We were lucky to catch up with Elizabeth Gerdes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Elizabeth, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I had been working for a small business, running their day-to-day operations, when I became pregnant with twins. That pregnancy was very complicated and I had to leave that job to focus on the pregnancy. However, I ultimately ended up losing it and it devastated me, crushing my soul, and fracturing everything I thought I knew about life. I did not return to that job, but I did take a similar job elsewhere for a while. I was numb and just going through the motions for the paycheck mostly though. Within a year, I was pregnant again, and again with twins. I was nervously optimistic for this pregnancy. Learning from the things we found out during the first pregnancy, I was restricted to bedrest starting at week 16. With lots of ups and down, my boys made it to week 30. Born premature, they spent weeks in the NICU after birth. When they finally came home, they were so medically frail I could not just put them in daycare and go back to work. Nor did I feel comfortable that someone else could handle their medical needs. Within 20 months, their sister was born and I found myself extremely busy with three children under the age of two. With little sleep, no job, and medical expenses draining our accounts, I realized I had to do something to contribute to our household income or things could get much worse. I had to find a way to make money from home and at that time, working from home was almost unheard of. Ultimately, I relied on the sewing skills I had learned growing up. As the fourth oldest child of twelve, I had grown up knowing how to sew. From a very early age, my mother taught us how to hand sew. She used to make our clothing and then allowed us to use the scraps leftover to create whatever we wanted. I remember hand stitching things like doll clothing, doll bedding, and small quilts from her old scraps. Though she was patient and taught us everything we needed to know about hand stitching, she would not let us use her sewing machine (probably because of our age). However, at the age of seven, I had begged her enough that she finally caved; most likely because she was pregnant with her seventh child, but also probably because she was tired of me begging. By the time she brought my little brother home from the hospital, I had made him a very small quilt with lots of her scraps. I was so proud of myself. She was not only impressed with the fact that I had made something for the new baby, but with the fact that I didn’t break her machine. Later, as a mother myself, it was those sewing skills that I now relied on to help support our family. Now with three small children myself, while working from home, I started Stitch Above The Rest by making baby bedding and selling it on eBay. That quickly grew to online custom requests and members of my twins club wanting things. I found myself making things while the kids slept during the day and at night and found myself stitching any time I had a few minutes free. People then started to request draperies as well. Initially I turned down all window treatment requests. Then one day, I went to a local quilt show. There were a couple of ladies on stage talking about a drapery school in North Carolina. They piqued my interest. I got the information, went home and discovered more about it. The more I thought about it, the more I realized this was my path. After making custom items for a couple years and selling them at craft shows and online, I realized more money could be made by doing draperies and I needed to learn the skills required to do that if I wanted to continue to stay home with my children and make money for years to come. I convinced my husband he could handle the kids without me for a week while I traveled to NC to learn new skills. I was overwhelmed with all the new incoming information those classes and certifications taught me, but I was ready to get to work when I got home. We converted our dining room into a workroom immediately and I found myself making draperies and laying them out on the floor to cut them straight. This wasn’t sustainable and soon after I took over the entire basement with work tables, sewing machines, steam irons, and more. Eventually, we outgrew that house and my workroom was specifically designed to its modern-day environment shortly after. In the process of growing this business, I admit, there was no business plan. It was built out of necessity. It allowed me to make money and be available to my family all at the same time. As the years ticked away and my skills and knowledge developed, I was able to take on more detailed work, larger jobs, use higher-end fabrics to create unique designs. I tend to get restless with things staying the same. Each year I’m in business I try to accomplish new goals and meet new demands. Sometimes I have sacrificed myself in the process, but other times I have found a work-life balance. It’s a fluid environment when you are a small business owner. Now that all three of my children are in college and the day-to-day focus of being a mom gets less and less, I see a new version of my business on the horizon and am working to develop it to meet my new goals. Creating intricate window treatments that finish a room and make it feel more like a home is very fulfilling for me and I hope to be doing it for many years to come. Over the years, I have made friends with the women who were on that stage that took me under their wing to get me started in this industry and am grateful for the start it provided me. In addition, I just received that old sewing machine, the first one I ever used, from my mother; of course, after begging for it. To know that the work of my hands has helped put food on the table for my family and a roof over our heads is something I don’t take for granted. The fulfillment I get from it will last me a lifetime.

Elizabeth, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I admit it. I’m distracted by window treatments. The good, the bad, the ugly, and of course, the magnificent. All of them. They all get my attention first, no matter what else is in the room. Sometimes I cannot remember the actor in the movie, but I can absolutely tell you what was on the windows behind him. It’s a fascination, an obsession, a love, a passion. My love of textiles was formed early on as I was completely mesmerized by the ability to transform a few scraps of material into useful clothing, doll bedding or household items. As the 4th oldest of 12 children, I grew up sewing. My Mom made a lot of our clothing and taught me how to sew by hand. At the age of seven, she finally caved in and let me use her sewing machine for the first time. As an adult, I continue to take fabric and thread and transform it, but in much greater ways. Like an artist, I can see the final vision before the fabric has even been ordered and I do my best to help my clients visualize it too. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Kennesaw State University in 1999, and as a new Mom with what amounted to be a few childhood sewing classes under my belt, I started Stitch Above the Rest in 2003 with the simple vision of helping to provide for my family. I have worked very hard to develop and perfect my skills over time by seeking out educational opportunities, learning from others, and learning from my own mistakes. Overtime I have been fortunate to have carved out a path for Stitch Above the Rest, LLC to become a leader in this industry for quality, customer service, and commitment to the client. I have worked successfully with both residential and commercial clients, taking on jobs no one else would do. I have taken on more elaborate jobs over time, and have worked in some of the finest homes in the Atlanta area; in addition to helping my clients with their second homes out of state. I love the challenge of creating non-traditional window treatments and have fallen in love with helping choose details and designs, then fabricating the vision and installing it. Seeing an entire room transform with window treatments, from start to finish, fills me up inside. Being recognized for it by my industry and numerous other organizations is icing on the cake. My clients invest a lot of money and a lot of faith in me and I don’t take that for granted. Whether it’s one room in a small home or a 30,000+ square foot commercial co-op, each project has my full attention, from start to finish, while it is on my table. With a lot of hard work Stitch Above The Rest has grown into a company that I am proud of and I have been blessed to have a career that feeds my creative soul.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Always fighting to survive… I have spent the last 16 years of being self-employed focused on showcasing my products. I have generously shared images, stories, and behind the scenes details of my creations. What I haven’t shared yet, is a behind the scenes view of myself as a small business owner. An Entrepreneur. As a young adult, I packed everything I owned, which fit into a few black trash bags, into my car and left behind the only home I’d ever known and drove from Iowa to Atlanta to start a new life at the age of 22. I was scared as hell, but I was ready for the new adventure. And a new adventure was what I got. I moved to Atlanta on a Friday and met my soon to be husband at work on Monday. (We’ve been together ever since.) I also met Atlanta traffic. Shortly after moving here, three months before our wedding, I was rear-ended in a car accident that broke my spine in two places. We didn’t know it at the time, but eventually the damage that was done took its toll and required a life altering surgery where I had to learn how to walk again. Six months post-op, with new hardware in my spine, I was hit again in another traffic accident. Once again, I found myself fighting like hell to be able to walk again. When the ability to walk is taken from you, even if for a short time, you become very thankful for the small things in life. In those moments I learned how grateful I could be for a pair of well cushioned shoes. Ultimately, I returned to work in the corporate sector and moved up the ladder, eventually becoming a call-center manager for a little company called Bellsouth dot net, while putting myself through night-school to finish my Bachelors. I enjoyed the management position, but not the hours and on-call 24/7 requirements. After a year, I left corporate to help a small physical therapy clinic run its day-to-day operations. She gave me free reign to manage the business side and in less than a year, I took her weekly patient visits from 35 a week to over 130 a week, ultimately assisting in expansion of her practice into a larger facility, with more PT’s and more staff. I left that job to become a mom and in the coming years, we would have three beautiful babies, twin boys and a baby girl, but only after numerous pregnancy complications and losses. As a young Mother, I was not interested in going back to corporate, but couldn’t afford to be unemployed. After a short time of selling toddler bedding on eBay, I found my way to trade shows and classes, and started making window treatments. Stitch Above The Rest was born. I’ve worked successfully with both residential clients and commercial clients, taking on jobs no one else would do. I love the challenge of non-traditional window treatments and I have fallen in love with helping my clients choose details and designs, then fabricating the vision and installing it. Seeing an entire room transform with window treatments, from start to finish, fills me up inside. Being recognized for it by my industry and numerous other organizations is icing on the cake. As the years go by, I find myself even more blessed to continually be growing. I have taken on more elaborate jobs and have worked in some of the finest homes in the Atlanta area. I’ve helped clients with their second homes out of state and have been able to continually run my business on my own, my way, while watching it reach new heights each year. It is in my nature to go after what I want. To fight for it with my whole heart and soul until I achieve it, albeit, sometimes sacrificing myself in the process. I encourage everyone to follow your path, one step at a time. For if you are not filling up your heart with your passions, you are draining it with someone else’s. I am blessed beyond measure, with scars to prove it, no matter the struggle and I will continue to do battle and push through when needed. I took it. I built off of it. I made it brighter. I am a small business owner. An Entrepreneur.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
From where I started to where I am now with my business, I have come a long way. From the dining room of our first home to the current workroom, I’ve grown as a solopreneur. I have made mistakes, and have learned from them. I have set crazy goals and accomplished them. I have won awards for me work and yet, I keep pushing every day to get better. With all the changes, the ups and downs, and the obstacles I’ve faced over the years, I have always kept the focus on the fact that this business allows me to be present for my family. The basis for why this business started hasn’t changed. Needing to be available to my children, flexible with their schedules, and present in their lives while they grew up was my overriding goal and intention. Working hard to ensure my clients were happy, so that I could have the life I wanted, was my driving force. It’s a juggling act for sure. My youngest just graduated from high school in 2021 and is off to college. My twins have been in college since they graduated in 2020. Going from being a mother of school aged children to now being a mother of college kids, I have found myself at a point where my business is pivoting to reflect more of what I want, instead of what I need. Instead of doing only what needs to get done, putting out fires and accomplishing the days goals, I find myself planning more for my future and for my retirement years. I am focused on what that will look like for me personally and for my business and am taking steps towards setting and accomplishing new goals for both. I hope to expand what I offer, be more strategic in what I take in, and still be there for my family as needed. I look forward to the next 10 years of my children’s lives and what they may accomplish. I also look forward to the next 10 years of my life, figuring out what I will be able to accomplish and realize that the possibilities are endless. I feel like a new solopreneur starting out with so many ideas and visions in my head. The possibilities that await are exciting and it’s a great time to be a small business owner. I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.StitchAboveTheRest.com
• Instagram: @stitchabovetherest
• Facebook: @stitchabovetherest
• Twitter: @stitchabovetherest

Image Credits
Jerry King Woodie Williams