SEWING FAITH

“Motherhood has inspired basically every part of my shop...”

Kathleen West Launched Ethically Sourced Boutique Inspired by Motherhood & Faith

BY JESSICA RINAUDO

Entrepreneurs have many sources of inspiration when launching a new product or jumping into a new endeavor, and Kathleen West is no exception. Her inspiration is rooted in the divine and her vocation as a mother.

West, and her husband, Ben, are from opposite sides of the country – she from Vermont and he from Arizona. They met at John Paul the Great Catholic University in California. A job opportunity brought them to Cincinnati, where they now reside. They are parents to three little girls, and her business, Meadowcress Boutique, is West’s response to filling a desire for baby bonnets and accessories responsibly made from ethically sourced materials.

“After Lucy was born, I was on Instagram a lot. I would see little shops that have bonnets and cute vintage style clothes, and I wanted them for her, but we couldn’t afford them,” West said. “And so, I decided that I would make her something. I borrowed a friend’s sewing machine because I didn’t have one at the time. And I made a bonnet that we still use.”

She continued, “At that time I was also learning about fast fashion. I watched a documentary called The True Cost. ... It was really clear to me that supporting fast fashion was, to me, not in line with Catholic teaching and my moral convictions. ... I wanted to find a way to make ethical pieces for Lucy and have it be less expensive. And it was less expensive for me to make those things.”

Drawing on the sewing knowledge her grandmother taught her in middle school, West began making clothes for her daughter. She

Our Lady of Fatima tea towels and Our Lady of Kibeho zipper pouch from Meadowcress Boutique.

quickly discovered that sewing was a great creative outlet and provided her a place, as she put it, “to just be Kathleen.”

“I bought my first organic cotton fabric from a little shop and ... sewed a bonnet. I posted it to my personal Instagram. People were like ‘Oh my gosh, this is so beautiful,’” said West. “We just moved [to Cincinnati], so I wasn’t working at the time. And I thought I could just [sew items as] a side thing. To be able to do something I really enjoy after Lucy was in bed, and bring other people joy with these pretty things I was making and help teach people about ethical fashion.”

She officially launched Meadowcress Boutique, an online store, when she was pregnant with her second child in 2018. As her business grew, so too did her product collection and focus.

“Originally when I started, I was not doing faith fabrics. I was just finding fabrics I thought were cute. Then I started feeling a bit of a tug to move in that direction,” she said. “I had seen some people releasing saint inspired fabrics. I just started [sewing these fabrics] without a whole lot of thought. But now I feel like the reason I continue to use saint inspired fabric is because I really love the idea that each saint shows us a unique path to holiness and I want people to feel connected to the saints that they love, and have things that remind them of those saints and inspire them to imitate those saints.”

With the growth of Meadowcress Boutique, West also launched a blog that provides Catholic resources and activities to families.

“Motherhood has inspired basically every part of my shop,” said West. “I make things I want for my girls or things that I think would be useful for them, and I really loved making them for other people.”

FROM ANNE COYLE HORN, HOLY FAMILY PARISH, MIDDLETOWN My mother, Mary Meister Coyle, was the fourth born of five children. She grew up in Hamilton and attended St. Ann Parish. She moved to Middletown when she married my father, Tom. She attended Holy Trinity/Holy Family Parish the rest of her life. Mom was a humble, quiet person and was very talented. She was an excellent seamstress. She made four wedding dresses: mine, my sister’s and two for friends of the family. She cross-stitched and made birth samplers for her five grandchildren. She knitted and crocheted. Her specialty was crocheting hats for newborn babies at the hospital and crafting beautiful afghans. She was active in the community delivering Meals on Wheels and volunteering at Louella Thompson’s Dream Center, serving summer lunches to children in Middletown. My birthday is in February. Every year Mom baked a heart-shaped cake with pink icing and decorated it with maraschino cherries. It was always my favorite gift! Mom babysat for my daughter and one of my nephews and enjoyed having them around. She was an avid bowler and loved the Cincinnati Reds. She would listen to the games on her radio throughout the years. Mom enjoyed traveling to Maine and Vermont with my sister and her family. Mom made sure my sister, brother and I had a good Catholic education and attended Mass on a regular basis. Every morning, my mother would sit on our sofa and prayed the Rosary. That is a great memory for me!

NICK CARPINELLO, GUARDIAN ANGELS PARISH, MT. WASHINGTON Ruth Carpinello, my mother, God rest her soul, was mother to 11 children. She was a saintly woman, if there ever was one. How could she not be between cooking, washing, changing diapers, teaching good manners and praying (which made all the other things possible)? We had statues throughout the house. We all knew Mom would light candles and prayed through the intercession of the Blessed Mother and St. Anne. When times were tough, we prayed the Rosary. We never missed Mass. I learned to love Holy Thursday because Mom would take us to services, and I remember the awesome procession, prayers and the solemnity. Mom was strict, but fair. She was a great manager. From early on the older children learned how to help Mom with chores. We learned cooking, caring for babies and toddlers, doing laundry, including ironing clothes and doing the dishes. I remember when I complained about doing the dishes because I had a cut on my hand. Mom said, “Here look at these cuts on my hands, doing dishes will help them heal.” Mom could sew, make clothes or patch what we had. And with all that, she found time to read. After Mom passed away, I inherited a lot of her religious things. I have found many well used small prayer books with notes and dates of when she prayed novenas.