She can be seen almost daily around our locale here in Wright County, selling real estate and catching up with friends in coffee shops and the local feed stores, or attending fund-raising events for worthy causes. She recently added a new facet to her life – a repurposed-quilt sewing business that she named 3125 Sewing Company.
Hannah Kelly finished her fourth and final term as a state representative for District 141, as one of the youngest state representatives ever, last year. She found herself in a new “season of life,” looking for something to fill the time between real estate showings and closings (she and her sister, Sarah Beller, own Century 21 in Mountain Grove, Missouri).
She said, “I wanted it to be official, and not something I did every now and then. I love quilts and I’m looking for a secondary income that I could enjoy from home. … I also wanted not to feel badly about my antique habit (she has a booth at E. Marie’s in Mountain Grove), and nobody likes quilts as much as I do and when I tried to sell them, I wasn’t making the money back that I knew I should make. A friend of mine, Cheyanne Smith, who owns E. Marie’s, had the idea to make quilt vests. I thought, ‘Why not give it a try?’”
Hannah started sewing vests last fall. She said, “Cheyanne bought some vests from me to sell in her store. Since then, I’ve kept creating new pieces. A friend of mine brought me a quilt and she wanted me to make her daughter a jacket. I made the jacket, and an apron and a table runner from the scraps and didn’t waste a thing.”
So far, she has sewn women’s and children’s vests, backpacks, Bible covers and purses. She’s exploring the notion of making diaper bags and purses with vintage leather belts.
She said, “I’ve been making my own tags, and I’ve found a way to print my own tags now, which level up the presentation.”
Hannah named the company 3125 Sewing Company because she didn’t want it to be just quilted vests. She explained, “I wanted it to be something that was born out of the heart … that I was looking to do something at home that was restful to me, while also making a little bit of side income. It just brings me joy, despite the chaos of the mess in my kitchen from my constant sewing.”
Note: Proverbs 31:25 talks about the wise woman. (“Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.” ~ King James version)
She continued, “You’ll notice on the tags on the products that require a sizing tag, I like to put Proverbs 31:25, and my most favorite piece of the verse is ‘She shall rejoice in the time to come.’ I started in this business at a point in my life when I was looking for joy in what felt to be a long winter. I began to realize, when to talking to other women during that season of my life, everybody goes through hard times and everybody needs something new and fresh to put your energy and your focus on. My hope is that things that are created here at my home can bring joy to somebody else’s life and remind them that God has joy for them, too.”
Hannah says it’s difficult not to be a state representative after the intense eight years she served. “I have people who still call me with problems today, because they trust me and that trust I don’t take for granted. Because I don’t have the opportunity to hold public office at this time, I can’t help them fix some of the problems that I could when I was in office. You don’t realize, just like anything good in life, I was used to being able to go and use that trust in public office to make a difference and now I can’t. What it also makes me realize is that we can all make a difference, even when we’re not in public office – and don’t have that power – whether it’s listening or engaging in the community.
“Because of holding public office in the past, I know how human your public office holders are, and I am not afraid at all to engage and ask questions. We’re blessed with good representation in our area, but it is odd. For eight years, I gave a piece of my heart to the people. God directed my path there, and it was the most humbling and rewarding thing.”
3125 and How it Came to Be
Hannah said, “My mom taught me how to sew. She loved to make us culottes. We wore those a lot. It was a big deal to make your own culottes (I would always make them as short as I could!). I took for granted all the times she showed me how to lay out a pattern, what to do and what to think about with measuring.”
She sews at her kitchen table, which on this day is covered in old quilts and patterns, thread and scissors and the little Singer sewing machine at the end.
Why quilts? She said, “Quilts symbolize so much. This one right here, I’m sure it was made out of old clothes. It was sitting in the back of an antiques store, and now I hope to make six or seven backpacks that will be given new life. That’s something that I hope to remind people of, if you can take something old and make something new … there’s multiple encouragement in that. That’s what God can do in our lives and that’s what we can all do for each other, when we invest in each other.”
As for the sewing machine, Hannah and her mom went to Walmart four years ago. She had spare cash on hand from a real estate sale, and bought it. The first thing she made was a vest, from a pattern and to the letter. Nowadays, she does a lot of freehand sewing, sans patterns.
She laughed and said, “If I’m cooking, I don’t measure. I play by the piano by ear. I’m a go-by-the-heart person in everything I do, so the first couple of vests were to the “t” of the pattern, but now I find myself veering off the pattern. The last vest I made had a scalloped bottom.”
Hannah enjoys this new outlet, and said, “The friends I have met in the journey of antiques and reselling things have been an encouragement to me. It’s a piece of my heart, and I want it to grow naturally as opportunities arise. I’m going to make a backpack for someone’s daughter.”
She has scouts out, looking for quilts. She says she’ll pay up to $100 for one, as long as she can get the money back. She looks for quilts that are already backed, because otherwise the time involved stacks up. People can request customization. “I loved it knowing that I was taking that old quilt and making something for the family. If you have a loved one’s quilt and you want me to make something new, I love to do that. Aprons can come together out of a quilt, too.”
The quilts don’t have to be perfect. Stains, tears and frayed edges can be worked around. She washes things three or four times because she wants to make sure the fabric will hold up, using an organic laundry detergent.
She added, “A lot of the work that I do day-to-day, I don’t see the immediate finished product, and how my brain is wired, I appreciate seeing finished projects and this lets me see finished products.”
The Future for Hannah Kelly – 3125 Sewing Company and a State Senate Run
As for future goals for 3125 Sewing Company, Hannah would like for it to give back to her community. She is passionate about the foster care program, and proved herself a strong advocate for foster children while in the House of Representatives. In fact, she adopted a teenage girl who needed a mom a few years ago. She said, “I have known the privilege of motherhood through the pain of the journey of what brought my daughter to the foster care system, and to me to be adopted.”
She added, “For a long time I’ve wanted to help kids, outside of politics, but I haven’t known for sure what that is … so I also want to build this business into something that can fund kids and families in some tangible way.”
The State Senate
“Yes, I’m running for the state Senate. Because of my passion for people, I am continuing to seek public office, which is where this business also plays a role. If I’m gone talking to people all day, trying to earn their votes to become their next state senator, I’m not making money. If I can come home, sew up a few pieces and make a little extra cash flow – in between selling real estate – that helps. People might think it’s funny that here she is, running for political office and doing this little quilt business, but this is my real life. I know that everybody has their own real life story. It makes us all who were are and what a privilege that is to be able to have those dreams – those kitchen table dreams!”
Follow 3125 on Instagram. Message her for more information.
You can see Hannah’s quilt creations at E. Maries in Mountain Grove.
