Posted by Crystal
For our first ever Second Saturday Giveaway, we are featuring Frankenstitch Productions by Steph Bills!
This is Steph and her daughter, Olive, in Steph's Dining Room/Workspace. I asked Steph to tell us about her workspace:
"At the moment my workplace is a transformed dining room. I usually only do the machine sewing in there, it's also good for stow away. I usually do the cutting, stuffing and hand sewing in front of the t.v. with a strong iced espresso drink in hand while jibber-jabbering my husband's brains out."
Above is another view of the cubbies in Steph's workspace. She also has a large cabinet to store all of her fabric.
You may have noticed that Steph has TWO sewing machines...well, actually, she has three! One is in the entryway to her apartment.
Considering the fact that she has THREE sewing machines and so much fabric, I had to ask Steph about her favorite crafting tool/material:
"I would have to say the scissors are my favorite craft tool/material, but at the same time give mad props to my right hand man the sewing machine!! I love all of them equally - each is used during a different mood, depends on what I feel like getting into that night. My favorite materials would have to be fleece and poly fil, they are what I use the most."
With all the sewing that Steph does, she has to have a LARGE collection of thread!
Steph actually has lots of little craft supply collections, including...
...knitting needles...
...colored pencils...
...sidewalk chalk...
...and all sorts of odds and ends in glass jars!
Considering her many creative outlets, I had to ask Steph how she got into crafting:
"I got into crafting in girl scouts I guess. I got into sewing by accident. I was broke one Christmas and needed to get everyone gifts, I decided to hook up on some fabric at Jo Ann fabrics, and wing making everyone a little something, from that day on I was hooked and never put the needle down.
I believe the first 3 years of sewing were all done by hand, I was very intimidated by the machine. The 4th year of sewing, I received a sewing machine for Christmas bringing my soon to be right hand man into the picture. I swear I cried with it and over it the first month, we were not friends.
The same year I joined Red Ink [an art studio/gallery space currently on hiatus in Flint], it was a chance to expand my media and start thinking outside the box. At Red Ink there were themed shows so my I was forced to think a little harder as to how I was gonna pull it off. Before I just cut whatever - I was now bringing theme and meaning into them, which in turn brought in more than just cute plushies."
Steph calls her creations "monstas" and I asked Steph how she came up with Frankenstitch Productions as her company name:
"I decided on Frankenstitch because it was at a time when I was hand sewing only and so many people told me they recognized my Frankenstein stitches from anywhere. So it was just fitting I guess."
These days, Steph is a very busy wife, mother and server at The Lunch Studio...where she loves to take orders with her signature Sharpie markers shown above! When I asked Steph what projects she would like to work on in the the future, she laughed and said:
"Ha! I work minute to minute these days. I usually do the projects as they come to me so, I have no big on on the back burner at the time. I would like to get into making cloth baby diapers, shoes, baby dresses and monsta hats. I would like to get better at linocut prints and also improve my monster-making skills."
Well, we at Flint Handmade think Steph's monster-making skills are already top notch...and we are excited to have one of her creations as our very first Second Saturday Giveaway!
Meet Daisy the Owl. According to Steph:
"Daisy brings the sun shine when she walks in the room, Daisy reps joy from others happiness. Daisy is a peacemaker and a healer. She's drawn to peoples pain and wants to help heal them and the world. Daisy is a wanderer seeings how she's on a mission, she may disappear on you, but know that Daisy will always love you."
For YOUR chance to win Daisy the Owl (valued at $23), just complete these two simple steps:
1) Follow Flint Handmade via the blog, Twitter, Google Reader or whatever newfangled "following application" tickles your fancy. Or, if you don't do the whole following thing, email us at flinthandmade@hotmail.com and we will add you to our email list.
That's it...so simple! The winner will be selected at random and contacted by whatever means of communication you leave for us (twitter, blog, facebook, email, etc.).
We hope to hear from YOU and we hope you enjoyed our first ever Second Saturday Giveaway!
