Meet Satu Peltomaki | Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Satu Peltomaki and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Satu, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have sewn since I was a little girl. After graduating from high school, I applied to study Fashion design and got in. After the school, I was working as a visual merchandiser couple of years but wanted to learn more about business. I started at Satakunta University of Applied scinces towards my BBA degree. Business school kind of leaf me to finance and I started to work as a personal banker for seven years. Only after my daughter was born in 2018, I had the time to think what I would actually love to do. I started sewing again for me and my daughter and started my “Me and Kiddo” Instagram account to show off my makes, just for fun. For my surprise, people were loving my makes and I started to make ready to wear pieces for others as well. It was a bit time consuming, and a couple of years later I didn’t have the time anymore. I strated to expect our second child in 2020 during the pandemic.

It was 2021 when my husband got a work transfer from Finland to USA, Georgia and we thought it would be fun to go on a little adventure with our family of four. While we were packing our things to be sent across the sea, I got the idea to sell the patterns I’ve been using. I had no idea how to do it so I contacted one designer I knew and she got me strated. It was the spring of 2021 just right after we moved to Georgia when I released my first PDF Sewing patterns and those were a hit from the very beginning. After that, I’ve released 19 new patterns and more to come. This pring is very special to me, since I’m having a big face lift to my brand and hired a graphic designer to work it look more like me.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I do love to design sewing patterns that are everyday pieces, easy to sew and those you want to pick up from your closet every day. Don’t get me wrong, I love to sew show stoppers but in the end, it is all about the casual, basic pieces I love to wear.

At the very beginning, I drafted my patterns in old fashion way to the paper and got it digitalized by another female entrepreneur. It was the end on 2023 I thought that now, I would finally have the time to learn that side of the business as well. So I signed up for an online course to learn the secrets of Photoshop Illustrator, which is where the magic happens when it comes to digital pattern making and illustrations for the instructions. Now I’m happy to say I really did it and my new pattern, which will be released later this spring, is a result of this hard work I’ve made.

What I really like to think about this is, that you can always start your business and learn along the way. I think if I’ve waited to learn all this before I even strated, I would be still waiting.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m currently located in Alpharetta, which is pretty close to Atlanta. If I had the pleasure to have my best friend over here for the weekend, this is my agenda:

Nature, I do love the greenways we have here, my favourite is the one which starts from the Halcyon and since I love to run, this is the place to go. Also, the Cayley park with the 5k strack is amazing and something we do not have in Finland. We went to hiking on Mount Yonah the other day and it was wonderful, only an hour away from us. I do love all things floral so Atlanta botanical garden would be a lovely place to visit as well.

I think we have good restaurants in Halcyon and Avalon and these are kind of nice places to hang out too especially with kids.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Love this one. There are so many people and businesses that have been super helpful for me during my journey, fellow sewing pattern designers such as Madswick studio (US) and Flora Child Co (Germany). I do love all things cute and floral as they do and we kind of share the same spirit.

Website: https://meandkiddopatterns.etsy.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/me.and.kiddo