I began my blog, Culler Creations, in September of 2013 and it has been an interesting journey! Two winters ago I was working as a Kindergarten Teacher’s Aide and freezing while I stood outside during recess. Many, many women in Anchorage had been wearing insulated skirts for several years. I had the thought that one of them would be great to wear during recess duty, but they were very expensive and well out of my budget. I was also working at Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe (my dream job) and we sold the insulated lining that many people used to make warm and beautiful parkas in Alaska. I thought, “I wonder if I can make my own insulated skirt.” I gave it a try and my first attempt was warm but not so attractive. I kept experimenting ~ eventually created my own Snow Skirt pattern, which we sold at the Quilt Shoppe ~ and taught classes to others. My classes filled up every time. Last summer I decided to look into starting a blog, thinking that there are women in other cold climates who could benefit from creating their own Snow Skirts too. I spent hours reading blogs and listening to YouTube videos and eventually got my website/blog online. I was pretty proud of myself! It still needs work, and I am still learning!
I love writing about making and using the Snow Skirt and the other two patterns that I created, It’s A Wrap and theGirl’s Snow Skirt. I want women to believe that they can indeed make their own insulated skirt, be creative about it and feel warmer being outside in the winter. You don’t even have to have snow to enjoy using one of the skirts – it’s great in windy places too! When I am teaching students in person, I love helping them feel creative and good about the end product. I love seeing each unique snow skirt walk out the door and knowing that it’s wearer will enjoy the winter months a little more!
I am still working at finding a good balance between all that I do: spending time with my husband, kids and grand kids while also working 25-30 hours at the shoppe, teaching snow skirt classes, beginning sewing classes, creating new patterns, writing blog posts, and learning about social media marketing. My kids tease me that I didn’t want to be on Facebook until I had a business to promote! True? Maybe….
I try to have a blog post ready each Wednesday and a quote or thought to post on Facebook and Twitter once a week. Some weeks I succeed, some not so great. But I am trying to be consistent – I think that is the key. Whether its weekly or bi-monthly or monthly. One of my blogging goals to get better at pre-writing some blogs and scheduling several posts and updates ahead of time. I do try to respond to comments on social media and blog posts as quickly as possible. It’s great to hear from readers and they need to hear from me.
One of my other interests is Re-purposing old pieces of clothing into new and useable items. I love perusing the Second Hand stores for clothing made from really cool fabric that can be made into something completely different. I have created a pattern for grocery totes made from jeans and flannel shirts. I’ve re-purposed wool sweaters into mittens and taught others to do that for a community service project for homeless teens in Anchorage. One of my favorite blogs is The Renegade Seamstress. I have written a couple posts about re-purposing.
I do a lot of my writing in the evenings or early in the morning. Just depends on my work schedule and what other activities make up my day – watching grandchildren, playing in our church bell choir, watching movies with our daughters or a date night with Todd. My favorite blog is What Kind of Snow Skirt Will You Make? I enjoyed creating a slide show that I attached to that blog post – something new that I was learning to do and it featured pictures of other people’s snow skirts. I’d like to have more pictures of creative skirts on my Portfolio page.
My dream is that I can market my snow skirt pattern beyond Alaska, maybe beyond the United States. And I would love to be invited to teach the snow skirt class in other places. I did spend one weekend in Aniak, Alaska teaching a group of 12 women and it was -43 degrees all weekend! And I am excited that I have been asked to teach the snow skirt class at the Valdez Quilt Festival in September.
Wow! That is so neat! I love how you had a great idea and took off running with it!
Thanks Jillian. Appreciate your comment. It has been a fun and unexpected journey!
Debby your passion is so fascinating and love what you’ve created, my favorite is the grocery store tote made from an old pair of jeans — who knew!
I love finding ways to use old garments – one of my posts is about making mittens from old sweaters. Really fun and creative!
Thanks for sharing! I like how you are working on be consistent and realistic with what you can do. That is exactly where I am at.
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