While She Naps With Abby Glassenberg

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about quilting as an art practice with my guest Heidi Parkes. Heidi Parkes was born into this world the proud recipient of a collaborative family quilt, organized by her grandmother.  Now, Heidi lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and works within the quilt world, the art world, and the maker's movement.  Hand piecing and hand quilting imbue her work with the personal, and contribute to her themes of diary, self-help, materiality, and abstraction. Heidi recently completed a yearlong ARTservancy artist's residency, is a two-time Mary Nohl Fellowship finalist, and has received multiple awards from the Modern Quilt Guild. Heidi lectures and teaches with a passion for the beginner, and her unique improvisational style promotes the qualities of allowing, savoring, hinting, manifesting, and documenting. Whether on-site or via a self-hosted workshop on her website, Heidi incorporates hand yoga and body care as an essential component of learning to

Today on the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a knitting business with my guest Safiyyah Talley. Safiyyah is the creator of the popular blog thedrunkknitter.com. She has an independent Ravelry store, hosts a podcast, and her design work has been featured in online publications such as The Bobble Club, The Fiber Company, LoveKnitting, and Darn Good Yarn—and in Warm Hands, a book of knitting patterns. She teaches knitting classes virtually and at knitting shows including Vogue Knitting Live. Safiyyah's new book, 2 Socks in 1, comes out this year with Storey Publishing. Safiyyah lives in Indiana. +++++ To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Today we are replaying an episode that originally aired a few years ago. We learned this evening about the passing of Melanie Ham. Melanie was truly a bright light in the craft world. Her warm, smile welcomed everyone to learn from her craft videos, whether it was crochet, sewing, or quilting. Melanie was also a wife and mother. I was lucky enough to interview Melanie in February of 2018 and wanted to replay that interview today as a way to celebrate her life. Listeners may note that the podcast had its former name and theme music when this episode aired. Thank you for listening. I hope this interview is a small way to honor Melanie Ham’s legacy.

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about h+h americas, a brand new trade show for the crafts industry, with my guest Darrin Stern. Darrin Stern has worked for Koelnmesse (Cologne International Trade Fairs) Inc for 18 years. In that time, he has supported hundreds of clients from more than ten unique industries to grow their business worldwide. One of the industries Darrin supports is fiber arts. Since 2015 Darrin has helped companies from North America exhibit and visit the h+h Cologne show in Germany. In Darrin’s role with Koelnmesse Inc, he services as the Director of Business Development, IT & Systems Manager, and the show Director for h+h Americas. Before Koelnmesse, Darrin was a University Professor, Service Consultant, and Business Owner.  Darrin lives in the greater Chicago area with his two daughters and wife. +++++ This episode is sponsored by Divine Social. Divine Social is a marketing agency that helps eCommerce stores who sell to makers, creators, craft

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about creating craft studios for kids with my guest Nicola Day, owner of the kids' crafts studios, HipStitch. Nicola has been sewing since she was 11 years old when she learned to sew at school. Sewing has always been part of her life. In college, sewing for people helped her to make money to support herself. After college, she designed a line of pocketbooks and sold them all over the US in boutiques. When her daughter was born, she wanted her to be as passionate about sewing but found there was no studio in my town and so she founded Hipstitch, a sewing and craft studio for children in Newton, Massachusetts. HipStitch has been in business now for 12 years, opening its second location in Wellesley and a third location is due to open in January in Brookline. HipStitch has expanded its offerings to include knitting, crochet, and fiber arts as well as their own DIY hand and machine kits to create at home. In addition to offering classes

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about beading with my guest Jill Wiseman. Jill Wiseman lived a traditional, “8-to-5” corporate existence until a chance encounter with beads in 2001 changed everything. She was mesmerized. She found her local bead store and started taking every class offered to learn new skills, including stringing, wirework, and her later specialty, beadweaving. Before long, Jill couldn’t contain her beady joy another moment and had to share the world of beads with others. She became a full-time beadweaving jewelry designer and teacher in 2004, and had the pleasure of teaching at national bead shows like Bead & Button and Bead Fest, as well as traveling to bead stores and bead societies all over the country for classes full of laughter and bead learning for over a decade. She is the author of Jill Wiseman’s Beautiful Beaded Ropes, and was honored to be chosen as one of Beadwork Magazine’s Designers of the Year for 2013. In 2013, Jill started a Yo

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about tech editing and mentoring with my guest Tian Connaughton. Tian is a Massachusetts-based knit and crochet designer, a technical editor working with magazines and major brands, and a business coach for handmade and fiber artists. She lives by the motto, "a rising tide lifts all boats," and this is evident in all that she does, from writing books to creating online courses and coaching programs. Her work prioritizes helping women - particularly Black women and women of color - to create the life they want doing work that they love, which society doesn't always encourage. Tian currently has a new free course out, Get Published, created in partnership with Knit Picks and We Crochet. Get Published is a 6-part video series for aspiring and experienced designers who are ready to take their designing to the next level by adding 3rd party publications. Each video takes you through the process from creating your proposal all the way to the

In our final episode, we talk with three key players at Spoonflower to find out how they do their jobs. First up is Sarah Ward, Senior Vice President of Marketing. Then, we chat with Alyssa McNamara, a research and development engineer at Spoonflower. And finally, we talk to Anitha Kothandaraman, the Sewing Operations Manager. These three interviews together shine a light on different aspects of Spoonflower as a business. + To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about quilting as creative expression with my guest Zak Foster. Raised in rural North Carolina and now living in Brooklyn, New York, Zak is a self-taught artist whose work draws on Southern textile traditions while incorporating found fabrics and natural dyes with an eye for sustainability. He practices an approach to design that is intuitive and improvisational and he is drawn to preserving the stories of quilts and specializes in memory quilts and burial quilts. His work has been featured in various magazines, websites, and galleries. His online community, The Quilty Nook, connects and inspires quilters all over the world. +++++ This episode is sponsored by the Academy for Virtual Teaching, a vibrant community of aspiring and experienced creative arts teachers. There you’ll find virtual teachers hosting practice teaching sessions and gaining valuable feedback from their peers, monthly live open-topic roundtables, guest seminars, prof

In this conversation, we’re taking a deep dive into clothing design with our guest, Andrea Greer. Andrea is a Rochester, New York-based fashion and clothing designer. She creates original artwork through painting, photography, and digital drawing then has those designs printed on a large scale. She and her team take those fabrics and create a line of women’s clothing that is carried by boutiques all over the country. + To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

In this conversation, we’re taking a deep dive into creative embroidery with our guest, Robert Mahar. Robert Mahar is an artist and designer who teaches imaginative do-it-yourself projects through high-quality video tutorials. Robert is also a proud season one alumni of NBC’s crafting competition show Making It! Co-hosted by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. + To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

In this conversation, we’re taking a deep dive into surface design with our guest, Jo Kalute. Jo works lives and plays in Clovelly, a small idyllic coastal suburb of Sydney, Australia. She is a surface pattern designer and illustrator and her work is inspired by her Kenyan heritage. + To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

In this interview, we’re taking a deep dive into creative embroidery with our guest, Nancy Mac. Nancy is the founder and owner of Freon Collective, an eco-conscious, minimalistic beauty and lifestyle brand. “Freon” comes from old English, meaning “friends or friendship and she’s incorporated all facets of her interests in beauty, design, and art into this label. + To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Today on the show we’re talking about building a quilting empire with my guest Jenny Doan. Jenny Doan is the smiling face of Missouri Star Quilt Company. Stitching together simplified quilts full of love and laughter, she makes quilting easier, more accessible, and friendlier than ever before. Watching her tutorials feels like coming home again. With over 750,000 YouTube subscribers and more than 230 million views to date, Jenny has sparked enthusiasm for quilting and warmed her viewer’s hearts across the globe. When she moved with her growing family to Missouri over 20 years ago, she never imagined that someday they’d have a successful quilting business. Like many small towns across America, employment was scarce, so in November 2008, on a modest budget, the Doan family bought a building in Hamilton and started Missouri Star Quilt Company. At first they offered basic quilting supplies and machine quilting services, but business picked up when they started posting videos of Jenny teaching quilting tutorials

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about sustainability and sewing with my guest Wendy Ward. Wendy is a writer, designer, maker, and educator. She has worked as a designer in fast fashion and for a small sustainable brand. For her master’s degree in 2004, she explored novel ways to recycle textiles and in 2007 she moved into education and has taught numerous garment-making, textile recycling, and garment alterations classes with adults. Wendy has her own line of sewing patterns called MIY Collection and has written five best-selling sewing books including her most recent, How to Sew Sustainably which was published in June. +++++ This episode is sponsored by Bungalow Quilting carries the highest quality and most recent fabric releases. Your order will ship in less than 24 hours and we are centrally located. Curated by a 5-time author for C&T Publishing, and designer for Studio e fabrics, Judy knows how to select great fabrics for her shop. Shop online and use the d

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about building a weaving loom and spindle company with my guests Jane Patrick and Barry Schacht of Schacht Spindle Company. Jane Patrick has been in the weaving and the textile arts field for over 40 years. Between 1981 and 1992 she was an editor at Interweave Press where she edited HANDWOVEN magazine, books, and Design Collections. Jane is an ardent enthusiast of both the art and craft of the textile arts, with interests in both contemporary and traditional work. Jane is the Creative Director for Schacht Spindle Company. Her current project is developing a textile school at Schacht in Boulder, Colorado. Barry Schacht, CEO of Schacht Spindle Company, came into the weaving and spinning world by chance, in 1969, when his brother’s girlfriend wanted to learn to spin. From a first commission to make a drop spindle, to creating a loom with little knowledge, Barry has been the guiding light of Schacht Spindle Company, now housed in a 33,000 s

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking embroidery and design with my guest Karen Barbé. Karen is a designer, embroiderer, and author from Santiago, Chile now living in Chicago. Since 2007 she’s been inspiring and teaching thousands of makers through her blog and Instagram account, with in-person and online classes, and with her book Colour Confident Stitching. Noticing how her students felt frustrated about their color choices, Karen set out to teach about color in an accessible way. Her book —published in four languages—and her Domestika online class present a simple and hands-on method that helps makers understand color and create palettes for their own textile projects. She’s now exploring embroidery on paper, creating digital patterns, and collaborating with diverse Latin American craftspeople through the Chilean platform Artesanos en Feria. +++++ This episode is sponsored by Flying Fibers. Flying Fibers is a mother-daughter-operated wool company based in Central Penns

On today's Craft Industry Alliance podcast episode, we’re talking about building a values-based business with my guests Meg and Patrick McElwee. Meg started sewing after finishing an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a graduate degree in education. While living and teaching in rural Mexico for three years, she studied pattern drafting and made her own clothes - first out of necessity, then because of the sense of empowerment and joy it brought to her life. The meditative act of stitching continues to bring her a deep sense of well-being. Her passion for slow fashion has expanded over the years to include the Sew Liberated sewing pattern line, two books, a sewing course with Craftsy, and her own online course, The Mindful Wardrobe Project. She enjoys supporting the slow stitching community through blog, her popular Instagram account, as well as live classes from time to time. Patrick has been Meg's best friend and partner since they met in French class at age 19. A historian, computer programmer, and b

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a group of craft brands with my guests Mark Hyland and Ursula Morgan. Mark Hyland is the CEO of Premier Needle Arts. He's a seasoned marketing, sales, and corporate executive with 30+ years of experience building brands and successful organizations. Mark’s hands-on leadership style found him in various leadership positions implementing strategic direction and execution guidance at multi-million to billion-dollar brands and companies during his career. Today, Mark continues to provide his leadership to the brands and companies of Premier Needle Arts, where is focusing on growth initiatives, long-term strategy, and M&A opportunities within the needle arts world. Ursula Morgan is the Chief Marketing Officer at Crafts Group. Ursula is a global award-winning seasoned technology and craft business executive. Before joining Crafts Group in January 2020, Ursula led the digital innovation and marketing team as Senior Vice Pre