Coffee Talk With The Cajun Mamas
Hey friends! It's Koa and Sarah, the Cajun Mamas! Grab a cup of coffee and press play on our podcast! You may be familiar with our social media content, but now, we can have longer conversations. We are going to dive in to topics like life experiences, what it's like to be a mom these days, inspiration, encouragement and more. Thanks for subscribing!
Coffee Talk With The Cajun Mamas
From Sewing Lessons To 1,500 Costumes: Inside A Cajun Maker’s Mardi Gras Empire
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A costume can hold a whole culture. We sit down with Karen from Vacajun to trace how a childhood hobby became a powerhouse Mardi Gras shop that outfits everyone from newborns to 5XL with bold fringe, custom prints, and zero‑waste creativity. Karen opens up about learning to sew at her mother’s side, winning 4‑H competitions, and then tackling high-stakes ball gowns for major krewes before shifting into Courir de Mardi Gras suits that locals demanded and the country now loves.
You’ll hear how Vacajun runs on planning and play: smart inventory formulas, categories like chicken, crawfish, camo, and classic purple-green-gold, and a cutting process that turns every scrap into something new—mask noses, capuchons, stuffed chickens, and the fan-favorite “cutting room floor” suits. Karen also shares the origin of “Fringe With Benefits,” a clever clip-on side fringe that transforms jeans or leggings without committing to full pants, plus how her cross-trained team flips between sewing, embroidery, and T-shirts to keep orders moving during peak season.
The secret sauce is custom fabric printing. After auditioning for Shark Tank, Karen bought a printer anyway and now her team designs exclusive textiles—from watercolor Acadian flags to raccoons on tie-dye—so krewes and families can wear their identity. We swap stories about a DIY shop runway show, nationwide shipping to surprising places, and why authentic Cajun style thrives when tradition meets invention. If you’re searching for Courir de Mardi Gras costumes, Cajun fringe pants, or custom Mardi Gras outfits, you’ll find practical tips, inspiration, and a behind-the-scenes look at how culture gets made by hand.
Subscribe, share with a friend who loves Mardi Gras, and tell us: are you team full fringe or Fringe With Benefits?
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Welcome, Sponsor, And Seasonings
SPEAKER_03So I went through all my um elementary school and high school years, and I even won a contest and won a trip to Chicago. Wow, a little country girl going that far was really something.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_03No?
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's dive into real conversations about life, motherhood, and a little inspiration to brighten your day.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. We in February, y'all.
SPEAKER_01Dang, man. Dang. I wish I could say it was gone by fast, but January was the longest month of my life.
SPEAKER_02I think that was at least 300 days in January. At least. I know. I don't know. Maybe it was the cold. Like we were cooped up too long, too much. I think so. And everybody's sick and all.
SPEAKER_01Uh-uh. I'm ready to be out of uh January and into a fresh month. Today we have a special guest for y'all on Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas, Miss Karen Thibodeau of the Cajun in Branch. Um, and we're going to get started with this episode by talking about our friend Hal, the Cajun Lady accent, who has so graciously um sponsored us for another month. Um her line of seasonings, y'all already know, Creozotico, blackened that. Cajun Wells is my favorite. Um, and spice the Cajun Spicy two-step, if you like it spicy, a little extra spice. Yes. Um, really dry up, clean out those sinuses. Get your nose running and get things flowing, you know. Forget the VIX off. Go pick up some Cajun spicy two-step. Uh Mexican fiestas are our favorite. That's our favorite as far as you know, Mexican goes. Right. Um, she's got the dry dips, she's got the cracker mixes. Get all, just go and load up a pack a pack. Okay. You go into the Morty Girl, you're gonna need things to bring for your friends. Some dips, some little dips. All the things. Crawfish season is upon us. It is.
SPEAKER_02And she looks, she got the liquid seafood bowl, she got the the seafood bowl butter stuff. You can dip your crawfish. She got the that dip already made to dip your crawfish in. And she got the big things of crawfish, like seafood ball seasoning, too. You could just dump that in your water.
SPEAKER_01Everything you need for a good crawfish bowl. Hal's got it. She's got hats and t-shirts. Y'all check out her um on Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and you need to go subscribe to her email so you can get all the updates on her new products. Because I know she's got some new products. She's got some new stuff coming, yeah. All right.
Meet Karen Of Vacajun
SPEAKER_02How the Cajun Ladyaccent.com. All right. Thank y'all so much. Now, Miss Karen, you are near and dear to our hearts, specifically and especially not only because y'all do Marty Girl costumes, which is so big around here, but because you also do our Cajun Mamas merch. I just wanted to shout her out real fast for that. Because everything you see on CajunMamas.com is made by Miss Karen and and her staff at Vacajan. Do you prefer Vacajan or Soul Wood? Vacajan. Vacajan. Okay. I keep saying Soul Wood. I know me too.
SPEAKER_03It's a hard habit to break. It's a hard habit to break, but can't make the transition. Gotcha. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So, yes, these lovely little shirts we have on, all our Mardi Girl merch.
SPEAKER_01She they put up with a lot from us. They do. And um, and we we wanted to thank her, but then also we wanted her to come on and kind of tell us a little bit about Mardi Girl, what her specialty is, and her how she got into it and stuff, because it's a very unique thing.
Sewing Roots And 4‑H Wins
SPEAKER_02If y'all can see, if y'all are watching on YouTube right now, um, behind Miss Karen, we have hanging up a traditional style Morty Girl costume. This is only one of thousands of costume styles that she offers. Um, but this is a full fringe one, okay? And the pants This is the elite. This is elite right here. This is full fringe. The pants are with it underneath, hanging up, um, and it can come in so many different colors. And then next to it is a mask. Like if you run in Mardi Gras traditionally, you have a full suit, you have a mask to hide your identity, and you have a Capuchan hat, which is behind me, those long-pointed hats. Um, so Miss Karen, how in the world did you decide or what brought about for you making these costumes?
SPEAKER_03So I um wasn't always into Mardi Gras, I but I was definitely always into sewing. I love to make things um from start to finish and come up with new ideas and try to keep it fresh by doing something new and creative each year. But um so I started sewing when I was a child. Um my mom let me uh kind of tag along with her. She knew how to sew and she showed me about three or four years old. I started sewing by hand with a little needle and thread and uh making stuff for my Barbie dolls and uh other other style dolls. And so um now your mama would sew for people, or she showed you. She would just sew for her for me. Family, yeah, okay. Mostly just for me. Because I know they have some that would like you know, sew for other people and she was not confident enough in herself to do that. And in fact, when I started doing it, she was panicked all the time because she worried, I don't know that you know, because other people would bring their fabric in, and it was expensive stuff, and you know, like to mess up would be a big thing, yeah. So um she just sewed for me. I would get a little dress for Christmas and for Easter, and she didn't sew a lot, but when she did, um, because there was four of us to raise, so she was busy. Yeah, but um so I started just but sewing by Hannah a little backstitch that she showed me, and then when I was six, I got my own sewing machine, and then I joined 4-H, so it kind of went on from there. I started learning stuff. 4-H is a great program. I know they don't do as much uh now as they used to.
SPEAKER_01Their sewing program is like really hard to get into. Our kids got into it because you have to be like on it, but it's it's a great all of all of our kids win.
From Ball Gowns To Courir Costumes
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. So I went through all my um elementary school and high school years, and I even won a contest and won a trip to Chicago. Wow! Wow, yeah, little country girl going that far was really something you're gonna. No, just our group that all the winners from our parish, we all went together, and I can't even believe she let me go. Right?
SPEAKER_02That's what I'm thinking. How old were you?
SPEAKER_03Uh I was 17 or 18. Okay, okay. But I've never really been anywhere, not by myself for sure. Yeah, yeah. So that was fun, and um, and then I started college and um and I met someone that was doing some uh Mardi Gras sewing, and uh she kind of introduced me to the Mardi Gras world, but not the career de Mardi Gras. We were doing the ball costumes. So I've sewn for um Apollo, Bonaparte, uh Rio, Victoria, um Xana do some of the big crews at Lafayette, even Gabriel and Evangeline with the big all the stuff. Yeah. Whoa. Um that's all hand beaded. I started on those like in April, hand beaded. I was gonna say, how long does something like that take you? All year for those, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03So they plan their out their outfits like a year in advance. They do, yeah. They are on like a 13-month rotation. So before Mordi Girl happens, they already have chosen the yeah, the the people that are in that are like all in. So um that was a fun experience, and um, but it was very intense. So I did that for about three years, and um then uh every time people would come every season, they would say, You don't make those chicken chasing costumes or whatever. And I'd say, I don't, I don't think people go to a store to buy that. Their moms, their lady's make that, you know, they or they put together something themselves, they just doing that at home, and so everybody kept asking. So finally I said, Well, I'm gonna just I'll take a stab at it. So I made three sizes small, medium, and large, and um, probably maybe 30 or 50 costumes, not that many the first year, and pretty much they all sold. But then people started asking for kids, so I said, Okay, well, next year I'll make some kid costumes. So small, medium, and large again. Well, now we're up to 18 sizes from newborn to 5XL, and um Wow, yeah, and um we this year before the season started, we had over 1500 costumes in stock.
SPEAKER_02So you this is something you work at all year, like to stock the shelves for this special time of year when Mardi Gras season comes, so that you're stocked and ready. Yes.
Scaling Up: Sizes, Stock, And Seasons
SPEAKER_03So I start I usually do my inventory either Mardi Gras day when we're closed or the next day, Ash Wednesday, and then I uh have a little formula that I pick how many that I want to make out of each, like we do categories like patriotic and um chicken inform and some camos, you know, you gotta have something for everybody. So um do some fancy sparkly ones and then some a little step down. The chicken fabric, anything with chicken fabric or crawfish goes. So, yeah, we've got to make sure we have plenty of those. They like purple, green, and gold, just you know, solid colors, or maybe patterns in those colors. So I have my little formula and we work it out, and then I just start cutting the next day. And then the day asked the morning girl, she's she's very preparing for the next year. If we don't, we fall behind. Like this year, we ran out of time. We don't have nearly enough of the just the pants, those sparkly pants, man. Yeah, things are being.
SPEAKER_02That's what I got me last year. Just a pair of pants with the sparkle fringes on them. We should have worn our pants today. We should have.
SPEAKER_01You know, and I'm always looking for a good chance to wear my pants. I know. You know? Oh, it I mean, and you go in there, okay, and it's just like rows and rows. And we're talking newborn, we're talking dresses, little scriptures. We're talking like little onesies you can zip up in the back with the fringe on the side, the two pieces. I mean, she's got everything over there. And I just find it so interesting that this, and it they're available all year, right? You can go there, they all the racks are always full. You can go and get them at any time, prepare for next year, get them now this year. But it's just so interesting. I love to go and see all the different fabrics uh that she she chooses and this one might be. I say this is delete. Yeah, but you really with the fringe and all the different colors, this is that's a Mardi Girl costume.
SPEAKER_02It is, and like they don't all have they don't some of them do like color coordinate and match, but they don't all have to. And I feel like the ones that are full fringe, like the the coolest ones are just all like a Modge Podge of different designs. Like, and that all comes from like how do you you look at your fabric and you're like, okay, I think that would go together, and you just start putting it together and what happens happens.
Design Choices And No‑Waste Craft
SPEAKER_03I mean, or you have a vision kind of well, uh like I said, I work my little list that I have, and then and I cut out all the costumes by hand. Everyone goes through me. I'm the first one, and I so I pick what I want and and I cut it, and then I have my scraps in in little totes behind me, and I have them divided in different sizes. So when I have some scraps, uh some go to making chickens, that's the stuffed chickens that I have, some go to make noses for the mask, some go for the capuchons, and some go to make fringe to put on other costumes. So there's hardly any waste at all. And so when we get down, so the ones that are full fringe, they they sometimes the the girls that pin them, they like to do themes. So if they do and they pick a theme and they say it's gonna be camo, well, they get all the camo fabric out and they put that on the costume. So you might end up with a little piece on the end that don't fit on that costume, so yeah, that's where we get that a mosh polish. All the little pieces, they save them up, and then and then we make a bunch like that.
SPEAKER_02And there you know, you get a one of a kind.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like that. No one is all the different things, you know. Um, and I think it just makes for a good, a good Mordi Girl run.
SPEAKER_03I think that's some of their the ones that the girls like to make the most are those because anything goes. Anything goes, it doesn't have to match. They just they try to lay it out so that it looks pleasing to the eye, but other than that, there's no primary reason, no theme to the we call it cutting room floor. So we okay, we joke in the beginning that we were just sweeping the floor and whatever we find we could on the costume.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's those are my favorite cutting room floor. Yeah, those are my favorite.
SPEAKER_02Well, I would imagine some of the actual first morning girl costumes, like when people would dress up, were like that. It was whatever scraps you have laying around because it was not fancy, you know. And you got shirts that have holes in them or something, you save that for they didn't waste anything, right?
SPEAKER_03You know, so so we kind of follow in that same tradition. We don't throw any fabric away, we don't waste anything down to the last little bit. We find something we can make with it. Yeah, and you have such a good eye for that.
SPEAKER_02Like, oh, I'm gonna re I know how to repurpose this. We were just talking about that. Um, but some of your costumes um I have a theme, and like I have seen uh have I've seen the Santa Claus, okay? There's a whole Santa Claus, there's a there was a chicken, like white with yellow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's a whole point.
SPEAKER_01There's a whole point in there. It's a whole whole morning girl.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I know I've seen a a pink one, maybe a unicorn or something. Like, tell me in tell me about those. Like, how do you how does those come about?
Themes, Fashion Show, And One‑Of‑A‑Kinds
SPEAKER_03Okay, so a few years ago, we decided that every year we would have a fashion show. Well, it only happened once. Oh, but anyway, it was so much fun, and it was uh Wizard of Oz theme, and so we had Dorothy and the Tin Man and the Lion and uh all those characters, and we they were all career de Mardi Girl costumes. So uh Dorothy comes out and um the hook like hits her house and makes it spin around. Oh my gosh. So yeah, it was really funny, and um we you should have seen the shop. Like we turned it in, we used the tables in the embroidery department as the runway. People were up on the tables walking. How did we not know about this?
SPEAKER_01All off and um I feel like we need to bring this back now.
SPEAKER_03I want to be in one, I want to be a model in the show. And so throughout the whole play, she was Dorothy was trying to find out where she was. So we had SpongeBob and a mermaid for under the sea. We had some princesses, and we did them all in career to Mardi Gras style. Yes, and so it was a lot of fun, and we had superheroes and um just all kind of stuff, and it was so much fun, and so the next year it was supposed to be the village people, and that they were gonna be looking for a new band member, and so I had it all like a policeman, and like a farmman, like all the fringe, yes, it would have been so much fun. Oh man. Let's table that, table that for later and come back to it. Yeah, oh man.
SPEAKER_01So, how long do you think you've been making uh the Kudir ones?
The Shop: Embroidery And T‑Shirts
SPEAKER_03Um, probably I was trying to think of that so that I could give an answer. Um, I would say around 20 years, but maybe not a full 20. I I don't really have a starting date because the business I just kind of grew up into it and it just started like from my high school years, and I do have like a a beginning date that I officially in '97 started the business. But like I said, I was doing the the big production Mardi Gras, and I didn't have uh, and I even did a few weddings and stuff like that back in the day, but um, so I I didn't know that it was gonna turn into this, so I didn't make like a note in my mind like I should remember this day. Yeah, you know, yeah, it just just snuck up all over and it um kind of I say all the time, it just kind of just grew out of control, and I I it like it's controlling me now because I'm just doing I'm just going with the flow. Something new comes up, I just I just try it, and if it works, like the fashion show, yeah, we had a lot of fun, and then and then I'll just try something different. Yeah, just keep going.
SPEAKER_02And you don't only do that, uh morning girl costumes, but you have an embroidery business too, like with that.
SPEAKER_03Yes, we have about 15 commercial embroidery machines, we do a lot of school uniforms and uh businesses come to us to get their logos put on. We do a lot of caps, um, and then we have our t-shirt um part of the business too. So it's like a lot of different um little divisions, a lot of moving parts. Everybody's uh and thank goodness I have a good team because they will move from sewing something to pressing some t-shirts. I just say, come on, we got a big job, and then they go, you know, pitch in. All hands on deck over here.
SPEAKER_01All hands on deck, I love it. Yeah, okay, but I want to circle back to how Miss Karen's an inventor, too. Um, so when you go, you can get your regular style Mordi Girl costumes, okay. But then also if you don't want the whole, you know, ensemble, she's got the little ones at the bottom. The fringe. Did you come up with that? The little ones like uh the ones with the adjustable. Yes, the little leg warmers. Yeah, yeah.
Inventing Fringe With Benefits
SPEAKER_03Well, I'd seen those furry ones that people buy, and I thought, how can we make that cajun? And plus those are kind of hot for this weather most of the time. It's today, but it's not always. So I thought we need to make that cajun. So so that's how I came up with that. But then I thought, well, of course, that's not enough. So your brain doesn't stop, does it? No, all the time thinking of crazy ideas. So I wanted to do uh what we call fringe with benefits, so it's all the benefits of fringe without the commitment of pants, and so they just clip on the belt loop or the top of your leggings, and then it's got a elastic strap around your knee and your ankle.
SPEAKER_02Yep, and so it's just the side fringe without having to buy the full set of pants. So I know I've used those before. I've put them on tights and I've put them on jeans. Yeah, so any kind of pant you want.
SPEAKER_03Yep, yeah, something that's comfortable for you, you know, that you already own.
SPEAKER_01Right. I just thought that was like just the cutest thing. Friends with bitter. Her little her spiel just gets me every time. So I just I just know I it's just a warm feeling when you go there. It it's so um, they're so welcoming, inviting in. And uh, I know if you don't really know too much about Morty Girl down here in our little piece of the world, we are going to give you a history on it in our next episode. So tune in for that. But Miss Karen has the store. Yeah, the store you need to go to.
SPEAKER_02And if you not, if you can't make it there, they can order online too, by the way, at vacation.com.
Shipping, Community, And Growing Demand
SPEAKER_03And we ship all over the country. We we have some people from Washington State that order probably every year we send something to them.
SPEAKER_02I wonder what they're doing with that over there. They wear it for what? Like, I don't think they have parties over there, huh?
SPEAKER_03I I think there is, I think they're springing up all over the place. Okay. People are finding out how much fun we have. Um, we haven't seen the most fun.
SPEAKER_01I feel bad for the ones that don't celebrate like we do. It's just something special. Yeah. So um, yeah, I mean, this has been really fun. You have anything else you want to add?
SPEAKER_03Um, well, we didn't talk about the fabric printing. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Please touch on that because sometimes I will go in there and be like, Do you have this in another size or whatever? And she'd be like, uh no, that's one we made. Like we actually printed and made that fabric ourselves. And I'm like, oh, so this is special.
Custom Printed Fabrics And Shark Tank Try
SPEAKER_03Yeah, my family and I actually auditioned for Shark Tank because I really wanted to get that fabric printer, and they're kind of pricey, but we didn't get on the show. So um, since I really, really wanted it, we just took out alone and bought it anyway. We bought it anyway, and I just didn't get the maximum model. I got uh, you know, a little scaled-down model. Okay, but um, yeah, I have a couple of great designers on staff, and they design like one new one we did this year was some raccoons on a tie-dye purple, green, and gold fabric. The um mascot for their Mardi Gras crew was the raccoons, and he said he wanted raccoons. Well, I don't have fabric with raccoons on it, but I can get some so um, yeah. So we designed it and printed it, and um, and he got exactly what he wanted.
SPEAKER_01Y'all that's so cool.
SPEAKER_03Is that a design?
SPEAKER_01Is that a design?
SPEAKER_03That is actually yes, one of our designs. My nephew watercolored the Acadian flag just on a little piece of paper, he scanned it into the computer and then designed the fabric around it. And it comes in royal blue and a black background, also.
SPEAKER_02So you will not find that fabric at Joanne's or Hobby Lobby. That is a one-of-a-con Vicajun fabric.
SPEAKER_01That is that is so special, and so like if you need a custom Morty Girl costume, obviously you need to go, you need to talk up early, you know. Yeah, but uh, but I like having that option, you know. I maybe maybe we need to make us some Cajun Mamo pants for next year. With Corel cups on them? Ah Okay, yeah, okay, okay, so table that I'm gonna do. Okay, but uh there's just so many, so many options. Um, and even if you don't celebrate Mordi Girl, what a conversation piece. I know, right? You know, if you are living somewhere where this is not anything, I mean, would you imagine showing up somewhere with this costume? I don't know, I think it would be funny. Yep, or a girls' weekend with your Mordy Girl costumes on. Just have fun with it. It's all about having fun. That's right. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming, Miss Karen. You know we love you. Um and we love we love the business and we love supporting local. So um, we wish you a happy Mordy Girl season. Yes, and take a little vacation after, even though I know you won't.
Closing Thanks And Sponsor Wrap
SPEAKER_02Take a vacation. Take a vacation, yes. All right. Um, y'all go to Vegas. Cajun.com, that's V-A-C-A-J-U-N.com to see all the costumes and all the t-shirts and all the good stuff that they have going on, okay? And let's close out by thanking How the Cajun Lady Accent for being our official sponsor this month. Go to how the Cajun Ladyaccent.com and check out her extensive line of Cajun seasonings. She's got it all, y'all. She can make she could she's gonna put some flavor in your mouth and in your house. Some spice in your life. Some spice in your life, exactly. She's the spice girl. She is the spice girl. She will kill us if she if we she knew we was calling her the spice girl, oh Lord. Uh but anyway, listen, bring some of her dry dry dip mixes or cracker mixes to a little function, a gathering, a party, and you'll be the hit of the party, I promise. And she is she even has a Mardi Girl dip. Yeah. So perfect timing. Perfect timing. Go grab you some at how the Cajun LadyAccent.com. By the way, her seasonings are low in sodium and MSG free, which is hard to find. So thank you, Hal, for being our sponsor this month, and we'll see y'all next time. Bye, y'all.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for joining us on Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. We hope you enjoyed your cup of coffee and our chat. Don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends. Until next time, keep the coffee brewing and the conversation flowing.