We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful AnnMarie Wilson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with AnnMarie below.

AnnMarie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I’ve always considered myself a ‘jack-of-a-trades’ because of my constant desire to keep learning something different; this isn’t a bad thing.

Over the years, I’ve worked as a cartographer, bookkeeper, seamstress for weddings, copywriter and editor, 20+ year creative arts judge, designer (heirloom Victorian christening dresses, clothing, quilts, websites, print work, hair fineries), plus I owned a company selling abrasives and perishable tooling. In almost every case, it was complete self-teaching and literal on-the-job learning. The exception was the bookkeeping position, as I had several semesters of college accounting classes to back me up.

It’s a rather diverse list of activities (I’m learning to refinish wood cabinets and create wire-bead hair fineries currently) without an obvious connection other than my brain telling me, ‘that looks like fun; let’s try that.’

My library and the Internet are the bedrock for these fantastic adventures. I walk into the library and stop to take a deep breath, thinking how grateful I am to have all this knowledge just a few steps away. As for the ‘net, there have been so many deep dives into resolving website coding issues that I’ve lost track. Of course, I’ve also just gone down rabbit holes looking for one solution and finding 20 others things to try out.

There isn’t a speed-up involved in any of these processes, and seriously, if you want to learn something well, take the time to do so. With the technical aspect of web work, you constantly play catch up. Is all of this challenging? Of course it is; that’s what makes it so worthwhile. The only limitation is the number of hours you have to devote and how much energy you have.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Trying to explain how I managed to do all of these various activities and career changes needs some breakdowns.

Sewing started when I was about 4; if you wanted doll clothes, you learned to make them. I discovered over time that I not only enjoyed sewing – and pretty much all types of needlework – but I had a skill for it. That eventually led to combining different sewing patterns into brand new styles, creating garments for competitions (those included using all hand-dyed fabrics and extensive hand beading embellishments), teaching various textile-related classes, and starting my pattern line of garments and wallhangings. There were over 20 years of judging garment competitions for both adults and kids at the Texas State Fair. Lastly, I designed/sewed bridesmaids’ dresses and created original Victorian-style christening dresses from silk batiste and tea-dyed laces.

The website business was a complete accident! I needed a website for my pattern line and discovered (surprise) that I enjoyed doing it. A friend in the industry asked me to create her website almost immediately after mine went live, and the rest is history. The accompanying print work was so that the business would have a cohesive look; that included all regular business stationery items and print advertising. Several of my clients have been with me for 19 years now.

My abrasives company ran simultaneously as some of the sewing work was happening. It was very different and a good break from only being in one industry. The biggest issue was dealing with male purchasing agents that did not believe a woman could know anything about grinding wheels. That issue led to some very interesting encounters.

Time passed, and I found myself swing and lindy hop dancing again; another experience found another avenue to explore. Swing dancers traditionally wear flowers in their hair, so it was time to create some. A well-known dance step in the swing community is called Tacky Annie; this was the perfect name for the business. I create hand-dyed (alcohol dyes as they don’t react to water), flower hair fineries that clip in, are on a comb, a headband, worn as shoe clips, and my favorite, Fascinators.

There have been numerous commissioned orders, and even the wedding Fascinators (no pressure there) were a complete joy to design. The most difficult so far was engineering the “Stitch” (Lilo and Stitch) headpiece as the client could not wear a full headband, and there were those antennae to figure out.

Out of everything I’ve done- and still do, the hair fineries are the most relaxing and easily allow the most incredible range of creativity.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

So many people have a single purpose or career desire in their life; I don’t. I typically go in whatever direction something new takes me. Have there been a few failures? Of course, there have, but how will you ever learn if you don’t fail? This is not the way to be wildly financially successful, but it makes me happy and content.

For me sticking with only one endeavor isn’t even conceivable. I was locked into a single position once; I became very depressed. The situation was necessary at the time, but that didn’t make it any easier to handle mentally.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Part of my history will sound similar to people. I was widowed relatively young and ended up with significant medical debt. I remarried, divorced, and then was faced with a quarter of the income and triple the bills. There were some rough times.

Fast forward a few years, and I’m working at a Creative agency doing websites for them in addition to running my businesses. It was a dream position with a small company, good people, and income. Unfortunately, a few years down the road, the situation had altered, with the company changing drastically. Before a group of us were laid off, I had developed a permanent health condition resulting in chronic pain from long-term stress.

This was a life-altering situation on all levels; everything changes, and you have to figure out how to adapt to this new existence. Nothing will be the same, and you will be modifying your life constantly.

Fourteen years after the diagnosis and one year after I was finally able to get medical insurance (ACA) and medication for the condition, I found myself back on the dancefloor and hoping muscle memory still existed. One night of dancing means at least two recovery days, but it is worth every minute. Life is to be lived.

Contact Info:

• Website: x-site-d.com and. tackyannies.com
• Instagram: Tacky Annies Fabulous Fineries
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tackyanniesfabulousfineries