What do you get when you cross a traditional medium like crochet with pleather? It’s not the start of a joke; it’s the start of a brand-new business. Created by two Niverville women, Joyful House Designs is a small online business that sells custom-made pillows. The pillows, which come in an array of creative shapes, sizes, and colours, are painstakingly crafted by sisters-in-law Bethany Speers and Melodie McMahon.
The pair teamed up to start this enterprise early last year.
“I had the idea to make crochet letter pillows one night as I was falling asleep,” says McMahon.
“Over time, and many trial pillows, the idea evolved into what it is today!”
McMahon notes that she had been wanting to start a business with her sister-in-law for a while. The idea was to create a business they could run while their kids were playing.
The pillows generally take between two to six hours to make, depending on the shape and size. Both women agree that the most difficult shape to make is the anchor (pictured above).
“[It’s] quite intricate and large,” says Speers.
“It’s our tallest pillow,” says McMahon. “So that, combined with all the angles, takes a good amount of time to make.”
Joyful House Designs made quite a splash recently in the online world when they were feat-ured on the website of popular blogger Danielle Burkleo. McMahon reached out to Burkleo to see if she would like some of their pillows. Burkleo loved the pillows and immediately featured them on her blog.
Last December, the popular online shop Etsy posted one of Burkleo’s photos of the pillows on their Instagram page. The subsequent buzz resulted in over 200 followers in under 24 hours for Joyful House Designs.
“[It] was pretty fantastic watching our followers increase by the minute,” says Speers.
Among other successes, the pillow-making duo has been featured on the Etsy website and several Manitoba newspapers. They were even heralded in The Winnipeg Sun as a “great local gift to buy for Christmas.”
“It was a major confidence booster to just send out pictures of our pillows and hear how excited people were about them!” says McMahon.
After the buzz of their first year, the sisters are making pillows and shipping them all over.
Speers says that it’s a treat to see where their many customers come from.
Both these women, though entrepreneurs, value family more than anything. Speers and McMahon each have two kids, with the former expecting her third.
“Things might slow down a bit,” says Speers. “Because family always comes first.”
But neither woman has any intention of stopping. They are currently building their stock for craft shows and incoming orders.
