Hello there and welcome to my new adventure! I am Kim and I am the owner of J&K Creations, originally based out of Alaska but now based out of sunny Nevada!
I started my adventure in the beginning of 2014 making baby clothes. I started out with just a few select items and slowly expanded over the next year and a half, and now I have about 100 different patterns for babies & children, women, a couple for men, and lots of home & accessory items! During this new adventure I will tell you all about the different patterns I have, and love, as well as their pattern makers. I'll also share my knowledge on different fabrics, great places to get them, and tips on sewing. And, whenever I make something new, I'll share a creation that I've made for family or friends... maybe even pull something out from my vault (picture or storage!) to share! I also have lots of fabrics, as well as several items I made but didn't get the chance to sell, that I may offer up during a giveaway every now and then!
Now, a little about me: I was born and raised in a small town in south central Alaska and lived within about a 40 mile radius of my childhood home for all but 2 years of my life, until our recent move. My husband is in the military and he loved Alaska so much that we got to spend quite a bit of our marriage in my home state! But now.... we got to move to a state that offers a lot of what we love and want in any home state. I love heat (don't ask me why I lived in Alaska for so long!) and love that our new norm for cold temps only last a short while. I may be saying different once the summer rolls around, especially since we moved here after it started cooling off. We love the outdoors and went camping, fishing, and/or ATV riding most of the year. Well, all of the year for my hubby, he loved to ride his snowmachine, something people from any of the other 49 states call a snowmobile. :) We also have two younger girls, K and J (they are where my shop name came from), who stay active just like any other kids their age. It's so much easier for me to now keep them active outside when there is no snow or freezing cold winds to deal with! We have two dogs as well; a fat, old lady named Raelie and a young teenage boy named Cooper. Raelie is a Sheltie and the original love of my life. Over the last year or two she put on quite a bit of weight, a lot of it because she didn't get much attention because of us having babies as well as getting old (and her metabolism changing) and the arrival of her brother 3 years ago. Cooper. He's something else. The little brother that you love to hate, especially when he's a dog and stubborn as all get-out! Cooper is a French Bulldog, he's one of the sweetest dogs you could ever meet, dumber than a box of rocks, and is super loyal to his family. Cooper had to stay back in Alaska with family but will be joining us in the summer, he wasn't able to make the initial move because we flew out of Alaska and his breed is banned from flying because of their short noses.
On to my machines, my sewing background, and all that jazz... I started using a sewing machine when my age was still in the single digits. I took random sewing/home economics classes in high school and made random items for family members throughout my childhood. I even made a self-drafted Halloween outfit one year when I was in my early 20's! I didn't really get back into sewing again until my late 20's/early 30's. I picked up a used machine at a garage sale and made little projects here and there. I embellished some stuff for my nephews for Christmas soon after. Then I found the pattern that changed it all for me, the Maxaloone pants by Max & Meena. I made stuff for my oldest daughter while learning how to sew fabrics I had never sewn before. Upped my skill level and opened my shop. I learned new techniques and added a couple new machines. I added lots of fabric to my stash. I even got to test a couple patterns! From there I just went along with it, making mostly baby clothes and girls dresses. And then came the move.
I currently have a sewing machine and a serger, or overlocker, and love them both to pieces! My sewing machine is a Brother PC420 and has too many stitches to count, lots of feet, a metal frame (a must if you plan on doing a lot of sewing), and lots of little options that make sewing set-up and construction go that much smoother! My serger is also a Brother, it's a Designio DZ1234 which is basically a 1034D with an extra foot, different tension dial colors and a neat design on the front. I bought both of my machines from Amazon Warehouse as "open box" items. The boxes had puncture holes from shipping that they covered/taped up and then knocked the price down by $10-40!! They both had a learning curve, especially the serger, but since I learn by doing I had them figured out in no time!
Do you think you learned enough about me? I hope so! You will be learning more over time, as will I! Feel free to tell me a little about yourself, what inspires you to create, how long you've been in your craft.... Anything!
Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you soon!
