Featured Seller: Blue Cuddly Designs

Who are you?
My name is Carolyn Kesler and I am the owner of Blue Cuddly Designs.

Where are you located?
Physically in Holly Springs, NC, but I can be found online via my Etsy shop and my own web-site. I also have some embroidered onsies at Padoodles Trendy Kids Boutique in Fuquay-Varina. I am a sponsor for Pink Christmas this year.

What do you create?
I make custom children’s clothing. My clothes are created by sewing one of a kind items, or embellishing ready-made items with appliqués and/or hand embroidery. My clothes have more of a classic style than a trendy one.

Why did you choose your company name?
I wanted my company to be a reflection of my son. He is the true inspiration behind it. He is the reason I am designing children’s clothes and not roadways and waterlines anymore. Blue Cuddly is his lovey. It’s a little blue dog with a blanket for a body. He has had it since he was about 3 months. Blue Cuddly has been through everything with him. He has comforted him on rides at Disney World, airplane trips, even a couple of late night ER visits. He is just a part of our family.

What is your favorite place to visit in the "triangle"? I enjoy visiting the libraries and bookstores. I am a bookworm and read voraciously. I will read almost anything. And I get great ideas from looking through books.

When did you start creating?
My mother and grandmother were always making clothes or afghans. In fact, I have an afghan and a sewing bag that my grandmother made for me 30 years ago. I suppose I grew up seeing people sew and stitch.

I learned to crochet and embroider when I was in Girl Scouts. I tried to teach myself to knit when I was in college, never got past the knit one purl one thing. I have always enjoyed needlework. I still have several embroidery projects in progress that I may finish someday. I think I like cross-stitching the most because it appeals to the engineer in me. There is nothing like seeing perfect rows of X’s.

I began making clothes for my son about 3 years ago. I was frustrated with the typical sports designs and drab colors that were available for boys. I wanted clothes that reflected his interest in space, dinosaurs, and all things science. I taught my self to sew and began by appliquéing overalls and tee shirts for him. The first thing I made for him was a pair of train overall. I appliquéd a train onto some great engineer striped overalls.

What is your next project going to be?
My current project is preparing for the upcoming holidays – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fall and Winter. This is my first holiday season and I am very excited about it. I have been sewing everyday to increase my stock of appliquéd tee shirts and jumpers for etsy and a craft show I’ll be at in October. I can’t wait to get some of the gorgeous Christmas fabrics and begin working with them. I have lots of ideas for cute Christmas overalls and jumpers.

My next project will probably be learning to smock. My grandmother used to smock matching dresses for my sister and me. I didn’t appreciate it then but now I see it as being a natural extension to what I already do. I don’t know when I will learn but it is definitely something I want to do.

What inspires you?
I am inspired by lots of things. Often my son will make a request for a shirt. It may take a few days but I will make it like he wants it. He has inspired me to make dinosaurs, pirate maps, volcanoes, and astronauts for tee shirts.

Sometimes I get inspiration from a piece of fabric. It may become a perfect skirt or fire for a volcano.

Since I joined etsy I have been getting inspiration from alchemy requests. Sometimes a buyer will request an item that I would not have thought of. Even if I don’t get the bid, I have a great design that will probably show up in my shop.

What do you do when you are not creating?
I am a full time mother and wife, so a lot of my non-creating time is spent with my family or at my son’s school. Our family enjoys having a weekly Family Fun Night. Each week is different - homemade pizza and a movie, a night at Frankie’s playing mini golf and skee ball, or just playing board games and working puzzles. An upcoming FFN will be at Crazy Glaze so we can have a craft night together. This is our time for no computers, no work, no school….just family and fun.

I really enjoy being with children. I volunteer at my son’s school, Southern Wake Montessori School. I can be found substituting in a classroom, listening to the beginning readers, or helping with whatever is needed. I am also the Vice President of the Parent Teachers Together. It’s pretty much a given that if I am not at home, I am at the school.