Meet Kimie Tanner of On Williams Street in Laveen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimie Tanner.

So, before we jump into specific questions about what you do, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve always loved art and knew that was where my future and career would lie. I took as many art classes in college as I could and fell in love with 2d design. I loved working with color and bold shapes to create striking pieces. Within a couple of years, I got married and had my first child. When I found out I was pregnant, I decided I wanted to make her a quilt. I had never actually quilted before, but my mom taught me to sew when I was younger and I had made many other pieces. I drew up my design, selected a technique, and started quilting. I did everything absolutely wrong and it took my 2 1/2 years to finish a baby-sized quilt. However, I was hooked and never looked back. From creating the design, through construction, and up to quilting the layers together, I found the entire process fascinating. As I began to learn more, I realized that I was designing my own quilts more than relying on other people’s patterns. I was able to take that background I had in art and my love of 2d design and translate it into fabric.

After quilting for myself for a few years, I started speaking to my sister and we mentioned going into business together and selling quilt patterns. Talk is as far as it ever went through. In 2012, I found myself single again and needing an income. I had always been a stay at home mom prior, so I didn’t have a strong work background and wasn’t already bringing in a paycheck. I opted to return to school and get my bachelor’s degree in business. For one of my classes, I had to actually start an online business. After thinking about it for a short while, I called up my sister and said, “Let’s do this”. She agreed and took a sabbatical from work to come live in Phoenix with me for a couple of months. On Williams Street was officially born. We spent 2 months quilting and designing and spending as much time as we could on preparing our first patterns. By the time she had to return home, we were just about ready to release our first 2 designs.

That was six years ago, and since then, we have expanded to over 25 designs, been published in multiple magazines and had quilts juried into quilt shows. Plus, we added longarm quilting for clients and teaching to our list of services. Our focus is on modern quilt design and many of our patterns use bold colors, solid fabrics, and negative space to really create a strong impact. We are so excited to be a part of the amazing quilting community and love to learn and share from the others in the industry. We have big plans to add even more to what we offer. I truly found the field I am passionate about and feel so grateful to be able to work every day in a job I love.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Growing our business has definitely not been free from struggles. After our first initial two months, my sister had to return to Utah and we tried to continue working as much as possible while being a state away. We had to ship quilts back and forth (she would piece the tops and I quilted everything), coordinate photo shoots, and share all of our ideas over phone calls and the internet. Things were slow going and often frustrating. Just over three years ago, Missy was finally able to move to Phoenix as well, and things are much improved.

There has also been a large learning curve in the realm of online marketing. We do some local events, but the majority of our business is online. While I have a business degree, there is so much information out there to find. Each day we persevere and try to spend our time learning and growing a little more so that we can be the most successful versions of ourselves.

As a self-employed mom, setting priorities and finding time to work with a family is also incredibly difficult and probably the biggest hurdle. I have 3 older kids and remarried and we had a baby three years ago and she thinks everyone should always pay attention to her. Luckily, I have great support from my husband to help navigate time and responsibilities as we grow our business.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about On Williams Street – what should we know?
The two main parts of our business are quilt patterns and longarm quilting. We also do custom quilts for clients periodically.

Our quilt patterns are bold, modern, and unique. We strive to create new designs that aren’t the same as you will find other places. We also maintain very high standards for ourselves. Extra care is put into writing the instructions and creating detailed full-color diagrams so they are easy to follow for beginners or experienced quilters alike. When someone picks up one of our patterns, we want them to be able to execute it without stress and feel confident in what they were able to accomplish.

With my longarm quilting, I offer solely custom quilting, (unique designs based on each section of the quilt, not the same thing all over). I love being able to take the principles of design and basic concepts I learned in each art class and apply them to the design I choose to quilt on a client’s quilt top. I feel that the quilting really can elevate a quilt and take it to the next level if you let it. However, it should complement the top and make the piecing look better. These are the goals I have each and every time I design a new quilting plan.

How do you define success?
I define success by reaching our goals. This includes goals in finances, reach, growth, and also in a work/life balance.

With finances, obviously, the point of any business is to generate a profit. We have financial projections and plans that we are aiming for each year and when we meet those, I feel we are successful there. Reach is one that is more unique. We want to be able to help others become better quilters. Our mission is to meet you wherever you are and help you learn something new. As we measure success here, we look at how many people we were able to reach and help improve themselves in some ways. Growth goes a little along with reach, are we being able to find new markets and people to help? Last is a work/life balance. The entire point of creating this business was to help provide stability for my family and to create a career that compliments how we want to live our lives instead of controlling it. We have big plans for where we want to be, and the success of the company will help us to get there.

Pricing:

• Custom Longarm Quilting starts at $.045 per square inch
• Custom Quilts start at $150 for a baby quilt.
• Patterns start at $10.50

Contact Info:

• Website: www.onwilliamsstreet.com
• Email: info@onwilliamsstreet.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/onwilliamsstreet
• Facebook: facebook.com/onwilliamsstreet

 

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