Have you checked in with yourself lately to see how you’re feeling about your day-to-day business activities? Being a solo entrepreneur means tackling many different tasks each day, everything from responding to customer emails to reordering supplies to meeting with your accountant, and so much more. You’re responsible for dreaming up the big ideas that…
On Embracing the Unknown – International Trade
The first week of July I got an email from a podcast listener named Elizabeth. Hi Abby, I listen to your podcast regularly and I wondered if anyone has addressed yet how the tariffs are going to affect small craft businesses and fabric manufacturers that print their fabric overseas? I haven’t really seen anything in…
On Beginning To Sew My Own Clothes
In June I went to see Roxane Gay speak with my friend, Jenny. “Did you know she had bariatric surgery?” Jenny asked me. I hadn’t heard. She recommended I read a piece Roxane wrote about it on Medium. I actually listened to Roxane read the piece (which is a really cool thing that Medium does) and…
My Rushcutter Dress
I’ve never sewn an item of clothing for myself that I’ve actually worn. If I had to unpack why I’d say there are a few reasons. First, fashion is a part of life in which I simply lack confidence. I like beautiful clothes, but always seem to pick the wrong things – the dress with…
Modern Row By Row Experience 2018: A Travel Guide
Row By Row on display at Modern Domestic in Portland, Oregon. Are you planning a road trip this summer? If you’re like me, whenever you travel you’re always on the lookout for a crafty destination, somewhere to buy a unique fabric or interesting notion or pattern to remember the trip by. That’s what Row By…
MyBodyModel is a Body Positive Design Tool for Garment Makers
MyBodyModel, a web-based design app that allows users to create a custom fashion croquis, launches today. A croquis is figure drawing used in fashion illustration. Designers sketch clothing onto a croquis while working out a new look or collection. Croquis for fashion illustration are typically highly elongated bodies that aren’t representative of real women. Typical…
Abigail Brown’s Fabulous Flamingo Pattern
Abigail Brown in her studio. Abigail Brown is one of my favorite artists. She makes soft sculpture birds, and we share the same first name, so I’ve been a fan of her work for many years. When I wrote my first book, The Arftul Bird, I was able to feature several other bird makers and Abigail was…
How to Make a Memory Bear: A Free Pattern
My friend Dana’s mom passed away a few months ago. I met Dana when we were both new moms sitting on the floor, exhausted, in a playgroup that was really a support group for getting through that infancy blur. A few years later she moved across the country and I’ve watched her baby grow up…
New Pattern: Chit Chat Puppet
I’m super excited to be launching my newest pattern, the Chit Chat Puppet! I’ve been interested in making open-mouthed puppets for a long time now and finally got some time to explore them over the summer. I made so many prototypes in an effort to come up with a design that would be adorable, easy…
Studio Update
I thought it would be fun to do a little update from the studio. I’ve finished a bunch of projects recently and have some other things brewing so here goes! It was so cold here in January that the snow was just powder. Josephine’s deconstructed snowman made me laugh. It was extremely cold and snowy…
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