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.
Comic Con New York Comic Con is an annual convention for fans of anime, comics, video games, and toys. It’s held at the Javits Center and sells out with over 75,000 people in attendance. There are other comic cons in the US, including a huge one in San Diego, but New York is a prettyRead More →
This post is part of a new periodic series called "Awesome Handmade Toys." These posts will feature toy makers whose work I think is particularly fresh and inventive. I also pin toys to my Inspiring Softies pinboard on a regular basis if you're looking for more inspiration. an original Snuggly Ugly Indira Villalobos-Starr is aRead More →
I got Kari Chapin’s new book, Grow Your Handmade Business: How to Envision, Develop, and Sustain a Successful Creative Business, for my birthday in August and read it cover to cover. This book is a follow-up to Kari’s first book, The Handmade Marketplace. Seven years into my handmade business I have lots of ideas forRead More →
It's time for a little magic… Abracadabra…hocus pocus…shazam! Pull a rabbit out of a hat! I have a new pattern in my shop today. It's a neat hand puppet. To make it work, put your hand underneath the magician's hat and bring it up into the body of the bunny (the hat and the bunnyRead More →
How to Make Stuffed Animals is one of the only new softie books on the market this season (perhaps the only sewing-based softie book?). It was written by Sian Keegan, who has made a name for herself creating plush pet portraits, and is published by Quarry. 3D Pet Portraits of Long-Haired Pets by Sian KeeganRead More →
Should you have a unique online storefront or are you better off on Etsy? I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this question. Over the summer I was interviewed by a reporter for Wired magazine about the future of Etsy and the company’s efforts to retain veteran sellers. The article was recently published and ifRead More →
It arrived Friday night and I'm overnighting it back tomorrow. It's been a marathon few days of editing, but it looks amazing. Just a little recap of the process of writing a craft book. I pitched this book to publishers in February of 2011 and it was acquired by Lark in March. It took aRead More →
I’m teaching a Get To Know Your Sewing Machine class next Thursday, October 11, from 9:30-noon at Sew Easy in Wellesley, MA (if you live in the Boston area and would like to register you can do so on the Sew Easy website). Sew Easy is a locally owned sewing center for kids, and IRead More →
Everything I know about soft toy design I learned in one of two ways: sewing toys designed by other people and experimenting with my own patterns. These are the two tickets to my growth as a designer. The more patterns I study, and the more times I try to incorporate a new technique into myRead More →
I've been working on these little felt critters for the past few weeks and I'm pretty excited about them! Plush keychains are huge for elementary and middle school kids here. I see them on almost every backpack. I figured it might be really fun to design a pattern so that you and your kids canRead More →