We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sandra Miland a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sandra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I can remember when I was a kid, my mother signing me up for 4-H, which is where I first learned to sew. If you are not familiar, to quote from their website, 4-H helps kids find their spark, build real world skills and become resilient, adaptable, lifelong learners. My first experience learning to sew was in 4-H. I was a kid, so I found sewing kind of fun, but it didn’t really stick. One of those things where your mom made you do it, so you rebel against it. Many years go by, and I’m now a grown woman married to a great guy and, his mom is wicked talented behind a sewing machining. This great guy husband of mine just so happens to LOVE his overly broken-in outrageously worn-out jeans and, constantly was asking his mom to “mend” his jeans. For a mental picture, imagine more patches than actual jeans and skin peeks out here and there. He did ripped jeans before they were a fashion statement. Heck, he might have started the trend for all I know. This happened so frequently that his mom started to say, “this is the last time, they are barely holding together!” But she would mend…excuse me…”patch” them again whenever he asked. I started to think, he shouldn’t be constantly bothering her with this…how hard can it be? I can fix his jeans. I went on the hunt looking for those little handheld/portable sewing machines thinking, that’ll do the job! Well, my mother-in-law got wind of me looking to buy this little handheld sewing contraption, and she thought, OH NO! NOT HAVING THAT! For my birthday (I believe this was 2013) she bought me a beginner Singer sewing machine. This was about as basic of a machine that Singer makes, no bells and whistles but it would do the job I needed it to do. From this moment on, I will forever mend my great guy husband’s jeans, and he would never have to bother his mom again. “Mendor of Jeans” will be my superhero name! To become familiar with the machine I planned a very easy project. My mother-in-law sat with me to go over all the machine’s functions, and she helped guide me through the simple project. Now I am ready for my superhero role as Mendor of Jeans! But something happened that I didn’t expect. Sewing almost immediately became a creative outlet for me. This little, tiny spark started inside me, and I had no idea at the time how that little spark was going to morph into a full-blown fire. I honestly don’t think I mended a single pair of my husband’s jeans until a few years and maybe three or four sewing machine upgrades later.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Sewing starting me down a creative path, but I was having a problem finding my niche, that thing that would light my fire. I was buying patterns and making simple garments but it just felt lackluster to me. Remember that great guy husband I mentioned earlier? He noticed I was loving sewing, but creatively stuck in a rut. He and I also talked about the fact that I would be retiring in a few years, and he thought it would be a good idea to have something that I had a passion for that would, more or less, give me my purpose, my individuality. So he said, sewing seems to be something you really have a passion for. Why don’t you go buy a better machine, it will be my treat and here is the budget. I consulted my mother-in-law on which machine would be a good fit for me and I think I had a new machine in less than three day! I upgraded my sewing machine to a PFAFF® Ambition machine (which is basically a higher-level beginner machine).

Shortly after the new machine purchase, my mother-in-law invited me to an international quilt show. I thought, a quilt show!? Well, I don’t quilt, I don’t know how exciting it will be to look at quilts all day but, eh, what the heck, could be interesting. While walking around the show (which was fascinating BTW), we stopped at a booth with rows and rows of “how-to” books. I spotted a book called “Sewing Pottery by Machine” by Barbara Warholic (which is creating rope coiled baskets where you wrap strips of fabric around the rope). I picked the book up, flipped through it, put it down, walked away. A couple minutes later I walked back to the book, picked it up again, flipped through it again (a little slower this time), put it back down walked away. Maybe 30-seconds later this time, I walked back, picked the book up and started to examine the content a little more intently. At that point, my mother-in-law said, you keep picking that book up. Are you thinking of buying it and trying that? I looked at her and said, I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s fascinating! So, I bought the book. A couple days after the quilt show, I purchased the supplies I needed and made my first rope coiled basket. To say I was hooked is an understatement. I made rope coiled baskets for all over our house, I made rope coiled baskets for all of my friends and family’s birthdays, I made rope coiled baskets for all of my coworkers at Christmas, and then a horrible thing happened. I ran out of people to make rope coiled baskets for. While gifting baskets, a couple people suggested that I sell them. But I have a fulltime job and that sounded too much like work to me, and I didn’t want a second job. However, I’m now chomping at the bit to make more baskets and thought, why not give selling a whirl. I did a little research and decided Etsy would be a good fit. I got busy behind the machine, made a bunch of baskets for inventory and opened my Etsy shop November 23, 2015. And I’ve never looked back.

Now, here is the thing about being a creative person. You eventually get bored and start looking for new and exciting outlets to express your creativity. Don’t get me wrong, I still love making my rope coiled baskets, and they are my staple to this day, but I needed new challenges. I started by experimenting with thicker rope but, alas, my PFAFF® Ambition machine couldn’t handle the extra rope thickness. I bought other “how-to” books on making rope coiled purses. And OTHER books on making keepsake boxes and books on making fabric bowls and books on making fabric vases, and so on. But my poor machine was having a difficult time keeping up with me. And once again my great guy husband notices. Well, he might have noticed this time because frankly I have a potty mouth when my sewing projects go wrong…a very loud potty mouth. So, he said, you are only as good as your tools. I’ll treat you to a new machine, here is a budget, go get a better machine. To this day, I suspect the offer to buy me a new sewing machine was to quiet the potty mouth. I once again ran to the store and bought a PFAFF® Performance 5.2. And man oh man, did I start to fly! And my little Etsy shop is starting the thrive.

All I can think is, how does it get better than this? But it does get better. Maybe a year or so goes by and I get a message from the store I purchased my past two PFAFF® machines from. Before I move on, let me back up a little and tell you about them. They are a “big” little store in Marysville, Pennsylvania called Smile Spinners. Smile Spinners offers sewing and quilting enthusiasts extensive fabric selections includes high quality fabrics with contemporary and traditional designs. As well as notions, patterns, books, kits, tools, and other essential sewing supplies. And, they are a certified PFAFF® dealership (please note, I am not employed by or receiving kickbacks from Smile Spinners or PFAFF®). Another important fact is they get to know their customers. Needless to say, they got to know me real well. Back to my story. They contacted me about a workshop where a PFAFF® representative was bringing in a handful of their new flagship machines, the PFAFF® Creative Icon (this machine has the ability to do very high-end embroidery). This high end sewing/embroidery machine is a Red Dot: Best of the Best award winner, the distinction for very high design quality. Kind of the equivalent of receiving an Oscar. So, I participated in the workshop the whole time feeling intimidated by this machine that cost as much as a really nice used car. At the end of the workshop, we are all offered a great discount on a machine (still the value of a used car after the discount) along with other amazing perks. I wasn’t into embroidery, at the time, and I could not justify the cost, so I passed on the deal, took the little project I made and went home. The next day I’m contacted by my Smile Spinner friends again and they are basically saying, we know you. Your creativity flood gates will open. But I passed again because, you know, there is the whole, it cost as much as a used car thing. For the next few days, texts and phone calls went back and forth with Smile Spinners. I started to really consider the possibilities of what I could actually do with this value of a used car sewing/embroidery machine, so I talked to my great guy husband, and he was supportive…he is ALWAYS supportive. And he reaffirmed the “only as good as your tools” and all. But if I wanted a sewing/embroidery machine valued at the price used car it would be all on me. Only fair since he purchased my last two machines! I pulled the Band-Aid off and went for the deal and had buyer’s remorse immediately after the purchase. WHAT HAVE I DONE? THIS THING COST AS MUCH AS A USED CAR! But a strange thing happened after I used the machine for the first time. That full-blown fire ignited, and nothing was going to put it out. The team at Smile Spinners was right about those creative flood gates opening and now, I have the ability to embroider. I AM INVINSIBLE!

2020 comes, and everything stops with COVID. We were all afraid of the unknown, and there were cries for help all over the world. And I felt helpless. There was nothing I could do but hide in my house like the rest of the world and wait. I still had my creative outlet and I sure sewed a lot while stuck in the house for two years, but all the good it did in the big picture. But then I started noticing, on social media, people desperately trying to find masks. You couldn’t even order masks from Amazon. My favorite “big” little fabric store, Smile Spinners, posted a video on how to make masks on their Facebook page. But how many people actually own sewing machines or even know how to sew? Well heck, I do. And I had tons of fabric, the means to buy more fabric and the talent to make masks. I talked to my great guy husband about the possibility of making masks and putting them up for sale on my Etsy shop. He basically said, no, you have to make a decision. If you are going to help people, then truly help them and donate the masks. Price gouging to buy a mask was insane at the time and people were paying outrages amounts of money when they found any masks for sale. I 100% agreed with my great guy husband that donating masks was how I could help a handful of people. I started my own little mask making production line and I put the word out on social media that I was making and donating masks and to private message me with requests. But I was not prepared for the influx of requests that I received. Friends and family messaged me, friends of friends and family messaged me, a local clinic messaged me, a hospital 2-1/2 hours from my house messaged me, people across the country messaged me, total strangers out of the blue messaged me. I got to work and spent countless hours behind my machine making masks and my great guy husband helped wherever he could weather it was buying fabric, creating measuring tools to make my production line go faster, whatever he could do within his power. Side note, I logged more sewing hours on my machine that first month of making masks than most people do in a year. I arranged for curbside mask pickup with locals, and I mailed masks to those out of town. By the time masks were becoming available again for sale, I made and donated close to 400 masks. To help others feel safe because they now had a mask, in my small little way, it was the most rewarding experience of my life.

Since then, I have had a few local organizations reach out asking if I would create in-kind gifts for either silent auctions or something they can put in their welcome swag bags. I never say no. Whatever they want, how many items they need, I’ll create it and donate it to their event. Then out of the blue, In April 2021, I got a message though my Etsy shop. from an individual who is part of the American Heart Association (AHA) out of Washington, DC. This particular woman was on a committee that organizes the nation’s only four-day fund raising celebration featuring exceptional food and wine benefitting the AHA, and the event is called Heart’s Delight and from what I am told, it is “the” event to attend in DC. People come from all over the world to participate. To date, Heart’s Delight has raised over $25 million net for the AHA. The committee was doing some final preparations for the event, and this particular committee member stumbled across my Etsy site and saw that I made wine totes. Since the theme is wine and the silent auction is mostly focused on bidding on wine (BTW, some of the wine bottles go for tens of thousands of dollars during the auction), they wanted to know if I would be interested in making wine totes for their welcome swag bags, but it was short notice, and they would understand if I had to pass. I mean come on! It’s the AHA out of Washington, DC! You think I’m gonna say no? I said of course I’ll help you, and how many do you need? She told me 100 wine totes. <gulp> Instead of saying, wow, that’s a lot, I don’t think I can do it…I said I would be happy to help and how soon did she need them? She said the deadline was in less than two weeks. <gulp> In my mind, I said, I don’t think I can make 100 wine totes in less than two weeks, including shipping time to DC, but the words that came out were, sure, I can make that happen. And now I’m thinking, how the heck am I going to make 100 wine totes in less than two weeks? But I just made a commitment to the AHA so I started formulating a plan of action. I reestablished my mask making production line system, requested a couple days off of my fulltime job, and got busy. I have no idea how I pulled this off but…wait for it…I made 100 wine totes in less than four days. From when I received the message, in less than a week, the 100 wine totes were in the mail and on their way to DC and everyone is happy. WHEW! Doesn’t end there.

2023 started light and I received a request for swag bag items, where the organization wanted 250 coasters. A couple other organization reached out in need of silent auction items (Ronald McDonald House being one of the organizations) and of course I said yes to everyone and I’m thinking, ok, I did my due diligence and that’s good for the year for donations. Nope. Now it’s beginning of November 2023, and I get another message through my Etsy site from another representative with the AHA, also on the Heart’s Delight committee. She expressed how much the sponsors loved my past wine tote contribution, and she wanted to know if I would be willing to donate in-kind items for their 2024 Heart’s Delight event. It’s the AHA knocking on my door again, what do you think I said? Of course I’ll help, what do you need? The request was a tad different this time. They noticed on my Etsy site, that I make what is best described as a soft box (to give you an idea of size, a square tissue box fits perfectly inside a soft box). For the silent auction main event, they wanted soft boxes at each wine tasting station, and they wanted to fill the boxes with thank you gifts for the sommeliers assigned to each station. No problem! How many? There would be 40 wine tasting stations. This was actually five months’ notice so, piece of cake! But the request didn’t stop there. The committee member asked if I could embroider their Heart’s Delight logo on each box? Remember that sewing machine of mine that cost as much as a nice used car? The machine has the chops so I knew I could do this. The problem is, you can’t just take any old file and embroider it. You have to have the file formatted into an embroidery file AND it has be formatted to a file compatible to the machine you are using. I explained this to my AHA contact. I said, no promises but I would research it, so she sent me two versions of the Heart’s Delight logo. Turns out a website that I like to purchase embroidery from offers this formatting service. Easy solution and lots of time! Keep in mind, the embroidery adds time to this project, but I have five months. I want you have a clear idea; each box takes roughly an hour to make, and the embroidery adds an additional 30 minutes so now you are roughly looking at an hour and a half a box, and that doesn’t include prep time which is basically cutting fabric to size. You do the math, and they want 40 and I have a fulltime job which means I can only do this on weeknights and weekends. So here is the thing I didn’t mention earlier. Along with the 40 embroidered soft boxes, my AHA contact asked if I could also create anything for the swag bags. I suggested coasters for each bag. She loved the idea so I asked how many coasters she would need. I’m thinking 100, ya know, because of the wine totes from the last time. Nope, she said 450. This event got real big real fast. But instead of saying, 450 coasters might be a bit much, I of course said yes…again…because it’s the AHA. Needless to say, I spent the next five months and countless hours prepping, working on and finishing 40 embroidered soft boxes and 450 coasters. Believe it or not, I finalized everything three weeks before their deadline. WHEW! The 2024 Heart’s Delight event was a huge success, and they raised $2.4 million for AHA. This was the most money ever raised by the Heart’s Delight event. I am so very proud to have had even a little involvement in it. Even if all I did was put a smile on a handful of sommelier’s faces because there were Heart’s Delight embroidered boxes on their 40 stations, it was worth the months and countless hours of work.

Now it is 2025. I decided to start the year with a simple act of kindness to set the tone. I have a return Etsy shop customer who has commissioned me for four past custom order jobs. She contacted me with a request, but a short time later she put the request on hold because of her bad health. I had some fabric leftover from the last time she commissioned me for a job so I decided to send her a gift with well wishes in hopes of lifting her spirits. With the leftover fabric, I was able to create something very close in size to what she originally requested. I included a letter with my well wishes and sent her my gift, and she was touched when she received it. The rest of the year is a mystery, and I don’t know what’s going to happen or if anyone will reach out in need of a silent auction item or something for a swag bag? I don’t have a clue, but I am feeling crazy positive and optimistic about 2025. Big or small…it’s all good. And you want to know what? If no one reaches out to me, I’ll reach out to them! And do you want to know the best part? I am retiring from my fulltime job beginning of May of 2025. Remember early in this story where I mentioned my great guy husband talking to me about retiring in a few years, and he thought it would be a good idea to have something that I had a passion for that would give me my purpose and individuality. I am grateful for him recognizing something in me all those years ago that I didn’t even know existed. And him encouraging me, inspiring me, advising me when needed, and buying me my first grownup sewing machine. I AM INVINSIBLE! You want to know something absolutely crazy about my story that you might have forgotten about? All those experience, all the masks, all the donations, all the creativity, all the countless hours behind my sewing machine, everything because I simply wanted to mend my great guy husband’s overly broken-in outrageously worn-out jeans. Inspiration can come from the weirdest places, and you just got to roll with it when it happens.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are two parts for me on my creative journey, where I actually feel deep inside my soul, absolutely and completely rewarded. So much so that I shed tears of pride and joy every time I reminisce.

#1. As mentioned earlier, “giving back.” No matter how small or how large, I’ll do anything within my power to help an organization or single person. Regardless of it being 450 coasters for a swag bag, creating a one-of-a-kind tote or basket and filling it with goodies for a silent auction, or simply creating a meaningful item and sending as a gift with well wishes to a sick customer. What is the point of having a skill if you can’t give back and help others in some small way? You do not know what is going on in someone’s life and the simple act of holding a door open for another human being can change their perspective for the rest of the day. Or just a little smile followed by, have a nice day. Life is way too short to not to extend some form kindness to others. Positive Energy…that is my motto. It has been my motto for many years, and it will continue to be my motto until I take my last breath.

#2. I can’t express enough how much I am fascinated interacting with people and hearing their stories. I guess that is why I thoroughly enjoy participating in arts and crafts events as a vendor. There are a handful of customers I’ve talked to at these events who are “memorable” for me. A big burly guy who does counted cross stitch (and gives everything he makes away) was asked to create a counted cross stitch for the 9/11 memorial in NYC. A woman who was in an abusive relationship and just left EVERYTHING behind to save herself and the first thing he bought for herself after she got settled, was one of my baskets. A little tiny elderly woman with a very thick accent, picked up one of my keepsake boxes walked over to me and said “dis bux, it tis insaane. I huv to huv it.” And that is just a couple of my memorable interactions with customers. My little Etsy shop is great for getting out to a wider audience but seeing people’s reaction to what I have created, hearing a comment like “Your work is amazing!” Or “I’ve never seen anything like this before!” Or “my aunt would love this!” Or, when a past customer stops at my booth, the following year (or years later), just to express how positively my creation was received by the recipient of the gift. Especially when they confess, they ended up never gifting the item they purchased but kept it for themselves. That. Interaction. Is. Priceless. I am always humbled by the fact that I was capable of making someone happy. Making someone have such a strong connection to something I created that they can’t part with it. To know that somewhere in the world, I lit up a total stranger’s face. How are you not rewarded by that? How does that not make you want to create more, and more and more?

Have you ever had to pivot?

My great guy husband has, without a doubt, been my driving force, my muse, the person that continuously influences me to be better, to hone my skills, to take something to a whole new level, to create something that has never been done before and to take risks. With support and influence from family and/or friends, I firmly believe an individual can achieve anything they want.

Before I move on, let me give you the backstory of this great guy husband I keep mentioning. He is an artist by nature, and he has been since he was very young. As a kid he started with pencil drawing and watercolor painting. He is a graphic designer and has created high-end publications for every company he ever worked for, he has done screen printing, airbrushing, he has done design work for trade show setups, he has written and published two books on Amazon (writing a third book now), he is a webmaster, He has remodeled every room in our home and now he wants to add on to the house, taught himself how to place guitar, just to name a few! And… he takes the time to help me with the simple task of picking thread colors or which fabric to use in a project I’m stuck on. He gave me the courage to open my little Etsy shop. He recognized a talent in me that I did not know was there. If there is ever a time, I felt like I totally messed up a project, something I felt was a total failure, an abomination, something unfixable. I’ll bring it to him in frustration and say, this looks horrible! I can’t put this on my Etsy site or bring it to an arts and craft event. It’s a hot mess! He always responds, “there are no mistakes, only changes.” More or less, it’s now an opportunity to make something better. Then he follows up with “let me look at it a second.” He’ll exam the abomination from all angles and say, ok, try doing this. I usually respond by saying “seriously? You think I should do that?” And he always responds by saying “trust me.” He has never led me wrong, so I always trust him, and he is always right (but don’t tell him I said that!).

I didn’t have just one pivot in time where my little Esty shop took a career or business change. It is a constant flow of pivots, twists and turns. It is me being influenced by my great guy husband and rolling with a “trust me” comment, or simply a piece of fabric dictating to me what to do with it. Or seeing a pattern or a new how-to book. Inspiration can come from so many different places, and you never know when it going to hit but when it does, my best advice is to roll with it when it happens. Don’t overthink it, just roll with the pivot twist or turn. Your gut is never wrong.

I keep saying my “little” Etsy shop because in the big picture, that is exactly what it is. As of the time I wrote this article, and since opening my shop in 2015, I have had 1231 sales (this does not include donations). That is small potatoes in a big picture. Other Etsy shop owners have shut down their site because they are not making thousands of sales that they originally expected. Here is what you need to remember, it’s a completive world and there are a lot of talented people out there. Whatever your talent is, stick to it, don’t get discouraged, think outside of the box. If someone else creates something similar, that’s okay, look what other people are doing and make yours unique. It can be done. You just have to figure out what it is that will make you stand out and you will feel that “pivot” moment. For me, my 1231 sales is a huge success because frankly, that is 1231 creations of mine out in the world making people smile. I don’t need fame and glory. I just need to know that I am making a difference in some small way in someone’s life. I am an artisan of fabric and proud of what I have achieved. To quote from my Etsy shop…Stay Tuned! The best is yet to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://handmadebysandram.etsy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandramiland/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HandMadeBySandraM

Image Credits

Image credits for all photos: Sandra Miland