meet the wonderful cal patch!

Cal Patch loves making things and teaching people to make. She sews, crochets, spins, embroiders, knits, prints, makes patterns, dyes… hence the name of her label: hodge podge. Cal has taught all of these subjects for the past twelve years and loves showing people new skills. She now teaches online classes for Creativebug in addition to traveling to shops and retreats around North America. After seventeen years of being a New York City dweller, Cal recently relocated to the Catskills where she is becoming a crafty farmer. A true lover and advocate of handmade, Cal is working toward wearing clothing she's made herself or other handmakers she loves. (Wouldn't we love a peek into her closet?) She sells her homegrown dresses through her Etsy shop, as well as her first beautiful book, Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified. We're thrilled to have Cal teaching a wonderful pattern making workshop on Designing your Own Clothes so you can create your own wardrobe too. Meet the sweet, adorable Cal below!

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What is your favorite food obsession right now?
We have a local chocolatier who uses seasonal organic ingredients in the most amazing combos, like figs and fennel, or smoked corn and sage, in her chocolates. They rule my world! She’s called Lagusta’s Luscious should you want to try some!

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I went through lots of phases: zookeeper, dancer, horse trainer, photographer, artist...

What's for breakfast?
Oatmeal, with fruit, nuts, honey and yogurt on top.

A wish that came true.
To teach at the 2011 Sock Summit. It was quite a phenomenal! I was thrilled to even attend something called a Sock Summit..

What risk are you glad you took?
Telling my now-boyfriend on our FIRST date that I wanted to move to the country and have chickens and goats, and that if he wasn’t into that, we shouldn’t have a second date!

If you could learn a creative skill other than your profession, what would it be?
Pottery. I have a hankering to make organically shaped planters with drainage holes, which they never seem to have! I’d also love to become a Master Gardener.

A condiment you love.
The homemade ketchup at our local café, Market Market.

What book do you keep on your coffee table?
All three of Natalie Chanin’s books.

What you love most about what you do.
I make my own schedule. I choose my projects. And my studio is a huge sky lit room with windows on three sides, surrounded by woods and my yard so I see my chickens, as well as deer, hummingbirds and other assorted wildlife as I work.

The most challenging or difficult part about what you do.
Time management. Having a free form schedule isn’t always easy for me.

Any trade secrets/words of wisdom you’d like to divulge?
Do what you love, and find your own definition of “success.”

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Thank you Cal!