I started my Embroidery Store in Fredonia, Kansas.
Hi, my name is Kierstin Vaughn. I started my Embroidery Store in Fredonia, Kansas in October of 2019. When my husband and I decided to open the store, there were a lot of decisions to be made. I decided to attend the Dallas, Texas market. I learned a lot while in attendance at that market. After coming home from the market, the inventory began arriving at my doorstep. What I didn't know then was just how much work was about to begin.
For the next 4 months, I was doing inventory in my kitchen and storing products all over my house. I got keys to my new rental building in January of 2020. We started painting, remodeling and cleaning the building. We were officially ready to open and our first day was February 13th (my husband’s birthday- it’s the only way I remember.)
Our first month wasn’t too bad except there started to be talk of a virus… I hope you are rolling your eyes with me right now… SO My fiance at the time and I were planning on getting married March 21, 2020. But the government had a different idea.. I left for my bachelorette party and didn’t return to my brand new career/ job/ place of employment for 9 weeks. At the same time, my husband was working for a construction company locally that was contracted at a cement plant. The cement plant decided that they wanted to lessen the spread of the “deathly disease” and layed off the construction company.
On the bright side, my husband and I got to spend the first couple months of our marriage just fishing and hanging out in the great outdoors! Luckily for us, we had a couple friends who were exposed to the virus as well, so we all hung out together.
So when I finally got back to work, after not dying, even though I was so inconsiderate of the super special rules to avoid humans and conflict, I attempted to sell things again. Blah blah blah… I was working hard, doing all the same things everyone has done for more years than I can count. I was attending events, I was dropping mystery bags off on people’s porches, I was selling things on Facebook.
My store truly went on because of the debt I had incurred and the passion I had in owning a business one day! I continued hustling and eventually things turned up a bit.
Someone started talking to me one day about buying her current embroidery business. I wasn’t so sure, but my husband backed the idea 100%! Finally we decided to do it. I started learning embroidery and trying to figure out as much as I could. I had a little experience in both hand and machine sewing from my past, but I was in no way a professional.
Our rent increased at the start of 2021 and my hunt to find a new store location was on. I came across this beautiful metal building, self-standing, over by the grocery store and asked to buy it. It came with a house. When my husband and I looked at the properties, he saw this beautiful backyard (in town) and said, “Oh, I’ll just build my shooting range right there.” He pointed towards the back fence which was parallel to Fredonia’s main road… I instantly decided that we would not be buying the house and store. So the hunt was back on. Until a customer of mine came into the old store and asked me if I'd like to rent a place she and her husband were acquiring. I asked where it was and it just so happened to be the same place I wanted oh so badly. After a little negotiation and discussion, we came to an agreement and in September of 2021, my husband and I signed on the most perfect building. It’s located at 1702 Adams Street, Fredonia, Kansas in case any of you reading this needs to know this information immediately. :)
I love getting requests for personalized embroidery and enjoy finding products that match each customer's requests.
Embroidery in Fredonia, Kansas