- Who are you? What is your business? Hi! I’m Jenna of Awesome by Jenna and I am an embroiderer and fabric addict. I make hand and machine embroidered items, as well as sew baby items like bibs, burp cloths, and onesies.
- Where are you from? I’m from North Carolina but moved here with my husband in 2010 to attend U of L.
- How long have you been making?
Always. When I was a kid I got two types of gifts- dolls and art supplies. I played with the dolls by sewing them clothes and making furniture for their houses. My dream when I was little was to be an artist, but I never seemed to be able to keep it narrowed to a specific genre. I’ve got a graphic arts degree and a fine arts degree (focusing in photography) so naturally I work with fibers.
- What is YOUR most favorite handmade item that you own?
The hand embroidered hoops are my favorite. I design my own patterns and can pretty much do whatever I want. Mostly I make patterns that center around my love for pop culture and sarcasm. - What is your ‘pie in the sky’ dream with your business/art?
I guess to be able to do this full time, which I imagine is a fairly common desire among artists. Right now I work a full time job to pay the bills and Awesome by Jenna happens at night and on the weekends. I’m always working but that doesn’t really bother me at the moment. You’ve got to work hard to achieve your dreams and the thought of doing embroidery full time is enough motivation to keep the hustle going.
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Where do you draw your artistic inspiration from?
I get a lot of inspiration from pop culture like tv and movies. I’m obsessed with Bob’s Burgers so every episode I hear a line that I want to embroider. Also sarcasm. Sarcasm is my life force so putting it down on fabric is just a logical step for me.
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Share 3-5 links that everyone who Loves handmade should know about.
*Bob’s Burgers: Duh.
*dafont.com : Aside from glorious fabric, I’m also obsessed with fonts and text. I will go on this site for a specific font and end up downloading at least 10.*Leslie Hall.: Her music makes me so happy! She sings about crafting and just being all around nerdy.* begoodnatured This is a felting artist that I follow on Instagram and her work is very inspirational. She recently was able to quit her day job and be a full time artist and that is the end goal for me. Also her felting is redonkulous.
And there you have it folks- Awesome by Jenna!! We’ll leave you with one more of her favorite things on this fine Monday morning, something to aspire to when you’re feeling down or just can’t get started on a Monday.
What’s your favorite food, we asked.
My favorite food is Mexican or breakfast food…or Mexican food for breakfast.
Gather 