Today we’d like to introduce you to Dora Cary.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I arrived in the United States in 2001 but it was only in 2006 when I became aware of quilts, as quilting is not known in my native country of Romania. That chance encounter with quilting changed my life. In 2008 I made my first quilt and I was immediately hooked. There was no going back afterwards. In 2013 I published my first pattern and in 2016 I fully embraced life as a professional quilt pattern designer. For a few years I made a wonderful living attending trade shows where I would sell my patterns and kits. During the pandemic, when all trade shows were canceled, I was forced to pivot and open a shop/studio where I could show my quilts, fabric, and patterns and have a chance to stay afloat. The shop has since become a destination and quilters from around the world are coming to Paso to visit it. It is a dream (I didn’t know I had) coming true. 🙂
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road, it never is, but perseverance does pay. When someone says, “You became successful overnight”, I am always surprised to see how people generally do not comprehend how much hard work and sacrifice can be found behind each business. For me two of the obstacles involved not knowing the language of the quilting business and getting in debt to open the shop. But I learnt the language of quilting and I am slowly getting out of debt.
Another struggle was surviving the pandemic as a business. At the beginning of the pandemic, at the urge of a doctor, I designed a simple mask pattern (I actually named it Simple Mask) that was very comfortable to wear. A month later I created a short YouTube video of instructions for the Simple Mask. The video went viral and because I offered the pattern completely free of charge, some people bought my other patterns just to show support. It was incredible and overwhelming and kind and also helped me stay afloat.
A few years later, when I had to move my shop in a new location half a block away, I felt overwhelmed by the task. A friend suggested I send a call for help out to the quilting community. I did not expect many people to show up, I mean who would want to move hundreds of bolts of fabric in the heat of late summer. Yet, more than 40 people showed up and we created small bolt brigades to load the fabric into trucks and cars and move it quickly from one location to the other. It was amazing, the entire inventory of fabric in my shop was moved in under two hours! Then we had a pizza party, friendships were made and a community was strengthened.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I create quilt and bag patterns and I inspire others to make something beautiful with their own hands. I am also a quilter and a quilting teacher. My quilts are modern, geometric, and have unusual color combinations. I bring a slightly different sense of color to my quilts, which makes them easy to remember. In my shop, helping and educating can be found at the core of the business. I am proud of this little business I built and of the community that gathered around it.
What sets me apart, I think, is my unusual upbringing in communist Romania that has given me a completely different view on life in general and quilting in particular. It has given me a different way of seeing beauty and my engineering background has helped me approach the complex construction of a quilt with an engineer’s attitude of finding the simplest solution to any problem.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
One of the biggest risks I took was leaving behind everything I knew and moving to the US to start a new life. It was the hardest thing but also one of the most rewarding because it opened opportunities I would not have had anywhere else. I really love what I am doing now and I know this life and the business I built would not have happened in my native country. Also, one cannot be an entrepreneur without being a risk taker. Opening a business is a risk in itself. The risks I took, that every entrepreneur takes, are about investments of time and money that can disappear rapidly if the business is not sustainable. The emotional price is also a risk. But people who open a business are usually the kind not happy to sit on the couch doing nothing. For me, action (and risk) are preferred to inaction for the sake of safety. Risk can also give an incentive to succeed, to show to yourself that you can do what you set up your mind to do. For example, last year I decided to write a book. I wanted to be ready in time for my ten years in business anniversary. I gave myself one year to finish it. It was a lot of work, much more than I imagined and more complex, but I did it. The book (shameless plug following) named “Quilt and Never Skip Dessert” – because I never do – has 100 pages filled with 10 quilt patterns, 10 dessert recipes, and 10 stories from my life. The book is sprinkled with gorgeous photography by local photographer Chris Leschinsky and charming illustrations by talented artist (and my daughter) Carla Cary. I self published it and it was a great financial risk but it is selling really well, so it paid off but without risk there would have been no reward. Or, perhaps, reward without risk is not valued the same.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://orangedotquilts.com
- Instagram: @orangedotquilts
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/orangedotquilts
- Yelp: Orange Dot Quilts
