My Sewing Room

My name is Vicky, and I live in south Georiga, US. My family consists of my husband of 11+ years, two daughters, a son, and three granddaughters, a spoiled dog, and a cat who thinks she is royalty. I began sewing when my father bought me my first Singer sewing machine when I was 12 years old. I have spent the last 30+ years sewing sunday dresses, Halloween costumes, doll clothes, and many other things for my family in my spare time. I currently work full-time as a manager of a retail furniture store, and most of my sewing is done on weekends, and in any free evening time that I may have.

Several years ago I was asked to make a pageant dress for my young neice, and that was the beginning of "Southern Grace Designs". My neice won several pageants wearing that dress, and I have continued making shells, dresses, and casual wear. Before I knew it, I had so many people requesting me to sew for them that I quickly became overwhelmed. I took a couple of months over the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays to regroup, research, and rethink the idea of starting my own custom sewing business.

 At the beginning of this year I decided to give it a try. I have since gotten my business license, opened a business account, and all the other things needed to open a small business. I've been very busy so far, and can hardly keep up with all the orders coming in.

I decided to sell mainly on ebay based on positive input from others, great experiences with buying and selling on ebay myself, and the overwhelming response that I have gotten from buyers. I've learned a lot from the ebay tutorials, videos, and help section. 

Me and my girls

I spent days trying to come up with a name for my new business venture, asking for input form everyone. We came up with a billion different ones, but settled on Southern Grace Designs for a couple of reasons.

One is that I am very proud of my southern heritage, traditions, and way of life. My neice and youngest granddaughter both have the middle name of Grace, and both are my pageant queens. And the designs of my dresses are original to me.

The second reason is that my mother's middle name is Grace also. She passed away March 2006, and is greatly missed. She always had faith in me and believed that I could do anything that I set my mind to. So if she believed that I could do this, I certainly must be able to. I wanted her name to be a part of my new venture, after all, she would be supporting me 100% if she were here and by adding her name she is here in spirit everytime I see or hear "Southern Grace Designs".

Most recently I have sold several different items that I have made on ebay. I have taken several orders for private auctions and I am also currently working on several "Jedi" costumes for my soon to be brother-in-law and his friends. Recently my sister has informed me that she and the aformentioned Jedi are getting married on St Patricks Day in 2008 at an actual reproduction of a castle abbey and that we must wear period costume. So those will be in the future, though I really don't think I can convince my 6'3", 300 lb husband to let me dress him like Henry the 8th!