Stine, Nguyen create trade from crafts
Jackie Nguyen (10) works on drawings for a new t-shirt design. Nguyen and her brother started their small business Artistic Influence this past summer, creating designs to be printed on t-shirts.
As Jessica Stine (12) walked through a random aisle at Michael’s two years ago, she came across a group of plain tote bags. She decided to buy one as ideas circulated through her mind about what she could add to it, making it her own.
“I thought it would be really cute to [sew] anchors and shapes on it,” Stine said. “I did that and everybody liked it so I started sewing [hand bags].”
This bag, which is still her favorite bag to this day, was the start of Stine’s own business: Seaside Tour. Stine, among other Westview students, has turned a hobby into a personal business.
Stine started sewing when she was 13 after her mom taught her to sew a button that had fallen off a shirt. Patching jeans and sewing buttons then developed into stitching anchors and ocean-themed shapes onto bags.
Although Stine started out with a nautical style by adorning the blank canvas bag with anchors, her mood usually determines her bag designs.
“I love everything,” Stine said. “Like right now I’m making a bag [out of houndstooth] with clocks and cupcakes on it.”
Stine prefers to work with printed fabrics, with houndstooth being a favorite. The design itself is a small, distinctive broken-check pattern that resembles the jagged back teeth of a hound.
“Usually it comes in black and white, but I found one that is black and green, a shimmery green,” Stine said. “Usually when I see a fabric, what goes through my head is, ‘Oh, I like this fabric,’ and then I start picking out what color lining, what I want it to look like, like if I want it round or square [or] rectangle. [I’m using it now] to make a bag.”
Stine has created more than 20 bags and sells them on MySpace to her friends and others. The price varies depending on the complexity of the bags.
“Because I make more complex bags with intricate details, I’d sell that one for more than say, a plain tote bag,” Stine said.
Stine constantly sees fabrics as a way to create something new.
“Usually I find fabric I really like at Joanne’s or any fabric store and it just inspires me to make something out of it,” Stine said. “I have fun designs; I don’t just sit down with paper and a pencil and draw them out.”
Similarly, Jackie Nguyen (10) designs t-shirt graphics and gets her inspiration mainly from nature.
After Nguyen’s soccer practices, she watches the sunset at Vista Park in Poway. She said being surrounded by nature and seeing the birds around the park helps her think of new ideas for shirt designs, such as her first design of vines crawling up the side of a shirt with leaves all over it.
Nguyen started a small business called Artistic Influence this summer. Her brother, a Westview graduate and student at UC Irvine majoring in business and economics, manages Artistic Influence while Nguyen designs.
“[We started the business because] I want people to take art seriously,” Nguyen said. “A lot of other shirts just have logos and nothing else on them, just plain colors really. But I like to add little intricate things.”
Nguyen usually comes up with a design idea and draws it, but then comes back to it the next day to change the details.
She said the toughest part is deciding where the design should go on the T-shirt.
“I’ll draw it on the shirt [template], but then I’ll erase it because I don’t feel it’s in the right position,” Nguyen said. “Also, it’s really easy to add everything around the [main element], but I want to perfect the main element itself.”
Like Nguyen, Stine she said she finds often the smallest details the most frustrating part for her creations, such as the lining of the bag.
“It’s really hard because I have to cut [the lining] smaller than the actual outside of the bag so it’ll fit inside,” Stine said. “It’s really annoying because I have to take it out, rip the seams out, sew it again, see if it fits and if it doesn’t, I have to do it all over again.”
Though the process can be difficult, Stine said that creating bags from scratch helps her relax and gives her customers something they couldn’t buy in stores.
“I try to stay away from [pre-made plain bags], because I think it adds more to it if the entire bag is homemade,” Stine said. “I [would] feel like I’m cheating my customer out of the whole experience.”
While Stine has sold multiple items, Nguyen said she is still working on the designs before getting them printed onto t-shirts.
Nguyen and her brother would like to start selling them once they have more design ideas for the clothing. Stine would also like to get more involved in clothing design in the future, creating skirts and hoodies, but for now is enjoying her small business of creating totes and make-up bags.
“I like [having my own business] because I can run it on my own time,” Stine said. “It’s a lot more convenient.”
Stine said the countless pinpricks during the process are trivial when she sees the final result.
“I love seeing a finished product,” Stine said. “That’s what I look forward to while making a bag, just seeing it finished, so all those little bumps along the way don’t really bother me.”