Spotlight New Jersey: Mouths Matter

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Spotlight New Jersey: Community Access Unlimited

Spotlight New Jersey: Wear To Go

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Spotlight New Jersey: Director and author Nicole L. Thompson

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News 12 Staff

45spotlightnj2_2025-04-05-09-19-22

Michelle Fleischer is my guest. I love this picture. Tell me about it. So that's my daughter. She is my inspiration behind embroidery babes. I actually had a really hard time having her and ended up doing IVF to conceive her, and that's actually how I learned how to hand embroider. I needed an outlet from my anxiety and it's so hard to not be able to control a situation like that and embroidery just allows you to control having a beginning and end to a project and when I. I was able to have her. I started to take my son's old clothes and upcycle them for her, and that was actually one of the jackets that was his, and I embroidered her name on the back and it's just she's my everything and and she's into this herself. She's in she loves it, so she's 3 1/2 now, um, so we use a plastic needle and yarn, and she's been dying for me to teach her. She does have good fine motor skills, so maybe she'll take over inverter babes one day, but, um, both my my my older. Son and her are so invested in embroidery babes when I do craft shows they come cheer me on when they see their friends wearing things their parents embroidered for them at a workshop they're so proud of me and my mom actually helps out a lot of my workshops. Um, my dad will babysit my husband, everyone's so amazingly supportive. So you have a show going called A Family Affair pretty much. I mean, honestly with these small businesses it's, it's really all hands on deck and being a um. of young kids, um, having the support of your family and your community as well. I've been really lucky to have such an amazing community around Bergen County who've like really helped, you know, spread the word and now I'm like selling out of all these events and getting more private events so it's just been a really amazing experience for me on a personal and professional level. Small businesses are the fabric of America really support us seriously come out and do that. What's it been like running one? Wow, I mean it's very interesting. I'm learning a lot um I my tagline is perfectly imperfect because things aren't always gonna go the way that you want and you're gonna work all the time and maybe not make so much money but as long as you're passionate about it and you connect with other people and just like leverage each other network grow, be a good person. I have to say just be kind and respectful to people and good things will happen um it is hard though. I have to say like. Um, you could easily go online on Amazon and order an embroidery kit or something like that, um, but people do love coming face to face, um, having that interaction, that, um, that one on one connection and doing something, so that's really irreplaceable. So I've been fortunate to have a lot of people continue to come to me even though there might be, you know, less expensive options on how to learn how to embroider.

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45spotlightnj3_2025-04-05-12-19-36

My guest is the owner of Embroidery Babes based in Bergen County. She is Michelle Fleischer. Let's talk about what you started out making initially when the business got off the ground. Yeah, so I started to offer custom clothing and accessories, uh, like sweatshirts with your kid's name on it, uh, denim jackets. I would do craft fairs, uh, go through Instagram and my my website embroiderybabes.com, and it was really fun to like. Go out to these fairs and connect with people, but to be honest with you, I started to have burnout when you're doing 20 orders at a time. I started to lose the love I had for the therapeutic way embroidery had given me because it became more work and passion exactly, exactly. And before I became a mom, I was, um, a corporate trainer. I would travel around the world doing these large sales conferences and I really missed that adult interaction one on one. That's what a lot of moms say. Yeah, I was, I really felt like I had lost myself a little bit and I thought to myself, well, what if I was able to share how easy it is to learn hand embroidery and what an amazing tool it is for relaxation and shutting down your mind, you know, the world is such a crazy place. We're going a million miles a minute and just focusing on one stitch at a time is an amazing and easy way to just pause. Yeah, when you talk about one stitch at a time, let's look at that design you have there on your sweater. Yeah, so, um, this is all done by hand. Um, I, at my workshops I teach very simple techniques. You don't even need to have threaded a needle before and what you can do is you can bring an item like this or like a denim jacket, look at that all the designs on so I teach you how easy it is to take. Something either you already own like an upcycle or buy something even just at like Target or something and make it this beautiful wearable work of art and it's it's so simple and you leave with not only a fun new item to wear or for your child to wear but I also give you all the tips and techniques that I do when I'm making my custom orders and you get a take home kit so you're not just leaving and never being able to do it again. So I empower you to go home and make more things and I have to say, Della, so many people go home they send me pictures of things they continue to make and they come back for 2346 times to different workshops that I offer so it's. Really fun this community that we've created of amazing women and 3 men, they're embroidery bros, so we're welcome to have men come. It's really fun and it's just, you know, it's a great community. Uh, people are there's so much kindness in this world and bringing everyone together it's just amazing.

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Michelle Fleischer with Embroidery Babes in Bergen County. She is the owner is joining me right now here at News 12 on Spotlight New Jersey. Love this title. Where did that come from? first of all? You know, I wish I had a more interesting explanation, but I actually thought of it in my shower. Uh, I didn't anticipate creating this business at first. Uh, I had infertility and I learned embroidery as an outlet. Uh, crafting therapy is an amazing way to just shut your mind off and focus and, uh, it really helped me so I actually, um, I went through IVF to have my daughter it was secondary infertility and I once I. Started to when I became pregnant with her, I began to upcycle some of my son's old denim jackets and sweatshirts and people uh took notice. They asked me where I bought it and I was like, Hm, maybe I should create this business and I literally thought of embroidery babes in the shower. That's how I came out. That's where a lot of original ideas come from. Sometimes don't think too much. Where is secondary. Infertility, that's the first time I've heard of that. What is that? So I was able to conceive my son naturally and then we wanted to have a second child. Um, I did get pregnant and have a loss, um, which was really devastating. I had no one around me who had ever been through something like that and we kept trying and nothing was working, um, and after about a year of trauma. I went to see an infertility specialist and um it's unexplained secondary infertility. I was 32 years old, so I wasn't, you know, older for being pregnant and um I was able to do IVF and have my daughter. And you've heard from a lot of people in your workshops who've gone through something similar. Definitely. So I do workshops about. 1 to 3 times a week and in every workshop I always share my story of how I started embroidery babes uh because you never know who in the room it will touch and every single workshop Della somebody comes up to me either they're going through IVF they've had miscarriages they have uh close family or friends uh I didn't realize how. How like common this is honestly because when I was going through it all of my friends around me were getting pregnant. I, I felt so alone and isolated in the process, so being able to you know share that openly um on Instagram at my workshops now on News 12, I really hope somebody. Watches this and feels less alone in the process because it is common and it's OK to feel the way you're feeling and there's a lot of amazing tools like crafting like embroidery, um not even for infertility but if you're going through any sort of hard time uh it's really an amazing therapeutic and fun experience to do. OK, the crosshairs of the blood, so like in between.

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46spotlightnj5_2025-04-06-09-23-39

Michelle Fleischer is the owner of Embroidery Babes in Bergen County. I know with all the people you've met through your workshops and other outlets, you must have touching stories you'd like to share with us. Yeah, you know, embroidery can create such like meaningful projects for people. Uh, you can make like a heart with an initial or something like this, or you can take your son's handwriting that says I love you and embroider it right on the chest of a sweatshirt, and I will tell you that a lot of times people will make items for their kids and they tell me. They wore it every single day they won't wash it and they're so picky they won't wear anything but because I made it for them, they wanna wear it and it's special to them. One lady in particular, tell me about her story. Sure, so I was on vacation last summer and someone reached out to me over Instagram because a lot of people will message me there and said I have, I don't know if you can do it it's very last minute, but my best friend's dad unexpectedly. and for his memorial service I would really love to make something for her with her dad's handwriting or name on it, something to help remember him and I was coming home that night from the beach. I went straight to work usually I work about 3 weeks out for custom orders, but for something like that I had to do it so I was able to make this um meaningful jacket that actually matched. A present that he got for his granddaughter and we put his name on the sleeve and she sent me pictures from the memorial service of it and then I actually had the opportunity to meet the girl that I made the jacket for at a craft show and she came over and hugged me and cried and the fact that I can just do one little thing to make her happy during that horrific time in her life um is amazing. and to see other people who come and create these um like baby um they'll take like their their baby's footprints and embroider and outline of that to keep and I mean that's that's so cool right lovely. I love that. Do people have to draw out the design or how does that work? That's a great question. So I come with a variety of stencils. So these are examples, um, or you can bring your own, you can bring even like. Your kids drawing I'll show you how to stitch it on something, but a lot of people will do creative things and we'll have themed workshops so like we did um a friends giving workshop that we did besties sweatshirts or like the heart that says best friends, uh, we did, you know, uh, a witch and stitch with like pumpkins and boo so it's, you know, if you like a theme you like holidays or you just wanna get together with your friends, um, come hang out with us.

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46spotlightnj6_2025-04-06-12-47-24

Embroidery babes in Bergen County is what we are putting the focus on here on Spotlight New Jersey. Michelle Fleischer is the owner of this business. You like to help support other female owned businesses too. I do. It's one of the most rewarding parts of becoming the owner of Embroidery babes is connecting with other women in the community. Uh, we live in an amazing area with phenomenal entrepreneurs, mom entrepreneurs like myself. And it's been really amazing to collaborate so I don't have a brick and mortar location so I actually partner with a lot of local businesses and offer my workshops there like whether it be a slow night at a restaurant or at a boutique, an art gallery. um I've really created such an amazing network of women um, for instance, there's a small boutique in Westwood, New Jersey that I've done about 10 events with, um, and she's a mom. She literally has her baby with her. At night she's um like a mother of three and you know just helping each other, supporting each other um you need a balloon person I got that and you know always celebrating I never see a lot of competition which is amazing we are celebrating and supporting each other which I think in this world we really need to do and um it's a hard it's hard out there. I see a lot of small businesses start and stop, you know, the economy up and down. Um, you all have to just be each other's cheerleaders. I like that be each other's cheerleaders, be that village to help keep everybody going. What do people need to know about yours? because I'm sure a lot of people watching this are gonna wanna sign up and say, let me, let me know more. Tell me. Yes, well, I do workshops a lot, uh, as I said a lot around Bergen County, but I am going to Morris and Essex County as well, um, and Connecticut too, so just reach out to me. The best way to find me is to go to embroidery baby. Dot com you'll see all my upcoming events as well as how you can book a private event like a corporate team building uh we I do a lot of mom's night outs I'll do like women's groups together um and we can create custom projects for you we can do like custom design colors. I'm I just so much fun. I love doing this. If I can keep doing this, please just come and enjoy it. Uh, I've had such great feedback and I just wanna. Keep growing this. I love, love what you do is like everything to me and I really do and if I can share my story with someone who feels alone or has a child with special needs or is going through cancer treatments and they just need an outlet or you just wanna have fun with your friends it's just a great, it's a great time.

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Owner Michelle Fleischer joined News 12’s Della Crews to discuss the business. 

Spotlight New Jersey: Embroidery Babes

Owner Michelle Fleischer joined News 12’s Della Crews to discuss the business.

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