Skilled to Work

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Workers make custom pillows in this Calhoun City-based company that serves customers across the United States.

CALHOUN CITY, Miss. (WTVA) -- People can go to work making "dreams" come true by designing and making custom pillows.

The Little Birdie in Calhoun City takes customer orders for custom-made pillows and other types of products for home decoration.

“There’s more to it than just mass-producing one pillow design," Co-owner Susan Hardin said.

A worker attaches tags on finished pillows at The Little Birdie

Hardin explained the business takes orders from all over the United States.

Some examples of their custom products include pillows for a particular college or university, maybe a special day like a wedding date or a date night someone wants to remember forever, family names, addresses, faith-based items, and more.

Hardin says The Little Birdie started in 2015.

"Our daughters were attending Mississippi State, and they asked us to make pillows to give as gifts to their friends," Hardin said. "All of our daughters are artistic, and so they created the artwork, and we made the pillows, and I started going to market, and it took off from there."

In addition to selling to customers online, The Little Birdie also partners with boutiques and other small-town stores.

A pillow from The Little Birdie

“It’s a lot of hard work. Going to markets, there are times when I’ve been to twelve markets a year.”

“Anything from office jobs to sewing jobs. We have people that stuff the pillows, people that pack the pillows, people the handle shipping.”

Hardin says her daughter actually creates most of the designs. She makes around 200 a year.

Hardin added she has to include one incredibly important part:

“And I can’t talk about The Little Birdie without talking about, you know, we’re here because we believe that this is what God wants us to do.”

Check out The Little Birdie's website here.

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