Alabama Mom Chooses Embroidery to Re-Enter Business World

May 7, 2008

Shown here is a bag embroidered by Robin Dennis and Missy Houghton, owners of Miss Robin's Embroidery and More in Madison, Ala. Since they have eight children between them, much of their business comes from kids' sports and activities.

When Robin Dennis was ready to get back into the business world after working as a stay-at-home mother to five children for 22 years, she did what all of the job search experts advise. She thought about what she does well and went from there. While raising her children, she spent many years sewing Halloween costumes and working on other needlework. The most logical step for her was to start a business using her seamstress skills, which led her to embroidery.

After working on a tabletop machine for four years, Dennis took the plunge, and with her business partner, Missy Houghton, she purchased a two-head Tajima in February to open Miss Robin’s Embroidery and More LLC in Madison, Ala. The pair currently works out of Dennis’ home.

According to Dennis, Houghton is a teacher and finishing up the school year. After school is over, she will work solely on the embroidery endeavor, primarily selling and helping Dennis with the stitching as needed. Right now she works with Dennis when she’s available.

Dennis currently embroiders about five hours per day and does simple digitizing at night. “I have to send out the more complicated digitizing right now,” she says. “We’ll attend a training a training class after Missy is finished with school. One of our goals is to do all of the digitizing in-house.”

Much of Miss Robin’s Embroidery and More business comes from kids’ sports. Since Dennis has five children and Houghton has three, they’ve been able to network through the kids’ activities to pick up business. For example, for the past four years, Dennis has embroidered the names of players on the backs of shirts for a baseball recreation league. She started out doing three or four teams and did 17 teams this year. She and Houghton also are embroidering garments that teams previously had screen printed or heat pressed. “The players find that the embroidery stays on much better than heat-pressed letters,” says Dennis.

Eventually, the two plan to expand into screen printing and heat transfers. “There are a lot of kids in our area, and therefore a lot of sports. We’d like to work on teamwear,” says Dennis. “Another goal is to get into a retail space.”

Dennis’ advice for others who might be interested in starting an embroidery business from home? “Don’t give up. When you first start out, it can be very time-consuming,” she says. — Liz Aull

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