CORONADO, Calif. — A dress made out of 'Tea Towels' has gone viral.
In this Zevely Zone, I headed to Coronado to track down a social media star.
The world of social media can be a mystery of sorts, but my search for a world-famous content creator led me to a garage in Coronado.
That's where I found Cait Trantham sewing. She is a 37-year-old mother of three, married to a Marine, who goes by the handle Cait Conquers. I told her, "Someone in our newsroom spotted you on Instagram and said 'Jeff, go meet Cait.'"
She responded with a huge laugh. "That's nice," she said.
Immediately disarming, Cait is a thrifter and upcycler who puts a new spin on old clothing.
"This is my mannequin Penelope and she is wearing a corset that I made out of thrifted Barbie shoes," said Cait.
That post alone attracted 40 million viewers.
I told her, "When I tried to reach out to you, I ended up communicating with talent agents in Canada. This whole thing is blowing my mind."
If you don't know already, Cait Conquers is a big deal with two million followers on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram watching her every move.
"I had made this dress out of Target bags," said Cait while catching me up to speed on her online success.
After crafting a ball gown out of reusable Target bags, Cait asked her followers what she should make next.
"Somebody commented and said wouldn't it be cool if you asked all of your internet friends to send you tea towels and you could make a dress out of tea towels," said Cait.
When fans sent her 800 tea towels, from all over the world, she thanked every follower. "I think it was 19 to 20 hours of opening them live. Just the packages," she said.
I asked her if she then stayed up all night crafting the dress. "No, ha, ha," laughed Cait.
Instead, she worked on the dress for a year and a half for a total of five hundred hours, emotionally breaking down at times. "I cried a lot because I was like oh my gosh I can't believe people actually sent stuff," said Cait.
The pressure of the project led Cait to this personal post.
"I decided as of this morning I am not going to work on it anymore for a multitude of reasons, the main one being I finished it. I'm done, done! It's done," said Cait.
She has now entered the Tea Towel dress in the upcoming San Diego County Fair in the sewing and upcycling category.
"I really wanted to display it because I know there are a lot of people local who want to see it and I just wanted it to be somewhere so people can see it," said Cait.
I spent the whole afternoon in stitches with a very funny and wonderful person who refused to throw in the towel. I didn't know what to expect when I knocked on Cait Conquer's door, but I found a truly humble, charming, talented person.
"Well now you're going to make me get a big ego," laughed Cait.
You can follow Cait on all of her platforms using the handle Cait Conquers. Her Tea Towel Dress will be on display at the San Diego County Fair from June 12 to July 7.