Sewing, blogging, and creative business.
I’m very excited to have finished this patchwork Progress Pride Flag quilt. The pattern is by Bobbie Gentili from Geeky Bobbin. All of the fabrics are scraps from my stash.
This was a fun project and the finished quilt is really bright and colorful. As part of this process, I also enjoyed learning more about how the design of the Progress Pride flag came to be.
I had a terrible high school education. Despite getting straight A’s at an award-winning high school in a wealthy suburb of Washington D.C., my classes weren’t rigorous and I didn’t develop a lot of basic skills. The school was large and there was a lot of cheating. I was well-behaved. I turned in all ofRead More →
Mother’s Day is May 10. That’s just two weeks away! Over the past year or so I’ve become a big fan of subscription boxes as gifts. I received a subscription to BirchBox for the holidays which was lovely and for my birthday last summer I got a gift certificate for StitchFix, which I love! ARead More →
We spent spring break visiting my sister, Rachel, and her family in Durham, North Carolina. Spoonflower is headquartered there and I got in touch with the marketing team a few weeks before my trip to see if I might come for a visit. We scheduled a podcast interview with co-founder Stephen Fraser and they invitedRead More →
When you own a small business it can feel like your business is your baby. You’re there in its infancy, you nurture it day by day even when you’re tired, and you put its needs first for years and years. You feel tremendous pride watching your business grow and thrive with you as its caretaker.Read More →
In today’s episode of the While She Naps podcast I’m talking about craft publishing with my guest, Deborah Balmuth. Deborah is the publisher at Storey Publishing. Storey specializes in how-to books and is the publisher of many well-known craft titles including The Handmade Marketplace and Grow Your Handmade Business by Kari Chapin, Quilting with aRead More →
Softies were my route into sewing and they remain at the core of my interest in thread and fabric. I don’t think I’ll ever be a quilter or a garment sewer or a bag maker. When I see a pile of fabric and a sewing machine all I want to do is make a littleRead More →
“The Facebook fan page feels like a podium,” says Jen Hagedorn. “It works for sending one-way messages about new patterns or sales, but it’s impersonal and can feel kind of spammy. The Facebook group, on the other hand, feels like a sewing circle.” Jen started a private Facebook group for her pattern company, TieRead More →
I love recommendations. I learn about so many neat things from friends, both online and off. Today I thought I’d share some things I’m enjoying right now in case you might enjoy them, too. Here we go! 1. School of Sewing. Last week a blog reader sent me a story tip (you can send meRead More →
Freezer paper changed my life as a designer. Seriously! I know that’s a sort of dramatic statement, but I’m standing by it. I first heard about freezer paper from Mimi Kirchner. In 2006 she published this post showing how she sews really detailed doll hands and fingers by machine and from that point on I’veRead More →
If you’re interested in becoming a sewing pattern designer it’s easier now than it’s ever been. You can learn the skills you need, create a design, test it, and then sell it directly to consumers without a huge investment in formal schooling, software, or printing and distribution. There are online classes in pattern drafting, grading,Read More →