Interview with Sheila of Paradise Stitches

Aloha,

I'm Sheila, owner of Paradise Stitches. I started my embroidery business, Paradise Embroidery, in 1990, somewhat by accident. I have always sewn, and one day a friend who was president of the local Jaycees chapter encouraged me to look into embroidery, and the rest as they say is history. I had this absurd notion that it would be a nice little part time business. That notion was swiftly put to rest as the business just took off running.

How did you get started with digitizing?
I had several years experience as a commercial embroiderer before I started digitizing. Those years taught me a wealth of information on how to build a design, what type of stitch to use where and all the technical aspects of digitizing that it takes to create a smooth running, efficient design. I started out digitizing just the designs for my customers, mostly company logos and such, but eventually I began to dabble in more fun kind of designs and Paradise Stitches was born.

Has your business changed since you started digitizing?
I'm not sure changed is the right way to describe it. More challenging perhaps in finding a way to keep up with the embroidery end of things when I want to spend more time on digitizing. I wish I could find more hours in a day to digitize the "fun" stuff. The embroidery world has changed tremendously since I began in 1990. Back then there was little sharing of information, techniques and information were closely guarded trade secrets, and the cost of equipment and software astronomical. In the past few years we have seen this change and it has been good for the industry. Unfortunately the downside is that so many people are lured into the business by salesmen telling them they can make a truckload of money just by buying the machine and software. They tend to leave out the part about hard work, long hours, discipline and the ability to run a profitable business, which may take a few years to accomplish.
What future projects are in the works?

Lots of projects are on the drawing board; unfortunately I'll have to figure out how to live to be 150 to finish them all. Currently in the works are several tropical sets, some children's designs, and some "different" kind of sports designs. I have a couple of special designs for the readers of this newsletter. Click on the links and it will take you to the pages to download your samples.
Snowman Tag
Also I am working with a fabulous artist Belver so be looking for more exclusive sets.
Here is a sample done from her art:
Red Hat Cutie
Be sure to pick them up by the 22nd as they will no longer be free after that.

About me
I live in Hawaii on the beautiful "Garden Isle" Kauai. I've been married to the love of my life and my best friend for 32 years. We have 3 grown children and 2 grandchildren. I'm a registered nurse with specialties in psychiatry and geriatrics. I "retired" early to pursue the embroidery business full time as after 2 years of trying to juggle a full time job and what turned into a full time business it was clearly not working.