formerly

A handmade boutique 

based in Charleston, IL 

Emily Jeanne Designs has closed 

after 7 successful years as an Etsy shop : 

1,028 items handmade and sold;

167 five-star reviews received;

rank among the top 6% of Etsy shops

in the world achieved,


piles of one-of-a-kind handmade treasures 

sent to buyers in 44 states,

7 countries,

and on 4 continents;


and thousands of little moments 

of joy and sorrow, 

passion and grit,

naked authenticity and

heartfelt love,

shared with some of the 

greatest people on Earth:

You. 


Much love to those who 

traveled on this journey with me, 

and I wish you 

all the best in the future. 

~Emily

Emily Jeanne Designs on Instagram: "Part 2/7 : Fast forward a couple more years, and the shop had gone so plaid-crazy that it was hard to even find the mothering gifts anymore. It was all plaid scarves and snuggly ponchos and shimmering earrings - every beautiful thing I could think to make, so that I could share my love of their hygge vibes with other people and inspire them to feel beautiful as well. My fervor for spreading the gospel of plaid flannel, if you'll excuse the religious metaphor, was intense. I wasn't the only person who loved what I was making, and I was determined to share my love of all things soft, pretty, and WARM with as many people as possible. I booked multiple shows that year, including my first major Hobnob Market, and I was simultaneously selling so many things in my online Etsy shop that I was pulling things off the shelf mid-market to make sure someone didn't walk away with them before I could ship them out for the online order. I would come home exhausted from a long market, only to have to dig through all my tubs of inventory to find what had sold through Etsy while I was away so I could ship out all those orders. It was chaotic and exhausting for sure.  As the fall of that year headed deeper and deeper into the holiday season, it became clear that, while I was making and selling more than I ever had before - how great! - it was starting to overwhelm me in ways I never could have imagined when I started as a girl with a sewing habit. I was drowning in my own success, and it hurt."
Emily Jeanne Designs on Instagram: "Part 4/7 : I have tried many times since then to re-energize the shop. I took a lot of time to process my own grief and mental illness the year after my blowout autumn, but I still made some things here and there. Covid hit, and suddenly I was homeschooling my kids on top of nursing along my shop in the extra hours. At first I was thrilled with the "introvert's paradise" of being forced to stay at home all the time, but nobody - and I mean nobody, not even homebodies like me - has escaped the terrible mental toll of these last few years of the pandemic. Whatever relief it gave from societal expectations, it took away in equal measure in the form of fear and uncertainty. I think I benefited from all the recent practice with mental health coping skills.. but I can't pretend that experiencing a global pandemic smack in the middle of my own personal crisis was helpful timing. Fast forward again to last year. The kids went back to school. I was determined to beat my anxiety, once and for all, and to push myself to confront the demons that I could no longer escape when I walked into my studio. I was determined to face them, process through them, reach for what I wanted it to feel like and make it happen. And boy did I try. I sewed copious amounts of cute fall things last year. I spent a lot of time on social media, sharing my pretty things but also my struggles to cope with the ever-looming anxiety that being in my shop produced. I struggled and pushed and worked hard to reclaim what it had been BEFORE the major blowout year where I pushed myself too hard, to create things out of joy instead of expectation.  I was met with disappointment and hurt at every turn. Things were getting worse instead of better, and one day in mid November, I realized I couldn't face the pain anymore. It just wasn't worth it."
Emily Jeanne Designs on Instagram: "Part 7/7 : In short, Emily Jeanne Designs started as a passion project. I was inspired to create for you, and I gloried in the love we shared over those pieces. Over time, it grew into something behind my imagination, and while that rapid success ultimately led to painful years of processing and struggle for me, I will be forever grateful for the memories and lessons of those times. You have been here with me through good times and bad, and I will always appreciate this journey we took together, even if it was only for a brief moment in time. Now, it's time to take a note from my favorite season 🍁 and let Emily Jeanne Designs go. To, like a glorious sugar maple shedding it's brilliant foliage one leaf at a time, take the happy memories and difficult lessons from this experience and let them quietly, but beautifully, fade away. As you might have noticed, I still have a shop chock full of pretty things. I intend to keep the shop open though mid December, probably, to allow the final holiday rush to play out before I shut it down forever. I expect I'll discount things pretty heavily because let's be honest - I already have a whole wardrobe of scarves I've made, and I'd much rather you get to wear them than for me to have to absorb them into my closet. I made them for you, after all, so I hope they can find homes before I draw the shutters on the shop completely. It's been a pleasure creating for you and growing with you these past few years. Thank you for all your support and friendship, and for being bright spots even on my darkest days. You are lovely people, and I will always love you. But next time we meet to geek out over plaid or fandom or whatever magical thing it is that brings us together, let's do it as just friends, not customers, yeah? I think in that, we have a bright future together. All my love, Emily"

Meet Emily, the Sewist behind the brand

Besides sewing, my favorite hobbies are reading (fantasy and YA are my favorite genres, along with an ever-present non-fiction audiobook in the car – usually history or science related), drinking wine and coffee, gardening, and doing my daily crossword puzzle. I also enjoy our weekly board game night with my husband and kids, as well as playing the occasional RPG video game like Zelda or Assassin’s Creed.

 

No matter what I’m doing, if I’m at home, I’m guaranteed to have at least one companion with me at all times – whether it’s one of our dogs : Sophie the shichon or Vincent the morkie – one of my parrots : Picasso the hawk-headed parrot or Coco the turquoise conure – or one of our kids’ pets : their budgies Queeny and Sunny or their guinea pigs Maple and Cupcake. We like to call it our own little zoo!

 

Travel is also a major passion of mine, so I spend a lot of my spare time studying up on places I want to go and casually learning foreign languages for fun – I’m up to decent fluency in Spanish, French, and Italian, with barely passable Duolingo / Memrise practices in Japanese, Greek, Latin, and German… so far! 


I also work part time at our family business Tomco Insurance Agency, which helps keep me active in the community and involved with the business that's been in my family since 1972!

​

Emily Tomshack