Q1. What kind of sewing machine do you use?
A. I use a Brother CE5500PRW Project Runway Sewing Machine. I have used it regularly in the last two years and have never had to take it in for repairs. It's a basic digital model without a computer and gets everything done that I need it to do. Kennmore and Bernina are also fabulous brands at basic levels if you're looking to purchase a high quality machine without spending a fortune.
Q2. Do you design your own patterns?
A. I am learning to design/write patterns myself. However, many of the items you find in my shop are patterns I've purchased. I make note on each item listing for clarification. It's my hope that all items in my shop will soon be Meg Brothers originals. I'm a work in progress still.
Q3. What kind of camera do you use?
A. I use a Nikon D3000, and most of the time I use an 18-55mm lens on it. However, I recently purchased this 50mm lens that is currently all I have been shooting and what I see using most frequently. I also have an adaptor that allows me to use Diana F+ lenses, plus I own a Lens Baby Composer. I also shoot a Polaroid SX70 Land Camera with film from The Impossible Project. I have no real photography training, but I am always trying to improve and learn from online resources and careful observation of others who I think are awesome at taking pictures.
Q4.Do you/are you willing to advertise on your blog?
A. My blog is currently an ad free space. While there are many great people, products, and blogs I enjoy, I'd like this space to remain an ad free blog at this time unless otherwise noted. Any products or sites I review are based on my own personal experience and are not part of any organized advertisement.
Q5. Can I do a guest post/Are you interested in guest posting on my blog?
A. I'd love to talk to you personally about this. Please send me an email and we can chat about it. (megbrothers@gmail.com)
Q6. How did you decide to become an artist?
A. My love for art started early. In elementary school my artistic side was nurtured by a loved art teacher before, during, and after school. Throughout my education, I took many art classes, often times all of the classes that were offered. Through high school I continued this and had taken all but one art class (sculpture) by my junior year. As a high schooler, I became interested in sewing and had my mom thread her old machine so that we could make scrunchies (ha! that dates me!) for a school project. I took one sewing class and fell in love. I went straight out to Sears and bought my very own Kennmore machine with Christmas money.
Even though my first love was art, I decided to go into education for a living. I went to the University of Northern Colorado and received my bachelors degree in 2004 and immediately became an elementary school teacher. I taught public school for 3 and 1/2 years. While I loved my time with kids, education was not for me. I was miserable in a field that felt more interested in conformity than creativity and began to lose bits of my true self with each year that passed. I left my year-round teaching job and after I got married began to call myself an artist. I nannied part time for the money and steady income and began to take classes at the Art Student's League of Denver - a non-accredited art school. Here I began to rediscover my creative self and fell back in love with my dream.
Art for me consists of many different facets: sewing, painting, jewelry making, photography, knitting, drawing, among the small dabbling in others. With the exception of the one sewing class I took as a teenager, I am self-taught and self-made. It's really been through the recovery of my creative self and my desire to live a life I love that I've come to call myself an artist. It's a brave and liberating life that I'm exploring on a daily basis.
