whileshenaps.com

Sewing, blogging, and creative business.

  • About
    • About Abby
  • Sewing
    • Abby Glassenberg Design Patterns
    • Free Patterns
    • Softie Sewing Tutorials
    • Softie Design Tutorials
    • Stuffed Animals (the book)
    • The Artful Bird
    • Featured Soft Toy Designers
    • Fostering Your Creativity
      • The Pattern That Changed My Life
    • Kid’s Crafts
    • Selling Your Handmade Softies
    • Sew-a-Longs
    • Studio Updates
    • Teaching
  • Blogging
    • Blog Design and Organization
    • Building Great Email Newsletters
    • How to Write a Great Blog Post
    • Increasing Your Traffic
    • Monetizing Your Blog
  • Business
    • Being Self-Employed
    • Legal and Financial Issues
    • Getting Published
      • Traditional Print Publishing
      • Self-Publishing
        • Patterns
      • Book Reviews
    • Online Culture of Craft
    • Ecommerce and Etsy
    • Marketing
    • Customer Service
  • The Podcast
    • Episodes
    • How to make a podcast
    • Podcast Recommendations
  • Shop
    • Ebooks
    • Digital Patterns
    • Print Patterns and Kits
    • Specialty Supplies
  • Courses
    • Email Marketing for Crafters
    • Learn to Sew Puzzle Ball Animals
  • Cart
    • My Account
    • Checkout

An Inside Look at How Much Fabric Designers Earn

November 3, 2014

image credit Designing quilting cottons is a significant status symbol in the sewing world, and for good reason. Fabric is beautiful. It’s the raw material that draws many of us into sewing in the first place. The chance to design your own collection, to sew with it and see other people sewing with it, is… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Business Tips, Getting Published, Legal and Financial Issues

market research

Market Research Takes the Fear Out of Getting Started

August 29, 2014

In 2011 I was at a crossroads. I had just turned in the manuscript for Stuffed Animals and I wasn’t sure what to do next. For a year I’d been writing a book which meant I was in the rhythm of creating a new pattern every three weeks. I’d learned a lot in the process… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Business Tips, Marketing, Self-Publishing

Sew Cute to Cuddle 1

Book Review: Sew Cute to Cuddle by Mariska Vos-Bolman

August 26, 2014

I pre-ordered Sew Cute to Cuddle by Mariska Vos-Bolman as soon as I saw it on Amazon and was so excited when it arrived last week. Aside from sewing, playing games like judi roulette online is also a great pastime. Mariska is the designer of the popular PDF softie pattern business, DIY Fluffies. She’s Dutch… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Book Reviews

What Happens When Your Pattern Goes Viral: The Spool Bird

May 30, 2014

UPDATED February 17, 2019: You can now purchase a copy of the Spool Bird pattern in two sizes from Michael’s Etsy shop for $5 right here. In 2008 Michael Fulkerson was working as a sewing teacher at Spool Sewing, a fabric store in Philadephia. The store owners asked Fulkerson if he could create a pattern… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Online Culture of Craft, Patterns

Book Review: Make Your Own Soft Toys by Rob Merrett

May 2, 2014

  Make Your Own Soft Toys was originally published in 2010 under the title Sew It, Stuff It and with this cover: Photo by Laura Howard. The new title and cover photo are more appealing, I think. They’re cleaner and more to the point. This is purely a project book. For the cover price of… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Book Reviews

Why I’ve Decided to Pay for Books I Review

April 28, 2014

I have a book review coming on Friday, but before I post it I wanted to share with you a change I've made in my book review policy. When you've got a blog with a good-sized audience marketers of all sorts reach out to you asking if you'll write about their products. Mostly I say… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Online Culture of Craft

Book Review- Seams Unlikely: The Inspiring True Life Story of Nancy Zieman

March 10, 2014

In March of 2004 I left my teaching job to be home with our newborn daughter. She was tiny and fussy and I was going through an identity crisis, having abruptly transitioned from an exciting, interactive profession I’d done for many years to being at home, alone during the daytime, learning to be a mother…. 

Read More »

Filed Under: Book Reviews

Indie Patterns

How Indie Patterns Have Revolutionized Sewing

February 5, 2014

Sewing skipped a generation in my family. Growing up we didn’t have a sewing machine at home and I never saw my mother sew. The first time I sewed was in Home Economics class in 8th grade. I was terrible at it and got a C- on our final project due to wonky seams on… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Online Culture of Craft, Patterns, Self-Publishing

How to Get Your Print Patterns Into Stores (the Easy Way): Cut Loose Press

January 28, 2014

Walking into your favorite local quilt shop and seeing your pattern hanging on the display wall would certainly be a thrill. For many sewing pattern designers, the idea of selling print patterns is very appealing. It means your designs will be sold all over the country and bought by customers who might not ever read… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Getting Published, Patterns, Traditional Print Publishing

The Prevalence of Free Eastern European Softie Patterns Online

January 23, 2014

I've finally embraced Pinterest. I set up an account a few years ago and was using it a little bit, but I didn't really grasp it's utility, both for collecting and storing creative ideas and for promoting my own work, until very recently. These past few weeks I've been working on a whole series of… 

Read More »

Filed Under: Getting Published, Online Culture of Craft, Patterns

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • …
  • 11
  • Next Page »
Welcome! I'm Abby Glassenberg and I'm glad you're here. While She Naps is a blog about designing and sewing stuffed animals and running a creative business.
email me
Facebook
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Bestselling Ebook

Join the Trade Organization

Etsy Shop

Books By Abby

Stuffed Animals Book Trailer

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2025 · Abby Glassenberg · Design by Shay Bocks