Rising Stars: Meet Joan Hemm of mountains above Boulder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joan Hemm

Hi Joan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have been a volunteer theatrical costumer for non-profit theaters since high school specializing in historical costumes. I have also been a volunteer costumer for non-profit repertory theater companies. I founded a women’s history theater group here which is now called The Legendary Ladies (began as The Shady Ladies of the Central City Motherlode over 30 years ago). Every group I have worked with was an amateur organization with very little money for costumes. I haunted thrift stores for fabric remnants and home decor pieces that I could repurpose into costumes. Now it’s gotten to the point that I can’t go into a fabric store and just purchase fabric off the bolt. What’s the fun in that!? Part of what I enjoy is making do with what I am able to find and to create something beautiful out of it!

During the pandemic, I wanted to create a crossbody purse because I had been unable to find what I wanted in the marketplace. I used the multitude of remnant fabrics I had at home and created some really fun and functional purses. I began giving bags to friends and relatives who loved them. I designed the bag the way I wanted one and find that that seems to work for lots of other women. I had made up so many bags I decided to try selling them at craft fairs around the metro area. Since the pandemic, I have been selling an average of 400 bags each fall when I do the holiday craft fairs. That is pretty much the only way I sell them. Each one is a one-of-a-kind creation and I have found it cumbersome to post them on the internet only to sell them at the next fair, so I only have a representation of what I do on my website. People can email me with what they want for an image and their color-ways and I will make a bag for them. I do other custom work, too, using a special piece of fabric or a piece of needlework someone wants included.

It is a challenge to continue thrifting and find more fabrics, and especially images, to showcase on the bags, but that is part of the fun! Turns out people love their critters; everyone seems to have one particular animal that is their favorite, be it a moose, horse, owl or cat, and everything in between, so I am always looking for images of animals I can repurpose. I find them on sofa pillow covers, placemats, shower curtains, and the like. But I also do dragons, fairies, and even some just “plain” fabric bags that might be plaids or florals or some yummy home decor remnant fabric I have found!

I use the techniques I developed doing theatrical costumes in the bags: I mix colors, patterns, and textures to make an attractive, unique bag. I always want there to be something that takes a shoppers’ breath away, just as I wanted to elicit a gasp from the audience when the leading lady first stepped onto the stage in a fabulous outfit. That surprise may come in the form of a small creature on the back pocket, the repurposed necklace chains I use as straps on evening bags, or a fabulous lining when the flap of the bag is opened.

Each bag has a magnetic snap closure, inside and outside pockets, and a webbing strap with a sliding buckle. Each is “dishwasher safe”—can go in the top level of the dishwasher with regular dishwasher soap in the dispenser and go through the dry cycle, though it will be soggy when it comes out. I suggest making a “towel sandwich” on the counter, put the bag between the two layers of towel and blot it dry. Then hang it on a doorknob to dry. It’ll be ready to go in a day or two. I also suggest spraying a bag made in a lighter color with a fabric protectant.

I also make crossbody evening bags of sequined fabrics, vintage brocades and velvets, or something with sparkle, with a chain strap. I make crossbody cellphone pockets that have a sleeve to hold a drivers license/credit card, and a carabiner attached for keys. I make crossbody computer bags with pockets for the cord, stylus, and business cards. I also make tote bags which are great for some of the larger animal images. Oh, and I make holiday gift bags out of holiday placemats. I sold 80 this past season and have already purchased and made up 111 for 2025!

I work every day of the week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. matching fabrics, cutting, applying interfacing, sewing, and finishing bags. I recently returned from a 10-day thrifting tour of the Salt Lake City area and had many loads of laundry to do to. First I zigzag the edges of each piece of fabric, then wash in hot water and dry on the hottest setting to prepare them to work with. When my husband wants to travel, I load my sewing machines and pre-cut packets into the motorhome and can sew wherever we end up, using the solar panels if we don’t have an electrical hookup!

I must say, that though the thrifting grass may look greener elsewhere, the Denver metro area is one of the best!! I rarely fail to find something but I am very selective about what I will buy, so I have walked out of a store without a purchase. I have thrifted in Nashville and Seattle; Phoenix is also a treasure trove, but I do love a day thrifting in Denver! Will leave home around 8 a.m. and often am still there when the shops close at 9 p.m. Have to get out the ATV to get my haul up to the house!

I will admit, it took folks a long time to catch onto the repurposing I have been doing for years. I am finding that the fact that I am repurposing fabrics in a way that is both eye-catching and useful that might have otherwise been headed to the landfill is resonating—particularly younger people which makes me very happy! I know that fewer and fewer people are sewing these days, and love to encourage young folk to give it a try! I learned to sew from my grandmother who had been a dressmaker in the early 1900s, but I really got on board when I needed to create costumes that came from my own head and there was no way to get those made except to do it myself.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It took me several tries to get the bag just the way I wanted it but I kept at it. I had one particular bag company that I initially held up as my inspiration, but now I feel I have surpassed them because there were issues with their designs that I wanted to avoid. Having sewn costumes and other garments for years really helped because I understood how taking a flat piece of fabric could be made into something 3-D. I’ve never been good at math but I have sure figured out the measuring required and now can build a bag with any dimensions. It’s been a fun, but sometimes frustrating journey!

I do struggle sometimes because I am using items I find in thrift stores, so I am at the mercy of what people are giving away. I am also at the mercy of what home decor designers are using for colors and images. Right now, things seem to be primarily gray and pillows are being made in solid colors, so I may have even more difficulty finding things down the road.

Threading a serger is a challenge for me because I am not the least mechanical, so it helps to be married to an engineer who can usually figure things out. And fortunately, we can always turn to UTube for a tutorial, which we have done.

One thing that is problematic is finding craft fairs (that I can afford) closer to home. I live in the mountains about 18 miles west of Boulder and do a LOT of driving. I have friends and relatives in south Denver, Longmont and Fort Collins that I can stay with if I have a setup on a Friday and a fair both Saturday and Sunday. But I absolutely love selling in person! I dress in costume for each fair, usually wearing a different holiday-themed costume each day. Wearing a costume is a conversation starter to share what I am doing with shoppers. I have met many folks who have also done costuming, whether for their kids Halloween outfits or who have also worked with theaters. That experience helps balance the few negatives I encounter.

I am quite computer-challenged and am very grateful for the techincal support my husband provides. I have a friend who helps with the largest fairs who is a whiz on the “register” AKA Ipad in taking payments. I just couldn’t do it without Gloria and Tom!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in making items out of repurposed fabrics. Starting with costumes, I would use draperies, bedskirts, tablecloths, sheets, duvet covers to create primarily Victorian and Edwardian costumes for women. At the time I was doing it, the only patterns available that were close to these styles were wedding gown patterns. I would mix and match pattern pieces, using the sleeves from one pattern, the neckline of another, add a train or change the width of the skirt. As my skills improved, I did more elaborate garments such as a matching Regency-era (early 1800s) coat and dress with matching bonnet. I once made a gown out of a duvet cover that had different brocade fabrics on either side. I used the larger pattern for the overdress and had to match huge loops in the design at the center back. I had only the fabric from that one side of the duvet cover but was able to make it work. I would often hold my breath while I cut out the fabric and I did have some epic failures but was usually able to get something special made by the end of the exercise!

I think one thing that set me apart in my costuming was my daring. I was willing to take an existing garment, cut off the sleeves from the elbow down and replace them with that same section from another garment. I would remove one collar and add another. I was never afraid to remove the trim that identified the 1970s prom dress as that era so I could use trim appropriate to 1900. I would see just one aspect of a dress that I liked, and rework the rest of it to make it into what I wanted. As I tell shoppers now, I don’t seem to be able to leave a piece of fabric as it was intended—I have to make it into something else!

Creating the crossbody bags is just another chapter in repurposing fabrics. I was stuck at home in the pandemic with all this fabric and thought there must be something I could do with it. I had been making tote bags when I learned that we’d have to pay for each plastic bag at stores but found I couldn’t compete with the $2 Tyvex sold at grocery stores. From the tote bags, I developed the crossbody purses and that gave me a whole new canvas to work with. They say “necessity is the mother of invention” and that is what pushed me to try a purse.

I have seen other bags people have made, some saying they are using remnant fabrics, but I know I have a better sense of putting colors, patterns and textures together. I think that really comes across in my work, and it’s something I am proud of, and I love the fact that each is unique. I could never mass produce a product. I need and love the variety and knowing that each day’s fabrics and images will be different from the day before!

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
One thing I think is that crossbody purses are here to stay. I am personally sold on the idea and love my crossbody bags and the security I have knowing that my bag is right on my hip. I think others feel that way. I was able to reduce what I carry from a big briefcase-sized bag down to my minimal 9×7” bag and hope to encourage others to try it, as well.

I am working in my own little cottage industry here on the mountain. It is my joy every single day and my creative outlet. I am able to walk with my husband and dog in the national forest that borders our property twice daily and though I get super busy in the fall when it is craft fair season, I can just plug along each day creating new things. I don’t foresee hiring seamstresses or putting my work into chain department stores. I do have a boutique in Kansas that is carrying my work but I do prefer to sell it myself in person, though I might consider a few shops close to home. What I would love to see is word gets out about what I am doing and some of my bags may end up with influencers. I’m sort of in the mindset, though, of don’t wish for it–it might just happen!

I hope that patterns come back into home decor style soon. I personally love WIlliam Morris designs from the Aesthetic Reform movement back in the 1870s, art deco such as Frank Lloyd Wright designed, and anything with color and pattern that catches my eye, such as a print from 1993 did not long ago. It was black and white squares overlaid with bright flowers. I adore Laurel Burch cats and her other animals from the 1980s, Daisy Kingdom Scotty dogs from the early 1990s and cabbage rose prints from the 1980s. Op art prints from the 1960s and 1970s are very fun; so are bark cloth tropical from the 1940s and ‘50s. Plaids, strips, dots. Clearly there is a plethora of work already out there and I hope, plenty of new young designers who will create new things for us!

Pricing:

• Basic crossbody $48
• Crossbody with image $57-$65
• Computer bag $75
• Evening bag $38-$42
• Cellphone pocket $28-$35

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Rejuvenatedremnants.com
• Instagram: rejuvenatedremnants
• Facebook: rejuvenatedremnants

Image Credits
Joan and Tom Hemm