Hello, and welcome to pin's patterns, home of "pin's pals"...my name is Pinjinsa. It seems most all my life I have done some type of sewing, needlework and beading. I remember being very young when I discovered a magazine that had many "hanks" of beautiful silky thread...I had found my mothers embroidery floss stash. What vibrant colours that felt so wondrous. When I was eight my grandmother Coil took me to a store and bought fabric for a moo moo...it was white with red polka dots. Grandmother Coil didn't sew much but she opened up a new world for me. My parents bought an old treadle sewing machine for me and that was that. I was hooked! Over the years I went from that moo moo to Barbie clothes, to clothing for me and others. I was in my element!
Now, after over 45 something years of sewing I am coming full circle with stitching...a year ago my husband took me to Columbus and purchased a Brother embroidery machine for me. Eeeehaaa!!! Childhood made easy! I had great plans for this machine. I would embroidery new curtains for my bedroom, a new shower curtain, clothing for not only my children, but my grandchildren! I was so excited about this new toy that I would stay up all night just watching the darn thing perform! I spent endless hours surfing the net looking at different designs...I purchased 4 different tutorials on digitizing just so I could play more. My husband took my office and reworked it with more counters. We made various trips to the fabric store for more fabric and embroidery accessories. I couldn't, and still can't, get enough of this new adventure.
Hmmmm, new adventure...as you can tell I am still a very big child at heart...adventure...why not take the bedtime stories that the kids and I made up about the goldfish we had and put them to the children that lived in the neighborhood....Heather, my daughter, was fast friends with Mick and Greg. Bryan and Sarah the Red were fast friends...hhhhmmm...the "pals" were born.
I called my mother and bounced the idea off her...we came up with several ideas for the "pals" and other educational toys for children. I wanted the designs to be fun, old fashioned in their way and hands on...back to the sewing store in Columbus where I bounced the idea off Susan, the store owner.
"Paper dolls...that's what you want to do". Well, not really, but OK.......Well, why not? I knew that if I wanted to play with them they couldn't just lay flat. I want them to be like...well, like real...so back to the drawing board and the stash of years of sewing goodies and out came the kid in me. I knew what I would like to play with so I just sat down and started playing, like I did all those years ago. (the office has often been called my laboratory) It was important to have a storage system for the "pals" so out came the freezer paper for pattern making. A tent was born...then a castle...then...
The "pals" started evolving their own personalities, much like the "kids" themselves had. Many calls to New Mexico to Heather and a weekend camping trip with Bryan and more adventures were born. When anyone comes to the house I show them the newest designs and many have suggested new adventures that I quickly jot down in a journal. The first set, Happy Campers was taken to school by a teacher and shown to the school's psychologist. It was a hit! Dr. J loved the aspect of this being a toy that would expand a child's imagination, wasn't electronic, helped with eye hand coordination, had it's own storage pouch and wanted to know when I would be doing a farm all the while playing with the campers.
Not being much of an artist with pen and paper I searched the net for clip art and found Jodie (JDS clip art) and started pestering my sister Blue Corn for artwork that would be used for the "pals"...they both have been wonderful and let me use their artwork, with changes, to fit the adventure that I am currently working on. I also found Design Stitch clipart....more goodies for adventures...So at this time, a big thank you to all of them!
Thanks Mom and Gmaw Coil for the jump start as a kid and Mom for the support and sounding board as an adult. Mishikin Nogkwa, my husband, thank you for making dreams come true...
I still have not taken the time to test the designs on t-shirts or fabric other then what the patterns call for...someday I would like to take all of the "pals" and embroidery them on a sweatshirt...now wouldn't that be a hoot?
Well, I must go now...more adventures are calling...
