I can’t even wait at the doctor’s office without analyzing the seams and construction of the clothing worn by everyone around me. Everything around me every day made of fabric, or that could be possibly made of fabric, is a constant inspiration.
Jen Hagedorn
Random Facts About You?I live in a solar-powered home.
I love ketchup and spaghetti sauce but not tomatoes.
I've been an artist's model, an ice-cream scooper, a lawyer and a textile dyer, and now a pattern maker.
I think Ira Glass has a beautiful voice.
What got you started crafting?
I come from a very crafty family. I remember making felt Christmas ornaments and Kleenex carnations with my mom when I was about 6, making my own dollhouse miniatures from clay and toothpicks and fabric scraps, and the annual efforts to one-up each other at Easter egg dyeing. After some temporary insanity that led me to a desk job, I am back working with my hands, the way it ought to be.
What is your source of inspiration?
I can't even wait at the doctor's office without analyzing the seams and construction of the clothing worn by everyone around me. Everything around me every day made of fabric, or that could be possibly made of fabric, is a constant inspiration.
What have you made recently?
I finished the pattern and ebook for my Pat A Cake Baby Dress just this week. It was inspired by a photo of myself and two friends at my fifth birthday party. We are all wearing dresses made by our mothers! You don't see that much anymore. One of my little friends is wearing a darling circle flounce dress and I used that ideas as the inspiration to make a very swingy, full baby dress pattern, adding my own touch of an open back to allow fancy diaper covers/bloomers to show. The hem is so full, the unruffled ruffle strips are almost 4 yards long!
Where do you sell your crafts presently?
I sell my PDF sewing patterns from my etsy shop. I also have an artfire studio.
Why are handmade crafts important to you?
Time is precious and only seems to be getting more so. Handmade is so special, and so inherently valuable, because every handmade item carries with it the gift of all the precious time that went into conceiving and crafting it.
A dear artist friend of mine passed away last year. I think of him often, and especially whenever I am proud of a finished handmade work. Whenever he finished a work of art, someone invariably asked, "How long did that take you?" And his answer, with his big bearded smile, was always, "All my life." All the years of training, of learning, and practicing, all the years ideas danced around in his mind before being committed to tangible form, all the drafts, all the works that came before it, all his life's experiences, all culminated - at least for that moment- in the work before him. And that is why handmade is so precious, each work represents someone's entire life.
Find Me
LocationNorthern California
Email Address
Jen Hagedorn
Personal Website
http://www.tiedyedivadesigns.blogspot.com
Store Website
http://www.tiedyediva.etsy.com
@tiedyediva
http://www.facebook.com/tiedyedivapatterns