Handmade wearable art inspired by music, New England, nature, and the things we find along the way.
I picked up embroidery this spring because I wanted something to do- other than doomscroll- during my kid's soccer practice.
My daughter saw what I was working on and asked me to make her a sweatshirt with a fish on it. So I taught myself how to appliqué and stitched the fish onto a sweatshirt.
And immediately thought:
Oh. I really like doing this.
So I kept going.
Not long after that, I found some really cool horse fabric and made a sweatshirt inspired by Noah Kahan's All Them Horses. I posted a picture of it online, and people actually wanted one.
That was the first time I realized that maybe the fun little things I was making for myself could mean something to somebody else, too.
And Finn Face was born.
Everything here is made by me, one piece at a time. I use thrifted sweatshirts, vintage and leftover fabrics, embroidery, appliqué, and whatever else I happen to find that makes me stop and think, I need to make something with that.
I'm inspired by New England, nature, old postcards, road trips, dogs, music, nostalgia, and the little details that make a place- or a song- feel like home.
Nothing here is mass-produced. Some pieces take a few hours. Some take much longer. Sometimes I have an idea before I even know what materials I'm going to use, and sometimes I find a piece of fabric at a thrift store that completely changes what I want to make.
At its heart, Finn Face is still a creative outlet for me.
I don't want it to become a production line. I want to keep making things because I love making them - following an idea when it grabs me, spending way too long choosing the right fabric, getting distracted by something weird at a thrift store, and occasionally making something that somebody else loves enough to take home.
And then there's Finn.
Finn is the golden retriever behind the name, the inspiration for the logo, and my extremely unhelpful studio assistant.
He's also a pretty good reminder of what I want Finn Face to be:
creative, a little messy, completely handmade, and made because it makes you happy.
Thanks for being here.
— Kelli