My son recently bought me a winter beanie hat from his college. I loved the thought, but I really wish it said WPI MOM on it instead of just WPI. They don’t seem to have WPI MOM hats, so I set about finding someone who could modify my hat and I took to Facebook to ask for recommendations.
My friend/client Laura suggested her friend Tracy, because Tracy did some kind of hat embroidery. When I looked at what Tracy had to offer, I went in a completely different direction. It wasn’t about my WPI MOM hat anymore. I became completely distracted after seeing Tracy’s amazing handiwork and the cutest custom embroidery when I saw the perfect Christmas gift for my friend Emily and her baby Everly–a mommy and me hat set! Tracy’s business is called Heart & Hand Embroidery.
Emily and Everly loved their custom Christmas gift hats! Fast forward to recently I needed to go vehicle shopping, and after the experience was over, I was so happy with the car, and even the sales guy, Marcus Mason at Wellesley Toyota. I knew Marcus was a candidate for one of Tracy’s hats as well. Why the connection? Well, both times I went in to the dealership, he had the same knit cap on, just in different colors, and I knew that Tracy could help me add to his collection, in a very custom way.
I tasked Tracy to very specifically adorn a black hat with a line drawing of a pickup truck behind the logo. She gave me a few options of design style, I gave my opinion, and she ran with it. I was so excited when she sent me a picture of the finished product! She had even used silver embroidery thread for the bumpers, red for tail lights and yellow for the headlights.
I had her mail it directly to Marcus, my recommended car sales guy at Wellesley Toyota. I love when someone supports a small business, and Marcus immediately sent me a picture when he received it, and said that he and his wife also go out of their way to support small businesses. I asked Tracy to share some more information about where people can get her creations, and here we have it here.
And as for my WPI hat, I found a rhinestone encrusted bling pin online for the time being. But if you know someone…I’m open to a more permanent MOM feature on my hat.
Here’s what Tracy had to say:
I officially started Heart & Hand Embroidery in the fall of 2025, but I have been creating since I can remember. Last year, my daughter found out she was pregnant and I was honored to be asked to watch my new grandchild. I had spent 24 years at my previous job, and had set up several avenues to make up for my loss of full time income, since I was retiring with only a partial pension. However, you know how best laid plans sometimes go.
Just before my daughter started the new school year last August I found out that my backup backup plan was gone. I ended up doing a tremendous amount of soul searching as I processed what my next steps would be. Watching my beautiful granddaughter during the day fills me in ways I could never have imagined, and with the cost of child care being what it is, supporting my daughter and her family in this way is part of what it takes to raise a family today. Whatever I ended up doing to bring in income, I decided I needed to work around my new schedule of spending time with my granddaughter.
I had been doing some really cute embroidery on premium knit beanie hats for my daughter and her friends, and after showing a few people, they were interested in my hand embroidered hats. Many other requests for hats were for multigenerational situations. A mom and daughter or a grandmother, mother, daughter and then came “can you do this”, and “how about add this”. The energy I got out of making something that was so personal and fun was just exciting to me.
I realized that I could do the embroidery while my granddaughter was sleeping, and after I did my afternoon job when I got home. It seemed to fit what availability I had and remote jobs became incredibly difficult to find. With the encouragement of my family and friends I gave my little creativity a name and started stitching.
I work with a variety of high-quality beanie hats at different price points to make custom embroidery accessible to everyone. For customers seeking premium options, I also offer custom embroidery on brand name hats. All of my embroidery work is done independently by me and is not affiliated with or approved by any hat manufacturer.
I ended up getting a space at a local craft store to sell my hats. When I moved to having a retail shop, I knew I needed an inventory, and that gave me the ability to start creating one-of-a-kind hats and try out color combinations and designs. You also notice when you’re in a retail setting that you need small things available that will catch people’s attention. It was right around the holiday time so it was the perfect opportunity to create hand embroidered ornaments.
At this point, the most challenging part of starting my own business was the marketing piece. Selling myself is not something I do easily. As someone who struggled with self-confidence, putting myself out there and taking this risk at times felt overwhelming. Thankfully, I have had people on social media who have shared my creations online and I started being approached for orders from people who knew people I knew. Also, as a people pleaser, anyone who asked me to go outside the box, I took it as a challenge. So I started learning more about how to incorporate different items and change designs to fit someone’s vision.
And then came the first time I had to tell somebody that I don’t think hand embroidery will get them the desired hat they want. And that was Jen. That was one of the hardest things I had to do, to tell somebody I couldn’t do something. Hand embroidery does have some limitations and machine embroidery can do incredibly fine detailed work. Saying I couldn’t do it sort of felt like a failure. But she didn’t for one second question that I said I didn’t think this was the right fit for hand embroidery. Instead, she asked me for a different gift order. That’s when I realized I could be honest as a business woman. I don’t have to please everybody, I just need to produce honest good work.
Today I have two retail spaces, an Etsy shop and business pages on Facebook and Instagram. I added bookmarks to my shop, created onesies and socks for little ones and I am now moving on to spring and summer items. I definitely enjoy creating items that I know I would love my granddaughter to wear or have. Every ounce of my heart to every item I make. I am hoping that as time goes on that I never stop learning and customers request things that push my limits. I do think that’s what makes my designs better and better.
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Crafts by Kelly Marketplace at 10 Common Road, Ashby MA
DISCLAIMER
Heart & Hand Embroidery is an independent artisan business and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any hat manufacturer. Custom embroidery services are performed on genuine products purchased through retail channels as aftermarket customization.
