As Director of Artist Relations at 20×200, an online art market, Carrie Strine is involved with the business of art all day long. In her free time Carrie is an exceptionally skilled quilter. Her textile work is meticulous and beautiful and although she could build a business around it she’s made the conscious choice not…
Sewing Talk – Thoughts on Gender and Sewing
This week in sewing we saw a focus on men who sew, and some outloud thinking about what they’re doing differently (or not) as compared to women who sew. 1. Missouri Star Quilt Company launched Man Sewing with quilter Rob Appell today. Rob describes Man Sewing this way: It’s simple: I am a man. I…
Can You Nurse Your Baby at Quilt Market?: Infants at Craft Industry Trade Shows
Spring Quilt Market will be in Minneapolis in just a few months. Thousands of people will attend this international fabric industry trade show to exhibit, buy, teach, and network. Most of these people will be women, many of them mothers. Although the average age of dedicated quilters in America today is 64, there’s a new…
The Fabric Economy of Facebook Groups
image credit Most people who buy fabric online purchase it through one of the established shops like Pink Castle, Hawthorne Threads, or Fat Quarter Shop. There’s a segment of the fabric buying public, though that purchases fabric through private Facebook groups. As these groups grow in size and popularity, their impact on the more mainstream…
Pick Up the Phone: Networking for Your Creative Business
In early 2013 I called 18 of my long-time blog readers on the phone and talked to them for half an hour or so. Although it was a little out of the ordinary to just pick up the phone and talk to the people who read my blog, it was one of the most transformative…
Where Do Bloggers Fit Among Established Sewing and Crafting Institutions
The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) announced last week that they’ve added a new membership category specifically for bloggers. Founded in 2004, CHA is an international, not-for-profit trade association consisting of thousands of member companies engaged in the design, manufacture, distribution and retail sales of products in the nearly $30 billion U.S. craft and hobby…
Sweepstakers vs. Sewing Bloggers: A Look at Online Culture
Stephanie Woodson is a sewing blogger. She moderates a Facebook group for sewing bloggers, she’s guest posted on Sew Mama Sew, and most recently she’s had a tutorial published in Stitch magazine. It’s safe to say she’s an active participant in the online sewing community. This isn’t the first online community that Stephanie has…
Should You Start a Clothing Line Using Home Sewing Patterns?
Hi there! We’re starting a surf and swimwear line here in Los Angeles. We love the look of your button up shirt and would like to purchase the pattern to use for manufacturing. Would that be okay with you?” If you design and sell home sewing patterns for clothing, this sort of email lands in…
Getting Your Handmade Goods into the Hands of Celebrities
Allison Hoffman’s tagline sums it up well: “I make weird stuff out of yarn. Anything pop culture goes.” In fact, it would be fair to say that Allison Hoffman’s career as a crochet designer is fueled by pop culture. She recreates celebrities as yarn dolls and fairly often those celebrities find their doll likenesses to…
Aurifil’s Alex Veronelli’s Online Behavior Seems Questionable to Me
I was on Twitter this morning and read this tweet from Alex Veronelli, the Product Manager and Public Relations specialist for the Italian thread company, Aurifil. I tweeted back, suggesting that this felt to me like an unprofessional thing to say on social media, given his role in the company. Veronelli replied, “On socials I…
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