Bella Bleu: Embroidery and Designs
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Author
Hall, Corena
Date
2009
Degree
Master of Leadership Development
Abstract
In 1994 after the birth of her daughter, Katarina, it was impossible to find her name on anything
being that it was unusual. We realized that we were not the only parent who had this problem.
| went to the local embroidery and sewing shop and told them that | was looking for a home
embroidery machine where | could design my own logos and do names. An hour and $400 later
| left the store with my Brother Embroidery machine in tow. This machine only lasted me about
4 months before | outgrew it and was back at the same store trading my machine in and
purchasing an upgrade. My upgrade led me to a whole new world of digitizing and | was able to
create more unique designs on my computer and was not bound by the restrictions that the
embroidery companies had put on the market. | was able to scan and create (aka digitize) my
own embroidery designs on the computer and then added them to my garments. Little Chaz
was born. For those who are wondering what the name CHAZ stands for, it meant Corena
Herniter Arizona like DKNY (Donna Karen New York) and little because | was doing it for
children. Over the years the business grew slowly and upon moving to Indiana a choice had to
be made of whether to purchase a commercial machine. This would allow us to do orders
faster and the ultimate goal was to embroider hats. After a three day class in Orlando, Florida
we learned how to use the large commercial machine. Finally a week later the Toyota ESP9000
arrived at our house ready for the first order. By owning and operating this commercial
embroidery machine it would open the doors to many new and exciting embroidery options for
Little Chaz. This enabled for us to expand our embroidery options to baseball hats, jacket backs
and the main target market, car mats. Seven years later, Little Chaz went through an earth shaking issue that changed the face of the business. In light of all the changes that had
happened, a new outlook for the company was needed to restructure and get the business off
the ground in a new market and new state. | wanted a name that represented what | actually
did which is embroidery and that name had to be catchy and memorable. While pondering
new name ideas, | narrowed it down to two names; Deliah’s Truck and Bella Bleu. Deliah was
after my Grandmother's middle name Edra Deliah but it didn’t work with embroidery. Bella
Bleu sort of rolled off the tongue and worked with embroidery. In 2008, Bella Bleu Embroidery
& Designs was born. The professional website for embroidery is known as Bella Bleu
Embroidery. But we have also broken off into Bella Bleu Designs for our custom designed
women’s clothing and Baby Bella for my children’s line.