Evolving

My journey to Just B.E.E. has been a long one for sure. When I was a little girl, as most girls back then, I loved to play with Barbie dolls. I would especially love to “makeover “ my Barbies; by make-over, I mean cut their hair, and redress them in stylish new attire, usually hand-sewn by your truly, because I was surely not going to wait until a holiday or birthday to get "real" Barbie clothes. I was interested in sewing from the first time I saw my mother sewing a button, or whatever it was that she was mending at the time. My mom showed me how to thread a needle and a couple of stitches and my Barbies were the best dressed dolls this side of Philadelphia. Disclosure, not sure I would give a 5-6-year-old a needle, but it was a different time for sure.

I, of course, grew out of Barbie and my creative nature went towards crafts and DIY projects. As a young mom and homeowner, I upcycled constantly. I would look at a piece and envision how I wanted it to look. A coat of paint and new upholstery can change an aesthetic completely when there is no extra money to be spent.

Life happened and I was a single mother and found myself having to scale down; however, I remained creative. I was always repairing, instead of tossing. I also became more socially conscience and Earth friendly, not even realizing that I had always been. Reusing was second nature to me at this point and I am still always looking curbside for my next treasure.

It is a curbside find and refurbish that brings me to this journey of this start-up small business, Just B.E.E. It was in the early weeks of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic and I was laid off from my full-time job; home with time on my hands, I went to what I know, CREATING, MAKING. While I was working on a project, I decided I ordered a fabric that made the whole project look drab and you know that I could not have drab. I bought new fabric and used it and it was just what the project needed, but what was I going to do with the fabric that I had originally ordered?

It is a curbside find and refurbish that brings me to this journey of this start-up small business, Just B.E.E. It was in the early weeks of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic and I was laid off from my full-time job; home with time on my hands, I went to what I know, CREATING, MAKING. While I was working on a project, I had decided that I had ordered a fabric that made the whole project look drab and you know that I could not have drab. I bought new fabric and used it and it was just what the project needed, but what was I going to do with the fabric that I had originally ordered?

I hand sewed a few little card/trinket holders with that fabric. I showed those now “prototypes” to friends and with some encouragement (and lots of meditating), I ordered a sewing machine and threw myself into learning all that I needed to know about how to work on the sewing machine. I was suddenly designing these accessories that were being deposited into my head and creating functional accessories. After tons of hours and lots of hard work, my collections were building. And so, it began…