Powered By Janome: Miranda Anderson's One Little Minute Blog
Her blog began as a creative journal and has ended up as a business.
Miranda Anderson went from selling her handmade items at farmers markets, to starting her own Etsy store, and now sells custom-made items (and soon) patterns through her website. And we're proud to say she does all her sewing on two Janome machines.
Miranda's mother, an experienced seamstress, wanted her children to not just take sewing lessons, but make their own clothes right away. So in 3rd grade, Miranda and her sister would walk from school to a neighbor's house, where they took their lessons. Miranda said her Mom had a great incentive: they would get one new item of clothing from their favorite store for every two items they made for themselves.
This worked for a while, but as Miranda got older she stopped sewing. In 2006 she picked it up again after receiving multiple requests from friends. And, in order to fund a trip, she tried her hand at selling her original cut-and-sew apparel at a farmer's market in Salt Lake City.
Of the experience, she says, "It went okay, and I was able to fund a humanitarian trip to Bolivia with the income I received. In 2008, I opened a little shop on Etsy. I quickly became disenchanted with stocking inventory and then receiving custom order requests, so in 2010 I decided to sell out the Etsy shop and begin creating only made-to-order apparel. I began mainly creating custom Halloween costumes and showcasing them on my blog. Soon I was taking orders for holiday apparel, birthday dresses, and even wedding gowns."
Recently, because demand has been so strong for her designs, Miranda's focus has shifted in the direction of pattern-making. She will release her first pattern (of one of her most popular little girls' dresses the Big Bow Dress) in the next month or two.
She says, "I hope to continue to take custom sewing orders in addition to creating and selling patterns so others can make my original designs."
For several years Miranda has sewn on a Janome Sewist 525S sewing machine and a MyLock 634D serger. Both were gifts from her seamstress mother.
Miranda says, "In a few years of almost daily use, both my sewing machine and serger have worked beautifully! They are both easy to use, with clear instruction manuals that I keep close at hand for that every so often that I need to use an unusual stitch or technique. Both machines are so well made I am confident with my ability to adjust tension settings and stitch lengths without worry that they will not resume accurate stitching once returned to their original positions."
She adds that she has been so impressed with how simple it is to change presser feet and take advantage of the many different options for hemming. "My machines are both my reliable workhorses and I love them."
Currently, Miranda is working on some costumes for an upcoming episode of the OliveUs web video series, and can't wait to see them on the screen. From November 5-16 she'll will be collaborating with sewing friend Miriam of Madmim on a two-week long mini-series on their blogs about sewing with knits. And of course, lots of Halloween costumes.
Visit the sewing section of Miranda Anderson's One Little Minute blog.
See her sewing machine (model updated to Sewist 500) and MyLock 634D at your local Janome dealer.
