Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Eggenburg.
Hi Erin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started my business, wrenbirdarts, as an Etsy shop in 2012, selling hand-embroidered handkerchiefs. It was meant to be a side gig, but blew up almost overnight, due to some internet attention, and the fact that the pool of hand embroiderers doing custom work was very small.
Most of my business turned into stitching custom wedding handkerchiefs. I embroidered ALL THE TIME to keep up. After hand embroidering about 15,000 handkerchiefs, I realized I could not keep up the pace, but still wanted to embroider professionally. I put my shop on hold, and began working at a creative reuse non-profit. While I learned about re-use and repair, I started thinking about how embroidery could fit into that space. I learned about sashiko, a traditional Japanese hand embroidery technique that combines pattern with function. I studied and practiced sashiko to repair clothing, and eventually started to teach visible mending workshops with sashiko-style pattern in mind.
Through teaching and practice, I developed stick-on patterns that made it simpler for folks to create beautiful embroidered pattern without having to draw and plot patterns themselves. My 1st pattern set was released in 2019, and I now have 12 sets of patterns (48 different patterns) in my shop. In 2021, my 1st book, The Mending Directory, a book of mending patterns, was released, and is still in print today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Many struggles! Those have been the times when I have also experienced the most growth.
For example, in 2019 I started teaching workshops regularly, and had booked workshops months in advance into 2020. As the workshops were canceled, with no reschedule date in sight, I taught myself how to teach online, rigging an overhead camera set-up with various books and post-like objects found around my house.
There is always a new program to learn, algorithms to pay attention to, and new ways to impart information to my students. But it also keeps my perspective fresh, I think.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a small business owner, specializing in visible mending and embroidery patterns. I create and sell patterns to creative folks all over the US, and a few shops in Canada and overseas! Visualizing patterns is my super-power, I see pattern everywhere and can imagine them as embroidery stitches.
I also love teaching folks about hand-embroidery. It’s such an approachable craft that most people can learn in just a couple of hours. I have a lot of enthusiasm for both craft and community, and breaking down instructions into bite-sized pieces is my teaching style. Regularly, you can find me teaching mending and embroidery workshops around Portland and Seattle, often at the library!
How do you define success?
I don’t think there is a easy way to define “success”, but what I do know is that when I was up in the morning, I feel good about what I do and how I interact with others. My work is stimulating and creative, and helpful, and, for me, that is success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wrenbirdarts.com
- Instagram: @wrenbirdmends
- Facebook: @wrenbirdarts
