2. How did you first get started in your craft?
Early on in our marriage, my dear husband took me to Hancock Fabrics for my birthday, where we saw a demonstration of sewing machines. I bought my first Singer and I still use it to this day. I made a quilt for our bed and then I moved on to girls' dresses when I had our first foster daughter. I picked a pattern that was too complicated, with lots of ruffles and interfacing and quickly gave up. Then I took a sewing class which gave me the confidence and knowledge to keep going and I finished the dress I had started years ago and made several more for my daughter. She is what really motivated me to sew more. First off, she has always been very active so I had to give up my knitting for a more toddler-proof activity. Also, she is Guatemalan-American and I had a hard time finding clothes in the store that fit her unique shape, so I started making my own clothes for her and I love how well they fit her. Right now, I am specializing in retro mother-daughter apron sets and hair accessories such as flower fabrics. I had read in a book about how women in the 1940's used leftover pieces of fabric and fabric from flour bags to make things. That in turn inspired me to use my own leftover fabric to make fabric flower hair clips and headbands. I even made a fabric flower from a tortilla flour bag once.
3. What inspires you?
I grew up in San Antonio, TX and used to visit the Rockefeller Museum of Latin American Art a lot. I was very inspired by the folk paintings I found there, and thus grew my love of old-fashioned indigenous outfits. I spent two months in Seville, Spain and was also inspired by Flamenco clothing styles, which often are very similar to 1950's American style with their love of polka dots and ruffles. I also like modest clothing, because I find them so beautiful, elegant and sort of romantic. I really like a lot of clothes from the 1950s and 40s because they are so feminine. I love making things for my daughter, my husband, and my friends. Compliments and purchases inspire me most.
4. What are your favorite color combinations?
I love blue and white, but I can also be found wearing a lot of brown and pink too. I like working with bright colors a lot, because they look great on my daughter.
5. What is your favorite item from your shop?
I love my blue and white mother-daughter apron set. It has cute frilly pockets, pleats and crisp bias tape. What more could a woman want?
6. If you had to use three words to describe yourself, what would it be?
Retro, modest, and multi-cultural.
7. What superpower would you most like to have?
The ability to multi-task. I just don't think it's possible. I can only focus on one thing at a time.
8. What is the first thing you remember creating?
I made earrings in fifth grade and tried to sell them. I think I sold one pair :).
9. If you could choose any era/decade to live in, when would that be? Why?
I think I would fit in best in the 1940's. I would grow a victory garden, knit socks for soldiers, can all the surplus vegetables and fruits, make lots of pies and cakes, hang my clothes out on the line, all while raising several children in a small home. Come to think of that, that is my life (well, except for knitting socks for soldiers and we only have one child so far).
10. Where can we find you? www.susiquetzalli.blogspot.com
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