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Background on Crescent Moon
At the first craft show where she displayed her wares, Gretchen Hulse made $110. That was because she sold 11 T-shirts for $10 apiece.
Today, the Moorestown artist/designer does 40 or 50 craft shows each year, but leaves the T-shirts at home. Instead, she features a full line of clothing that she has designed in her small studio just a few miles away from Riverton, where she grew up.
Not bad for someone who just a few years ago had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.
After graduating from Stockton State College in Pomona, where she received a degree in visual arts and arts management, she delivered pizza. She also worked in a frame shop. But she also saved her money and made plans, and began to experiment making T-shirts using batik, an Indonesian method of hand-printing textiles that uses wax.
From those children's T-shirts she expanded into women's dresses, and a business
-- Crescent Moon Clothing --
was born.
And Hulse has graduated from batik and clothing of other people's creations to block-printing her own patterns on apparel she has designed. "I didn't like what was offered, so I started designing my own," she said.
The clothing -- which is colored using fiber-reactive dyes and also includes tunics, vests, jumpers, skirts, pants and leggings -- is 100 percent cotton (although the spring and summer lines do include some linen/cotton blends), and is wash and wear, said Hulse.
So are her designs -- earthy motifs that she painstakingly carves into rubber blocks which are then dabbed with washable textile paint and pressed onto the clothing. Her original designs, which are now retired, included the Tree of Life, and Dance of Life, and images based on Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and Henri Matisse's "Dance."
"Now, I come up with metaphysical, fun, dancing figures," said Hulse. That includes a sun goddess; a trendy dragonfly; "Moondance," a rejoicing figure romping in the shadow of a smiling moon; and "Flower Power," a daisy-like bloom that evokes the 1960s.
"I want to put meanings into the images," she said.
The designs differ depending upon the color of the fabric -- items in blueberry are adorned with the sun goddess, while the dragonfly buzzes across rasberry-colored clothing. But one thing is constant -- Hulse's signature, a crescent moon, is stamped on the back of every garment.
While her clothes are available locally at Victorian Thymes in Riverton and at Blue Sky in the Morning in Ocean City, they also have found their way out of New Jersey -- Hulse spends her weekends displaying her wares at craft shows from Massachusetts to Virginia to Western Pennsylvania, and everywhere in-between. Her sister, Katie McGuinnis, Brings the clothes to the Rancocas Woods craft show the fourth Saturday of each month and sets up shop, which also features discontinued items at reduced prices. And Hulse has a catalog for those who perfer to order by mail.
"I ship to 21 states," said Hulse, who is a member of the Philadelphia Craft Association. She also now has a representative in Chicago, and is working on samples for her fall line, while still filling spring/summer orders. "The fall line is heavier (fabric), like French terry, and darker colors -- raspberry, blueberry, black, and fog" she said.
While the line changes each season, she always offers one-piece dresses and jumpers, as well as at least eight mix-and-match separates that can be combined to make various ensembles. In total, she carries 15 or 16 pieces in four or five colors.
While her Empire dress is popular, Hulse has found she sells the most long-and short-sleeve shirts to her fans. Those customers like the little touches she uses, such as stamping the design both inside and out of the cuffs on her bib overall pants, so shorter women can roll up the legs and still show off the pattern.
She also has been commissioned by Signature Designs in Moorestown to create a distinctive T-shirt celebrating the town. Her design, featuring the Community House, is being used to raise funds for the local landmark.
While she has come a long way from delivering pizza with extra cheese and sausage, her success isn't far from her childhood dreams.
"When I was 13, I always said I was going to be a clothing designer in New York," she said. "Now it's come to the point where my stuff is recognizable. People will look at it and say
"Crescent Moon."
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Last update by Jasmine's Web Designs 8/04/99
