Perm Mother-Daughter Artisans Create Frame Bags and Stuffed Toys
Svetlana and Alina Krivets, a mother and daughter from Perm, about three years ago decided to seriously take up sewing and knitting toys, bags and clutches with frames, as well as embroidery on clothing. Their hobby evolved into a small public page on VKontakte and participation in creative fairs at the city and regional level. We spoke with the craftswomen about the family project «Soft Workshop,» the creation of works, and the creative process.
«Nuances and Small Details You Do Yourself»
59-year-old Svetlana and 21-year-old Alina Krivets have long been passionate about handicrafts: Svetlana worked as a florist for over 20 years, but in the last year and a half left her job and engages in sewing and gardening at the dacha, while Alina works as an administrator in a grocery store.
«I learned to sew as a child, and during times of shortage, I could sew a skirt, pants, or blouse for myself,» Svetlana tells 59.RU. «Then the need disappeared, and I stopped. And I once learned machine embroidery from a woman I worked with at the institute after school. But what attracts me most is satin stitch embroidery and three-dimensional Brazilian embroidery.»
Alina also started knitting in childhood — in fifth or sixth grade, she attended lessons where everyone was taught to knit with needles and crochet. About three years ago, the girl found a crochet hook at home and began knitting small keychains. She became interested in toys after her first participation in a fair.
«I learned to read patterns and knit either from them or come up with my own,» says Alina. «At first, I knitted keychains in the form of plush kittens about seven centimeters tall. And many of these toys are still stored with me. I mostly knit simple items.»
Svetlana started sewing toys when she saw similar items in social media recommendation feeds and realized she hadn«t seen such things in Perm.
«I looked at the works of Perm masters participating in exhibitions in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and saw what they can be like,» recalls the Perm resident. «I really liked it, and I thought: »I can do that too!«. I tried — and it just hooked me.»
Alina engages in knitting in her free time from work.
«I can»t watch something when my hands are idle. Sometimes, mom and I sit, watch something on TV, she sews, and I knit. When I turn on a movie, I always have knitting in my hands, I put a pattern in front of me and knit,« Alina tells 59.RU. »At first, it was hard for me to combine two activities at once — I always look at the pattern, count stitches and rows... But now, with experience, I already know how many rows to knit, where to add or remove stitches, and pay little attention to the pattern.«
Svetlana adds that when she became interested in knitting, she bought two master classes on textile dolls. The first such doll she sewed in a class with Elena Guryoleva — a craftswoman who has been making textile dolls for over 12 years. Everything else the Perm woman did herself, relying on patterns and diagrams online. At first, she made dolls in the form of people, but that didn«t captivate her, and they were replaced by animals in the »Teddy« technique.
When creating toys in the «Teddy» technique, Svetlana uses viscose and stuffs the items with sawdust. The finished figures have glass eyes and movable limbs — for this, the craftswoman uses pins and jointed fastenings from specialized stores. For each of her toys, Svetlana sews several clothing items by hand: for example, foxes have pants, a shirt or sweater, and a jacket.
Incidentally, Alina«s opinion aligns with her mother»s: she says that she is also not attracted to knitting human-like dolls.
«It looks more attractive, cuter, and fits our style with mom,» Alina believes. «And I like it more. For ideas, I always go on Pinterest — it»s a social network with photos, where over time the feed of pictures is tailored to your interests. As a rule, the authors photograph everything beautifully and cutely, and I save liked posts for myself. And sometimes I find toy patterns or master class recordings, and draw ideas from there.«
«Now you can find many master classes online. But when you»ve been crafting for a long time, you look at something somewhere from others, but the nuances and small details you do yourself,« Svetlana tells 59.RU. »Over time, every master develops a style. I now make my own patterns and sew from them.«
First Fairs and Exhibitions
Once, before the New Year, the Perm women saw a fair at iMALL and decided to apply. Svetlana took on the main part of the preparation.
«Just for the New Year, I was sewing figures of the year»s symbols: tiger, rabbit, kitten... And I had Scandinavian gnomes,« Svetlana tells 59.RU. »And my daughter had knitted cats, dogs, and bears.«
The first doll exhibition for the mother and daughter was in March last year — they got into «Time of Dolls» in St. Petersburg. Then Svetlana«s geese interested Chinese buyers (buyers are people who purchase goods in Russia and resell them in other countries — Ed.). The craftswoman has been sewing them periodically since 2014 and over this time has improved the manufacturing technique and clothing — the bird images have more small details and accessories.
«I made a pattern, inspired by geese I once saw online, modeled them in my own way, and with these geese we went there,» recalls Svetlana. «And the Chinese buyers immediately bought six geese from us, plus several foxes and bears in the »Teddy« technique, bags, and textile dollhouses.»
Since then, the family participates in master fairs in shopping centers every month, but recently it has been less frequent — due to the New Year holidays, there has been a lull. A year and a half ago, Alina created a workshop group on VKontakte — incidentally, she mainly manages it: takes photos of toys, plans posts, and the girl comes up with photo descriptions together with her mother. The group name «Soft Workshop» — is an abstract definition, as there is no separate workshop in Svetlana and Alina«s apartment. For creativity, the Perm women have allocated spaces in rooms where all necessary tools and materials are kept.
Later, Svetlana and Alina saw the «Ball of Dolls» exhibition when they visited Svetlana«s friend living in St. Petersburg. They were impressed by the scale of the event, and immediately wanted to get to the next »Ball« — it was in Nizhny Novgorod in July last year, and the girls sold their products there too.
Getting into the «Ball of Dolls» was more difficult, because this exhibition is a level higher and often features masters from previous years, but the mother and daughter were lucky: they applied and passed the selection. There, Svetlana and Alina also sold geese and foxes. Then there were «Balls of Dolls» in Kazan and St. Petersburg — the organizers choose different cities for this event. As a rule, about 250-300 masters from all over Russia participate in the event annually.
«Before the New Year, we went to »Time of Dolls« in St. Petersburg, there was a New Year»s exhibition. But compared to last year, it seemed like much fewer of our items were bought,« says Svetlana to 59.RU. »And locally — recently we were at the «New Year»s Factory of Wonders« at the Shpagin factory, and before that — at the »Buy Perm« fairs and the regional Family Forum. The only problem is that our products are not cheap, because it»s handmade work. At first, people looked closely and rarely bought anything while we were at the fair in iMALL, but then they started to more often.«
According to Svetlana, in the last few months, Alina has been going to such events less often because she doesn«t have time to combine it with her main job.
«It»s both a hobby and earnings, but it doesn«t earn much,» shares Svetlana. «Because you have to constantly engage in it. Now everything is going to the Chinese market and they sell everything there. Before, other masters sold everything to Europe, America, but now — to China.»
Svetlana says that once at a fair in a shopping center, a girl came to her and bought a fox, then later returned and purchased a goose as a gift for someone close. So far, there are few returning customers — the woman links this to the fact that she and her daughter started managing the workshop group on social networks only recently.
About Custom Works and Inspiration
According to Svetlana, she doesn«t like sewing to order, because then the master is limited by the client»s wishes. But sometimes she accepts such orders.
«Once I sewed a copy of a children»s toy that a person had back in the 50s. And it was difficult, because such plush is hard to find now, and the client and I saw colors and details differently,« shares our interlocutor. »This bear was also drawn on a painting, so it was tough.«
Sometimes Perm residents ask Svetlana to repeat some of her works, and she agrees, but admits that the toys or bags with frames won«t be absolutely identical: somewhere there will be a different gather or stitches different from the original.
In spring, the Krivets family completed training at the Craft Business School from the «My Business» center — they applied, passed the selection, and spent the whole day learning to promote their business on social networks and work with clients. The completed training will allow them to later conclude a social contract — they can receive a small subsidy for their business.
«This money can be spent on equipment,» says Svetlana. «I want to buy a new sewing machine, for example, mine is over 20 years old. It still works fine, but the model is outdated, and I want to make more modern stitches on the items. Or you can buy materials: for example, I order viscose for »Teddy« toys, a small piece 25 by 35 centimeters costs about 800 rubles (about $9 at current rates). So it would be useful to get funds and buy all that»s needed.«
Svetlana and Alina dream of eventually opening a separate workshop. There, they could conduct master classes, especially since such requests from customers have already been made, says Svetlana.
«People at fairs and exhibitions approach and ask for individual master classes on bags with frames or »Teddy« toys. But I don»t know yet, I«m preparing to conduct the first three such classes at the »Gav-gav show« — preparing both to teach kids and adults,» the woman reflects in a conversation with 59.RU.
Svetlana has periods when there«s no inspiration for new toys, and then she simply changes activities.
«I made myself a calendar, what the plan would be, then sat down and realized that the work isn»t going at all. And I didn«t sew, but went to do flowers: I have many houseplants, they need repotting, and I did that. Four days passed, and I already missed sewing, sat back at the machine. You need to switch from time to time,» Svetlana says. «If there»s no inspiration, I go to the forest near the house, collect moss, cones, and beautiful twigs, make wreaths in an eco-style. These are also bought from me. And you get inspired by the walk itself.«
About Creative Plans
In February, the Perm women will conduct master classes on sewing keychains at the dog exhibition «Gav-gav show» — this family festival lasts all day. Which animals the craftswomen will sew together with visitors, they haven«t decided yet — they need to adapt to both adults and children.
This year, Svetlana and Alina will go to the «Ball of Dolls» in Moscow for the first time — it will take place from May 1 to 3. It«s usually very difficult to get into the Moscow ball because masters who have already participated in exhibitions quickly get in. Others are put on reserve lists — sometimes up to 400 craftspeople, says Svetlana. Often masters are in reserve for years, but Svetlana and Alina were lucky and didn»t have to wait that long.
«Now we need to come up with and record something so as not to miss what we will show there,» Svetlana shares with 59.RU. «I want to make foxes and geese in hats and dresses with embroidery in a vintage style, around the 17th century. Then in June we will definitely participate in City Day on the esplanade or in a shopping center. And in July, we»ll go to an exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod.«
The craftswoman is considering making bags with embroidery in the Perm animal style for City Day — this thought was prompted by communication with other masters. These items might appeal to tourists, Svetlana believes.
Previously, we told about a craftswoman creating snails and ammonites from ceramics — Olga Zakharova also released perfumes with the scent of the Perm Sea.
