A Green Idea
I always watched my Mom sew when I was a child. Each night the sound of her sewing machine talked me to sleep, late sometimes. She made the most beautiful dresses and curtains and pillows. She could make anything I could draw! She used to ask me, "how do you expect this outfit to stay up?" Somehow, she always figured it out. After my second child was born in 2006, my momma gave me the first sewing machine. I began buying little flannel baby blankets at garage sales and sewing them into nursing pads and diaper wipes.
At the time I had left my beloved home in Orlando, moving to a place where there weren't many options other than big box stores. Directions to the new house included this instruction: "After the third landfill, take the next exit." There always seemed to be so much trash, especially packaging, on the streets each week. I could not accept the smell of the trash heap in my neighborhood almost every day.
I resolved to do everything possible to leave less trash at the curb and began using cloth diapers for my new baby. Those were times when I really needed an extra buck! Always looking for ways to save money and take care of family, I started sewing out ideas, testing prototypes on myself and kids and going from there... My Mom became the first Moocow investor and graciously accompanied me fabric shopping as I began to make the design for a cloth workshop dedicated to green ideas.
Over time, I became more skilled at sewing and branched out into using new and different materials, all the while researching the impact of the materials on the environment. Now, I get fabric from everywhere! A collector of sorts, every set begins with a pattern or color that I love. From there sets are built as fabrics present which coordinate in some way. Some of the sets for sale in the shop have taken over a year to put together! There are always little stacks of fabric which need "it", that something which hasn't been found yet. I shop online, in quilt shops and fabric stores. I also use, with abandon, the mountain of beautiful textiles my Mom had stored away too....
Moocow has come with me through several moves and lots of life changes. Though I've lost my wonderful Mom, the spirit of her ingenuity is my guide. I am passionately obsessed with making beautiful, functional products which are also designed for the purpose of creating less trash. I do everything, from the photography to the shipping and of course sewing and design. I love what I do, and this little shop has taken on a life of its own, believing in me, even when I wasn't sure if I could keep going.
Moocow studio has grown, and now there are some incredibly talented people who help me with different parts of the shop. All of the products are designed to take full advantage of the materials, leaving very little behind. We are dedicated to bringing you unique, beautifully made, high quality products and service. Our goal is to help reduce waste and increase awareness about sustainable products. Each of us shares a love for art in its many forms and we totally inspire one another!
The workshop has a lovely little fireplace, and bolts of colored fabric line the walls just like a fabric shoppe. There is a wonderful cutting table and a folding antique sewing table. Holding court on the main wall is a giant white pine hand ornamented armoir which holds huge fabulous stacks of multi-colored, wild patterned fabric.
