Check out the Refrain Series!

The Refrain Series is something that has been in the works since the start of the year, but that we waited on releasing because of it's similar style to the Broadway SAL. We didn't want to give anything away to folks participating in the SAL. It is also the first collab line Cynthia and I have made. While I've occasionally done research or graphics for her and she's done wording or touchups for me we normally do our own things, with her doing most of the musical patterns.

It came about because I set down to make a Broadway themed alphabet pattern (something I got distracted from, but is still stewing on the backburner.) Feeling frustrated by that I started thinking about the musicals people had requested for the SAL that didn't make the voting cut. Both of them, Into the Woods and Mean Girls, weren't something we had anything of in the shop and I wanted to make something for them. I started with Into the Woods and listening to it decided it would be neat to do something with the repetitive I Wish in the opening, something similar to what we did with the lyrics in the larger letters like we did for the Broadway SAL. Everything else came from there.

Some of the musicals presented different challenges, either because I just wasn't as familiar with them and had to do a lot of watching and listening (thank you to you wonderful animators on YouTube, I got lost several times just watching your videos!), because there weren't a lot of graphics to pull from, or because the lines I wanted to use would just be too big of a pattern. There was also the embarrassing moment in making the Mean Girls pattern where I forgot the hit by a bus aspect and spent several days searching for a third big graphic to use.

I'm still working through an ever growing list of musicals to add to this series. I've tried to pick popular musicals as well as some that we don't see as much of. Though in some cases, Billy Elliot and Kinky Boots, they were just ones that stumbled into my path while I was working on something else and I had an idea for.

While we aren't going to be creating a custom option for this style we are open to suggestions. Is there something you've been looking for or think would be cool in this style? Send us a message on the site or on Facebook or at taylorandcromwell@gmail.com and I'll move it to the top of my list. Hope everyone has as much fun with these ones as we did making them!

- Tina

Broadway SAL - Release 1 Design Insights!

So as y'all have may have already seen our first release for the Broadway SAL is Les Misérables. I was very happy about people voting for as it was the first musical I memorized all the way through, and it has a special place in my heart. For the song lyrics on most of these we considered different iconic songs or phrases from each musical as well as what the spacing of the letter would allow. We actually had a couple lyrics we were considering for Les Mis. I believe One Day More was one of them, but it came out a little short to fit the space we wanted it to.

For the graphics we included 2-3 graphics on each one, depended on size. So, like the lyrics, there was a lot of debate about what to use for this one. The flag was a given, seeing as it one of the more iconic images from the show. Given that is is a larger graphic we decided to just have one more for this. We considered doing a silhouette of the barricade over or behind part of the letter, but given the small size it lost to much detail. We incorporated a similar idea in a later release. We considered doing Cosette's broom, but that was put aside for reasons to do with clashing with a later release. We tried putting in a rifle, but didn't like the way it interacted with the overall look when completed.

Finally we decided on the candle sticks Jean Valjean is given by Bishop Myriel after he is caught having stolen the silver. We actually did try include some silverware as well, but it was just too small next to the candle sticks. Though these aren't as iconic of an image overall I liked including them, because that is a big turning point for Jean Valjean.

You can see quite a few other graphics or parts of graphics in this one that we won't go into very much right now, so as not to spoil it for anyone. I will say the bubbles and the vine you will have to wait a bit on, but the smoke above the flag will connect to the next release. I was very pleased with how the vine interacted here, because the flag was meant to be more tattered and it was quite fun to make it come through it. As I said Les Mis has a special place for me so I very much loved doing this one and hope everyone enjoys stitching it just as much!

- Tina

Welcome to Taylor and Cromwell!

So I started Taylor and Cromwell on Etsy a long time ago when I had the idea to make some things to sell, and life got in the way for a while, but I finally came back to it a couple years ago.  I started out with just a couple patterns, but over time I had enough special requests that I had to stop and seriously consider if I wanted to do the shop as an actual business, rather than a side business. (Spoiler Alert: the answer was YES!)

Cross stitching was something that my mom taught me when I was just a little thing, maybe 5 years old, and I had made it my job throughout my life to try to teach anyone who showed the slightest interest in it how to do it and try to get them as excited about it as I was and am.  So of course the answer was yes, I was having a blast making patterns, and it was steadily bringing in a bit of income to our household - which was definitely needed, working part time and volunteering full time was not paying the bills! I was building the business up slowly but steadily, but it wasn't going to pay the bills on it's own anytime soon.

Then Covid19 hit, and suddenly our lives were turned upside down.  Suddenly we had all this free time, as my wife and I both needed to quarantine to be able to continue caring for her mother and handicapped sister (both very high risk/low immune system individuals) and so I had plenty of time to work on patterns, and try to expand the business.

That's when my wife Tina got involved in making patterns, and she blew me away.  Her patterns were excellent, and they sold, and business jumped up - because honestly she's way better at remembering to share things on social media than me!  We were doing well enough to invest a little bit of money back in to the business to start offering some physical products as well, like needle minders and grime guards. So Tina and I both started making needle minders. She specializes in the thread holder variety, whereas I stick mostly to "traditional" needle minders.

While both Tina and I can sew as well, the best seamstress I know is my mother in law Debbie.  She was also off work because of Covid19, and jumped at the opportunity to do something with all the free time she had, and so she started sewing for us.  She makes all our grime guards, totes, and bags - and let me tell you, they are awesome! I love the tote bags the best, because they work perfectly to hold a Qsnap, plastic color holder, and pattern, as well as the other bits and bobs that I need while stitching - I actually worked with her over 2 years ago to design the tote, because nothing else I used could ever hold it all and be the right size.

Anyway, with the additions came the realization that we didn't want to stay as a "only on Etsy" shop, so we're branching out!  We have a Patreon so that supporters can help us continue creating (as well as get access to great rewards like patterns, special offers, the ability to vote on things for the business and more) and now we have a website as well (which obviously you knew because you're on it!)

I'm so excited for this expansion, and cannot wait to show you everything Taylor and Cromwell has to offer!