BFC Creations started almost by accident at the end of 2003. I bought myself my first Machine Embroidery Machine – a Bernina 200e which I still have. I had been so busy with my prior business I never had time to do the hand work I loved to do. I was looking forward to not having to spend as much time to actually make something!
At the time I had a computer consulting business (BFC Consulting)that kept me traveling from Toronto, to NY, to Maine, to Florida, to Nebraska. Well, you get the idea. Not much time to concentrate on the crafts I loved! Though I did bead a lot of necklaces in those hotel rooms at night! I was very tired of traveling and really needed something to do that was fun.
By March I finally got a chance to give my new machine a try. I had a really pretty pink blanket and I thought I would stitch the big bouquet of flowers already in the machine. This was absolutely the first thing I stitched. Hmmm…… it looked very strange! It was all puckered and came out looking like a cup. This was when I figured it might be worth getting out the manual. STABILIZER!!!! Who would have known?? I did some shopping and tried again and actually had something useable.
I discovered embroidery designs on the web – Oh my goodness – they were even free!!!! After totally filling up a hard drive (well not quite) I realized there must be some better designs out there. I consider myself very lucky that the sites I came across and did business with were Sue Box, Embroidery Library and Zundt. I watched these designs very carefully as they stitched so i could see how the designers got a particular look. I figured at some point it might be fun to do my own designs, but things got busy again.
In August of 2003 I still hadn’t tried my embroidery software and I started to discover Yahoo Groups for embroidery. I joined a group that had a digitizing contest going on. I figured this would force me to open the program. To my amazement I won the contest and was totally hooked with creating designs. I had always loved to create in all different ways. I did a few more designs and opened my own Yahoo group. By September I was selling designs and opened the website in November. I was still keeping up with my BFC Consulting clients so things were really getting busy. By Feb. 2004 I closed the Consulting business and did the designs full time. In a few months Rick left his job to run the website and other things that needed doing. My son Fred also joined the business in December of 2005. He creates truly artistic designs.
It has been such a fun whirlwind since those early years. We expanded to include our own brand of Machine Embroidery Thread because Fred and I couldn’t find the colors we liked.
I often get asked about *BFC*. My prior business was BFC consulting – Business, Financial and Computer Consulting. I had been known as BFC for over 12 years. I knew I would need a name for the Design business, but I hated to give up my BFC. I started a quest to find something the letters could stand for. So *Beautifully Fashioned Custom Creations* was born. 🙂 And I was still BFC!