Toadusew is a sucessful design business that was started in 2005 by Colleen Reale and Chloe Anderson.

Colleen Reale

·         Retired University Professor

·         Been sewing since childhood, quilting since 2000

·         Most important thing to Colleen about our patterns – accuracy

·         Most important thing to Colleen about our designs – that they be unique and original

·         Colleen tends to gravitate toward warm, friendly soft colors and prints and loves pretty much anything in blue.

·         Colleen is a purist when it comes to traditional methods.

Chloe Anderson

·         Background in Commerical Design & Graphic Art

·         Didn’t know how to sew a button on prior to 2005 J

·         Married 10 years to Don Anderson

·         Most important thing to Chloe about our patterns – cover & layout

·         Most important thing to Chloe about our designs – color and that a design offer something unexpected

·         Chloe tends to gravitate toward saturated color and prints that are bold, large scale or edgy.

·         Chloe will is happy to hack away without a plan and give anything a try.

About the Company…

How We Got Started

We began sewing together in 2005 and designed a few projects for local charities and really enjoyed the way we worked together.  In the summer of 2006 a fabric company that had seen one of designs commissioned us to put together some patterns for a new product line they were working on.  We really had no idea what we were doing, or getting ourselves into, but decided it was a great opportunity.  We figured we might fall flat on our faces, but we knew we’d have a great time in the process so we formalized our creative partnership into a legal partnership named Toadusew Creative Concepts in September 2006.

The most frequently asked question we get is how we came up with the name Toadusew.  It’s a long story, but it really does reflect a lot about how we got started and how we operate day to day.  Colleen and I met through the local quilt shop where Colleen was the manager.  In fact I bought my first sewing machine from Colleen.  We became good friends quite quickly and spent every Tuesday afternoon sewing together.  I learned a lot from sewing with Colleen and every time I took the time to follow her suggestions my project came out so much better.  I would hold up my block thrilled at the perfect results, to which she would patiently nod and say “Told you so.”  When it came time to formalize our creative partnership into a “real” business, we thought Toadusew would give folks the same chuckle it gives us.