Serving Waynesville, Illinois since 2020

Waynesville Mail

WeCraft Family

Amber Lesson of Atlanta just began her business with WeCraft Family in January 2021. In reality, Amber created this business by accident. All she wanted to do was make a door sign for her friend. Then, she saw a sweatshirt with a cute boutique design and thought, “I can make that cheaper!” With a big hit in this, the WeCraft Family business began. At this time, her family was planning a trip to Washington D.C. and was just trying to make the money to pay for it. WeCraft Family was going to be a little side gig business, but it has now turned into a “second full-time job.” 

Amber personally uses sublimation, bleaching, and dying of her products. Sublimation is a special ink dye to the polyester fibers in the material, so it doesn’t apply to feel like vinyl or screen prints. She makes sweatshirts, hoodies, and t-shirts for all ages and sizes. Currently, the designing, printing, and pressing process takes place right inside her house with the dying and bleaching outside. She is working to renovate the garage to expand the business away from inside the family home.

For designs on the products, Amber can purchase templates from Etsy and then send custom requests to other talented designers. The school designs, like the leopard O with Spartans and the Peace, Love, Spartans, were made herself. Mainly, it is just consumer-focused to gather each print and design.

The leading source of sales is through the online Facebook page. This has started off so strong with a progression of over 1600 members. Most customers are local women purchasing things for themselves and their children. Amber has even made Spirit Wear for Olympia, Tri-Valley, Chatham Glenwood, Heyworth, U-High, and Lincoln. A lot of the biggest customers are based out of the Springfield and Rochester area. WeCraft Family is also on Etsy, selling to California and Pennsylvania. Pretty cool!

WeCraft Family is a hobby that Amber really enjoys, so it doesn’t feel like work. Finally, Amber Lesson expressed, “There is something special about creating something with your own hands, something that will bring, even just for a moment, a little joy to someone else. Thank you to our wonderful community for allowing me to be creative and crafty every single day!”

If you would like to support Amber's business, visit WeCraft Family on Facebook or call her at 217-671-5136 for more information. 


Erin Dederich
Correspondent

Erin Dederich was a Mail Correspondent covering the Olympia communities from August 2021 until July 2022. She is from McLean, Illinois.