Sonja Kent has gone viral! At least in the world of Stitch and Sew. The Western Slope Native finally found her niche' after 20 years of dabbling in the world sewing.
A bookkeeper most of her life, Sonja smiles thinking about her new found fame in probably the farthest thing from crunching numbers. Sewing. And just not sewing but creating a popular pattern that is the hit in the craft world. You see, Sonja had a bad car wreck a few years back that left her with a bruised and sprained spine. A little limited in what she could do, she took up trying to sew stuffed animals. She became a little frustrated. unable to read patterns, sewing them backwards or creating two of the same thing, she at one point put up her sewing machine. But, five years ago, seemingly out of nowhere...she fired up the stitching machine and inspiration flew from the mind to the machine and Sonja's Snuggables were born! And boy have they flourished. She started taking her unique animal creations to craft fairs...and they sold out...quick! So she decided to make a few patterns...and on a whim sent them to Simplicity magazine, the Holy grail of periodicals in the sewing world. And guess what? They loved her patterns! And so Sonja, a first time pattern girl...got published! Pretty much a miracle! She has sold almost 10,000 patterns of her cuddly creations and Simplicity is hoping she has more designs and so does Sonja!
So for Sonja? Inspiration was born out of a simple idea of making gifts for friends and family...it was the journey and the little struggles that have made what is now a thriving little business...so sweet. Sonja says she had no idea at this point in her life she would be sewing! But sometimes you just have to let go and and go with the Flow...or in this case...the Sew!
Listen to Sonja's Allgood News Story by clicking on the Player above.