{About Gussy}

Hi, I’m Gussy — the girl behind the ruffles.

I’ll be honest with you: I’ve never taken a formal sewing class and I talk a lot. Not the annoying “talk a lot”, more so the kind where if you have time I’d sit with you for hours and chat as we get to know each other. Or, if we’re long lost friends and we — no? We’re not there yet? OK.

Let me back up a bit then :]

My husband, Zack, and I were married on 06.07.08 and we currently live in Minneapolis. I have to say “currently” because August of 2009 we moved to Minneapolis from Detroit in one weekend. So. We have been living by the seat of my sewing chair ever since.

This blog is a documentation of my love for sewing ruffles, and my zest for life.

Want to know how I started sewing? Here’s my story:

Zack and I were married at my home church on a lovely June day. The birds were chirping, we were both recent college grads, I was wearing orange heels under my sparkly white wedding dress… See? it was a lovely day :]

A few months after we got married we moved about an hour away because Zack was offered a full-time job in his field {TV/film production}. We were new to the area and didn’t have many friends. After realizing Zack’s new job meant a lot of last-minute late nights, I decided that instead of curling up on the couch to watch TV I was going to learn how to sew.

Oh yes.

The public library and I became BFFs, and fast! I checked out about 30 library books and each night would read through them. Some books were amazing and just my style of learning. Others, not so much. But that’s OK! I felt it was important to focus on my learning style, especially because it’s hard to see how to thread a sewing machine when you’re LOOKING at a piece of paper. {Dear YouTube, thank you for existing…} For the next few months it was just me and my parent’s sewing machine. I loved sitting at the kitchen table as I figured it out.

Learning to sew has been an incredible transformation.

I had zero experience when I started {is that OK to admit out loud?!}, but I had a determined spirit and a big heart for the trade.

Then in January 2009, about 7 months into marriage, Zack lost his job. It was a shock and our extended families were experiencing it, too. But then I lost my job about 3 weeks later. And I can say this now, as it’s all past us — it was an unexpected “fun” tim to be at home with Zack. Who cares that it was only “fun” for about 2 weeks and then we realized unemployment pays about 60% of your salary, it was fun because we are besties and we got through it together. Zack did find part-time work landscaping, but the night we were going to leave town and celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary he lost his job. Again.

But it was OK! We left town not needing to be back Sunday night, and we just enjoyed the extended weekend together at my parents cottage. Yeow!

We were unemployed for about 7 months. It felt like we searched the entire state of Michigan for a job, but nothing ever solidified into full-time work. Until August came… One of my friends had recently moved to Minneapolis from Detroit, so Zack and I drove out and stayed with her while I freelanced at an Ad Agency for two weeks. I was {finally} offered a full-time job, so we drove back to Michigan Friday morning, packed up the house we were renting, and drove back Sunday morning.

We arrived in Minneapolis and I started my new job. Two weeks passed and then Zack had a full-time job {whoaaaaa, money!} It’s now September 2009.

I continued to sew in the evenings and on weekends, week-by-week building up my blog and finding my way in the handmade community. A few months later, in February 2010, I attended Blissom and seriously, it pushed my business in a new direction. Blissdom changed my life.

I came home from the weekend-long conference and shared everything with Zack. We both knew it was time to pursue Gussy on a more full-time level, so started saving our money so I could quit my day job. In about 8 weeks we saved nearly 3 months of my salary. AWESOME!

{To read how I quit my day job, click here.}

May 17, 2010 was my first day as Gussy {exclusively}, and I skipped all the way from the bedroom to the bathroom. I was SO EXCITED to get started.

Wondering where Gussy comes from?

My mom started calling me Gussy after Gussy the Goose from Charlotte’s Web (2006). The character, as written on a Ty Beanie Baby tag, “always, always, always has a lot to say, say, say.”

Helloooo! That is me :] Give me your ears and I’ll talk for hours!

And so, Gussy was born.

If you are considering learning how to sew but don’t know where to start, my advice to you is this: JUST START! Go to the library, checkout a ton of books, read over the basics and JUST DO IT! What can it hurt? Are you afraid you’re going to succeed?

Every minute you doubt yourself is a minute you can’t ever get back.

You can find Gussy here: Shop, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

Please add me as a friend, I’d love to get to know YOU more! :]

Since May, my blog has really turned into a handmade community. There are lots of blog/biz 411 posts where I share tips on owning a handmade business. I also post new Gussy products on my blog. As my sewing business grows, my products change. That is natural. This is also how you know I’m the designer behind Gussy.

♥ Gussy products are the direct result of trial-and-error; of having a big enough passion to learn who, what, where, when and {most importantly} why behind sewing.