We recently connected with Rebekah Horne and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rebekah, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
After college, I spent a short season in Australia living, dreaming, reading and sort of healing from a very full college experience. I stayed a lot with my Aunty and during that time, she taught me how to cook and how to sew. I’d always seen my mom sew, but she was more of a person who could do anything, and wasn’t interested in teaching. My Aunty, however, was a natural teacher and spent generous amounts of time teaching me how to create and enjoy making something beautiful out of a piece of fabric. And you know, it just stuck. I fell in love with sewing squares and pillows and drapes. I even took a beloved (and retired) Pottery Barn duvet and made it into drapes, after a roommate spilled red wine on it. So, that’s how my sewing journey started.
As a newly married couple, my husband and I moved to Ireland where I knew no one and could not work. So, I was left to dream and practice my skill. Unfortunately, I plugged my sewing machine into the wrong converter and broke my machine the first week we were there! Dreaming was my only past time with sewing – and I mentioned to my husband that I’d love to learn machine embroidery and one day have my own shop.
Fast forward to 2021 and a world pandemic: we relocated back to the United States and I had my first baby – a girl! And it was everything I could do to not monogram and embroider every piece of clothing and accessories for that precious baby girl. I also was struggling deeply with postpartum anxiety, and later postpartum depression. I found myself so lost in motherhood, and so desperately in love with this child that I forgot about everything else. As 2022 started, I had a BIG realization: I needed to have something of my own and I needed to be creating beauty with my hands and mind. I found a local sewing machine shop and bought my first multi-needle embroidery machine. I was so excited and completely overwhelmed: I didn’t even know how to work it. But, I took lessons, watched YouTubes and started following other embroiderers on Instagram. I messaged and asked questions. I watched tutorials and had the sewing shop on speed dial. I dedicated 15 minutes a week to sewing – because that is all my mind could manage to do – and slowly I learned how to design and embroider! My friends were the first ones to take a chance on me and hire me to embroider their dog’s bandanas, children’s clothing and hand towels. I was so encouraged! Little by little, I got it. I became proficient and confident and my creativity has soared! As a woman and a mother, it’s important for me to be an example for my little girl. I want her to know that women can run their own businesses and see success. I want her to see me using my platform to highlight women of color running their small businesses; I want her to see me taking risks and sharing unpopular opinions about race and privilege while using my privilege to lift other people up; I want her to see that embroidery is for everyone – regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, political belief, etc. A big reason behind the success of my business is the desire to support my daughter’s educational goals – I want to pay for her schooling! I want her to say, “My Mama put me through school.” That mission has provided such meaning for me in my every day work.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
What I do for business is design and sew custom embroidery onto various items – clothing, fabric, bags, blankets, and more! What’s unique about my work is that I am completely CUSTOM. There’s nothing I do on a “mass” scale. Everything is unique and catered specifically to my customers’ wishes. From Digitizing a company’s logo and sewing it on polos, or designing a wedding monogram to sew onto napkins. Putting together a new baby welcome package filled with bibs, burp cloths, blankets and Layette (fancy baby clothing that’s super soft!) – christened with the child’s initials or name. Custom Chuck shoes sporting an embroidered patch with the Bride & Groom’s new last name on the back of the shoe. Digitized handwriting that says “I love you” sewn onto the sleeve of a boyfriend’s sweater. An apron passed down to five generations with everyone’s initials subtly recorded into the bottom corner. It’s just all so meaningful and personal – and I absolutely live for it!
Keeping the main thing the main thing: Everyone deserves something beautiful. Embroidery is for everyone!
Gingham And Gold’s Mission Statement: Gingham and Gold believes in the power of embroidery to bring people together and celebrate diversity. It was founded with the vision of creating beautiful and meaningful embroidered products that cater to everyone, regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or any other characteristic. The brand’s mission is to spread love, inclusivity, and empowerment through the art of embroidery.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Whenever I first started embroidering, I thought I had to maintain a large supply of blanks – blank baby onesies, blankets, clothing items, hats, etc. So I bought a significant amount of easter baskets, t-shirts and endless baby clothing. What I quickly realized was that I didn’t want to create many things that looked the same; I wanted to create custom items. I kept hearing from clients about an outfit or purse handed down to them – second hand items that still had a lot of life in them – that they wanted to personalize and make their own. I wanted to make peoples’ dreams come to reality. I wanted someone to say to me, “can you make this look beautiful” and turn around and give them multiple options. It’s a slower, more expensive (time wise) work model, but it is one that brings me great joy and satisfaction. Someone’s name is a part of who they are – it’s the first thing you know about a person – and I want to always highlight that as something to celebrate and show the world.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Last fall, a local Atlanta company reached out to me to ask if I’d come do an Embroidery “Pop-Up” event for their last staff meeting of the year. As a clothing manufacturer, they wanted to gift their employees an outfit and offer to customize with their initials or a word/phrase that was meaningful to them. I had never done anything like that, and had limited information and even more limited turn around time to prepare for this big opportunity. But I KNEW I had what it takes to do this and to do it well – so I gave an enthusiastic YES! Five days later, after preparing as much as I could, I packed up my 85-pound machine and showed up for 8 straight hours of custom on-site embroidery. It was a huge risk for me! Not only on a personal level (my babysitter just took another opportunity and I had to tap into my neighborhood community to help me care for my baby; my husband’s nation-wide team was in town and we were hosting them for supper the night before; not to mention, I didn’t even have an extra set of hands to help me on site, so I asked a friend to help and miraculously she was able to!), but on a professional level, too (I over-prepared and brought all of my embroidery frames, all of my stabilizers, and brought my most creative and curious self to the table!). It was a huge success and I left with twice as much work as I anticipated. Since then, that same client has reached out multiple times with multiple contracts. It was the big break that I needed and the risk was totally worth it!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ginghamandgolddesigns.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginghamandgolddesigns/
- Facebook: Ginghamandgolddesigns
Image Credits
Ashley Hermance Photography (for the photos of me sewing on my machine)