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Miss Buttons is a round-faced, emo-haired softie with a penchant for patterned tights and Mary Jane shoes. The brainchild of Melbourne graphic designer Angela White, Miss Buttons is the inaugural product of Sew Your Own, Angela’s online business “dedicated to creating sewing patterns that are easy to make,” for the young, and the young at heart.
Designed for the absolute sewing beginner – seriously, we’re talking Year Seven textiles class standard – the Miss Buttons 001 kit contains step-by-step instructions and a full-sized pattern. But there’s not even any need to visit a haberdashery shop if you buy the complete Sew Your Own kit, which also contains designer fabric, felt for Miss Buttons’ face and hair, lace, buttons, and embroidery thread for her eyes. The category of “all-in-one craft projects for beginners” has traditionally been a pretty daggy and kitsch affair – the designs in those kids’ cross-stitch kits speak for themselves – which is precisely why the Miss Buttons kits are so refreshing.
Despite its ‘paint by numbers’ tactics, the beauty of Sew Your Own is that it allows sewers to create truly unique creations that are clearly handmade – Miss Buttons couldn’t be further removed from a Barbie or Bratz doll. If in doubt, check out the website’s photo albums – and marvel at the many incarnations of Miss Buttons – to see how the quirky concept is capturing the imagination of new sewers.
In turning the idea into a business model, Angela said she focused on keeping things simple to appeal to inexperienced crafters. You know that sense of failure you feel in the kitchen when your culinary efforts look nothing like Donna Hay’s styled photographs? That’s exactly what Angela said she tried to avoid, “so you wouldn’t get that disappointment you get when it doesn’t turn out how you thought it would”.
“I want it to be a happy sewing experience for everyone involved,” Angela said.
Like many crafty entrepreneurs, Angela has been sewing all her life, although she admitted she “kind of forgot about it” for a few years when she left high school. She remained creative working as a graphic designer, but after moving to Melbourne from Brisbane she rediscovered her urge to sew. Picking up a cheap sewing machine at the markets she started making cushions and bags. Friends began commenting, saying they’d love to be able to make similar things, and over time it evolved into Sew Your Own.
“I hadn’t had any business experience,” she said, “but my partner supported me a lot and really believed in me – as well as offering his financial backing initially. I worked part-time for six months while I got the idea up and running.”
Angela said the hardest part was maintaining her focus in what is often a long and winding road from idea to finished product.
“You’ve really got to commit to what you’re doing, which can be hard when you’re a creative person; you can really easily lose the focus,” she said.
Looking back, Angela’s expectations for Sew Your Own were less ambitious than what actually eventuated. She underestimated the sales potential of the kits, and hadn’t begun to think about wholesaling opportunities.
“When I started I thought markets were my only possible option, I didn’t even consider shops,” she said.
“It was only because a friend of mine said ‘you could sell these in the shops’ that I even started thinking about it.”
The first three stores she walked into and asked if they’d stock Miss Buttons said yes straight away.
“It hadn’t occurred to me that it would be an option that would be so easy. Sometimes when I look back it all seems like smoke and mirrors.”
It wasn’t just luck however, Angela did her homework and made sure she only approached appropriate retail outlets. Another coup was getting a story published in The Age’s I Made It Myself section.
“The next day I got an email from a major department store – I won’t mention any names – wanting to stock my product. I was quite overwhelmed, having only two weeks previously been thinking I’d only do a market stall on the weekend.”
While it was a flattering offer, Angela ultimately turned it down because she decided the mainstream retailer might compromise Miss Button’s sense of handmade individuality. “But it was definitely a reassurance that I’ve got a good product,” she said. |
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As to her creative process, Angela said she keeps it simple.
“I’ll ask myself, if I was a young girl, what would I like to sew? I try to think of projects in that way,” she said.
“I don’t want to sound wanky, but I just try to live a creative lifestyle. I’ve always found Sunday is my most creative day. Every Sunday I’ll have the TV on the ABC – they have all the Arts shows on – and I’ll read the paper and go to a café; things like that inspire me.”
Working from home, sometimes getting out and enjoying Melbourne’s unpredictable weather is enough to recharge her creative batteries. “I think it’s the seasons,” she says. “You gotta love autumn, you walk down the street in Melbourne in autumn and you’re surrounded by all these beautiful colours,” she said.
“Growing up in north Queensland we only had one season and that was HOT, but here, autumn is so pretty. And then winter comes and you go inwards and sit at home a lot, doing indoor activities. You’re almost forced to start being creative.”
Blogging is not only a source of inspiration for Angela, but an answer to the major drawback of working from home: the isolation. She said it could be difficult having no-one to bounce ideas off, but had learnt to trust her instincts when designing new products. As for the details about new additions to the Sew Your Own range, Angela’s keeping mum, but said they’d still involve beginners’ sewing projects.
“It won’t always be about softies; there’ll be all different projects,” she said.
“It’s more about getting people started, knowing that when [the project is] finished it’ll work, and the hope that it’ll inspire them to give sewing a go, and start them on their own creative journey.”
By Melanie Sheridan |
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Happily, the press coverage also attracted the attention of many smaller retailers who now stock her kits. “From there, it’s snowballed,” she said.