I started doing a few local craft shows and that has grown to doing many craft shows (especially since I'm now running my business full-time).  Then when Ebay started, I was really excited as it meant I could sell to anywhere, not just my local area.  Now Etsy how come about which is geared towards handmade products!  

Have you always made and sold the same type of items?  

No, that's changed a lot over the years.  As I shared above, the first items I mainly started with selling those clown decorations, but it's been a long time since I've created those.  Over the years, I've made (and sold) some embroidered items, like socks, bibs, shirts, and personalized hand towels.  I've also had fun with sewing period clothing, especially Renaissance dresses!  

Currently I sew cute and fashionable doll clothes that fits 18 inch dolls such as the American girl dolls and Springfield collection dolls.  (Edited 2023: to add my 18" doll clothes also fits the Our Generation dolls and My Life dolls!)

And in addition to the doll clothes, I also currently crochet cute and adorable Baby Shoes/Booties and Baby Beanie/hats. They're made from very soft 100% Acrylic yarns. Right now my sizes for the shoes range from Newborn to 3-6 Months, and the Beanies range from Newborn to 12 Months.

Please feel free to take a stroll through both of my stores (the links to my sites should be on the side of the blog) and see all the lovely creative items I've made.

Tracy