On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business in rug hooking with my guest Amy Oxford . Amy Oxford is the owner of The Oxford Company in Cornwall Vermont. She’s been making punch needle style hooked rugs since 1982 when she worked as an at-home rug hooker for McAdoo Rugs, a cottage industry in North Bennington, Vermont. She worked as a traveling rug hooking instructor for 26 years and also started a teacher certification program. After develop...
Jun 15, 2020•57 min•Ep. 115
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business crocheting dolls with my guest Allison Hoffman. Allison Hoffman has been crocheting and designing fun amigurumi for over a decade, has written five crochet books, and lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and three sons. She spends her workdays crocheting weird stuff, writing down how she did it, and you can find out all about it at her website, craftyiscool.com . Her two newest books are “Croche...
Jun 01, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 114
Today on the show we’re talking about building a quilting business with my guest Amy Smart. Amy has loved sewing as long as she can remember. She started quilting in earnest after the birth of her first baby 21 years ago, craving a creative outlet and something that 'stayed done' at the end of the day. While enjoying quilting as a hobby, she feels so lucky to have dovetailed this interest into a strong business. She's experienced multiple aspects of the quilting industry, including working in a ...
May 18, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 113
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a crochet business with my guest Toni Lipsey. Toni is the designer and instructor behind TL Yarn Crafts . Through her printable patterns and cheery video tutorials, she strives to make crochet accessible to makers of every skill level. Toni learned to crochet as a teen but honed her skills after graduating from college. She was bitten by the entrepreneur bug in 2015 and began TL Yarn Crafts as a finished prod...
May 04, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 112
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about fabric design and illustration with my guest Heather Ross . Author and artist Heather Ross has won fame exploring themes of resourceful and creative living, the natural world, and handmade. Best known for her collectible fabric designs and books that appeal to the handmade and craft markets, she also hosts a wildly popular series of craft retreats held across the country. Heather’s critically acclaimed memoir How To C...
Apr 20, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 111
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building an ecommerce apparel business with my guests David and Holly Lesue. Holly is a quilter. She runs Maker Valley —a brand for creative makers (quilters and sewists)—where she designs graphic quilting/sewing tees, writes quilt patterns, curates custom quilt kits and fabric bundles, and designs enamel pins and stickers. David is a graphic designer. He runs Stately Type —a collaborative t-shirt brand—where he desig...
Apr 06, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 110
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about building a sewing pattern business with my guest Norma Loehr. Norma is the founder and creative director of Orange Lingerie . After a career in financial services, she started Orange Lingerie and began making custom bras for individual clients in 2010. In 2013 she published a book on how to sew and fit bras and then began releasing her own line of bra sewing patterns and teaching her techniques in weekend workshops all...
Mar 16, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 109
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a business as a paper flower artist with my guest Kate Alarcon . Kate Alarcón is known for her signature designs of uncommon paper botanicals. She teaches flower crafting workshops through her company, The Cobra Lily , and her remarkable pieces have appeared on sites including Martha Stewart Living, Design*Sponge, Poppytalk, and The House That Lars Built, among others. She lives in the Seattle area. +++++ Thi...
Mar 02, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 108
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about building a business in rug hooking with my guest Rose Pearlman . Rose is an artist and teacher who focuses on textile design. Her workshops center on ways of making beautiful home objects with simple, inexpensive materials. As the daughter of two artists, her parents taught her to value a life filled with creating, tinkering, and playing. She lives in New York City with her family. +++++ This episode is sponsored by D...
Feb 17, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 107
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about fostering creativity through daily practice with my guest Windy Chien. Windy Chien is best known for her 2016 work, The Year Of Knots , in which she learned a new knot every day for a year. Her work ranges in size from a knot that can fit in the palm of a child's hand to majestic, room-sized installations that are sought after by private collectors. Following long careers at Apple and as the owner of legendary music s...
Feb 03, 2020•59 min•Ep. 106
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about collaborations with my guest Angela Smith and Liz Gipson. Angela founded Purl & Loop in 2012 after realizing her “ladder was against the wrong wall” in her sales career and she was determined to find a calling that brought joy and creativity to the world. While she enjoyed needle crafts, she was more focused on the idea of creating a business from them rather than actually doing them. Since she focused on operatio...
Jan 20, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 105
On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business as a paper artist with my guest Abigail McMurray of Yeiou Paper Objects . I visited Abigail in her studio in Arlington, Massachusetts to record this interview which was a lot of fun. With paper as a medium, artist Abigail McMurray combines her background in graphic design and sculpture to create papercraft kits, unique greeting cards, architecturally-inspired artwork, and custom house portraits und...
Jan 06, 2020•59 min•Ep. 104
Today we have a special episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast recorded at Fall Quilt Market in Houston, Texas. International Quilt Market is a trade show for the fabric and quilt industry. It takes place twice a year, in October and May, and is a time when quilt shop owners from all over the country and all over the world come together to see the forthcoming fabric collections from all of the manufacturers, try out the latest sewing machines, embroidery machines, and long arm machines f...
Dec 16, 2019•41 min•Ep. 103
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a fiber business with my guest Felicia Lo. Felicia is a designer and entrepreneur, born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. Her lifelong passion for knitting, color, and design led her to start the sweetgeorgia blog in 2004. A year later, SweetGeorgia was founded at her dining room table with nothing more than three skeins of sock yarn for sale on Etsy. Since then, SweetGeorgia has become a way of life where wor...
Dec 02, 2019•59 min•Ep. 102
On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about goal setting and getting things done with my guest Elise Blaha Cripe . Elise Blaha Cripe lives with her husband and two young daughters in San Diego, California. She has been sharing thoughts and DIY projects online since 2005, running an online shop of handmade goods since 2008 and in 2015 launched GET TO WORK BOOK , a day planner + goal setting journal. Her book, Big Dreams, Daily Joys , a guidebook to goal-setting, ...
Nov 18, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 101
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about discovering the life you’re meant to live as a maker with my guest Melanie Falick. Melanie Falick is an independent writer, editor, and creative director—and a lifelong maker. She is the author, mostly recently, of Making a Life: Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live , as well as several other titles, including the seminal Knitting in America and bestsellers Kids Knitting and Weekend Knitting ...
Nov 04, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 100
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about quilting and activism with my guests Sara Trail and Juan Tapia. We recorded this episode in person at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts where there is an exhibit up through December 1, 2019 of the Social Justice Sewing Academy Quilts called Piecing Together Youth Voices in a 21st Century Sewing Circle. Sara Trail is the founder and executive director of the Social Justice Sewing Academy . Sara lear...
Oct 21, 2019•55 min•Ep. 99
On today's show, we’re talking about the history of Quilts, Inc. with my guest Teresa Duryea Wong . Teresa has authored two books on Japanese quilts and textiles and in early 2019, she published American Cotton: Farm to Quilt. She currently travels to Japan and throughout the US to research, write, and lecture. She holds a master’s degree in liberal studies from Rice University and in 2014, was named the ‘Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Scholar’ by the Texas Quilt Museum and the Bybee Foundation. ...
Oct 07, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 98
In this short solo episode, I make an important announcement: the name of this podcast is changing. After 153 episodes as the While She Naps podcast, going forward this show will be called the Craft Industry Alliance podcast. Very little else about the show will be different. Tune in to hear what led up to this decision (a lot of careful consideration!). I'm really excited about this change! We have some new theme music which you can hear at the end of the episode. I invited you to visit Craft I...
Sep 27, 2019•11 min•Ep. 97
On today’s episode of the While She Naps podcast we’re talking about building an illustration business with my guest, Stacie Bloomfield. Stacie Bloomfield is the founder of the company Gingiber , based in Springdale Arkansas. She is an illustrator and printmaker who sells prints, stationery, fabric, and homewares in over 500 retail outlets around the country. She has collaborated with many retailers, including West Elm, Brooklyn Industries, The Land of Nod (now Crate & Kids), Moda Fabrics, C...
Sep 16, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 96
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about building a business in the sewing industry with my guest, Pati Palmer. Pati is the driving force behind the Palmer/Pletsch publishing company which has published dozens of sewing books and how-to DVD’s and creator of eight Palmer/Pletsch sewing notions products, including PerfectFuse™ Interfacings. Pati has been designing for the McCall Pattern Co. since 1980, and Vogue prior to that. She has written the guide sheets f...
Sep 02, 2019•26 min•Ep. 95
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about making a career as an artist with my guest, Lisa Solomon . Lisa Solomon is a mixed media artist whose work has been exhibited and collected all over the world. She received her BA in art practice from UC Berkeley and her MFA from Mills College, and has been a professor in the Bay Area for 15+ years. As a Hapa [her mother is Japanese and her father is Jewish Caucasian] she is profoundly interested in personal identity, ...
Aug 19, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 94
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about running a brick-and-mortar and online yarn shop with my guest, Laura Zander. Laura is the co-owner of Jimmy Beans Wool . Along with her husband Doug, she worked as software engineers during the dot-com boom in the San Francisco area. When Laura and Doug saw the boom begin turning into a bust they quit their jobs and moved to Lake Tahoe to begin a new adventure, opening a small yarn shop. Today Jimmy Beans Wool has been...
Aug 05, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 93
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about making a living as an artist and surface pattern designer with my guest, Sarah Golden . Sarah is a painter and surface pattern designer living in Sacramento, California with her husband and 5-year-old twin girls. She paints abstracts, lots of plants and is a fabric designer for Andover Fabrics. +++++ This episode is sponsored by BrewStitched Fabrics. Located online at BrewStitched.etsy.com , BrewStitched Fabrics offers...
Jul 15, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 92
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about building a new sewing blog and business with my guest, Sarah Kirsten Anderson of the blog and sewing pattern company SARAH KIRSTEN . Sarah is a sewing educator, sewing pattern designer, photographer, and a believer in the magic of making your own clothes. She’s passionate about making sewing and simple pattern drafting accessible to beginners, because she believes sewing is one of the most powerful ways to love your bo...
Jul 01, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 91
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about running an indie sewing pattern business with my guest Taylor McVay of Blueprints for Sewing . Taylor McVay is a designer, artist, and educator. She creates sewing patterns for unique, architecture inspired garments. Along with running Blueprints, Taylor teaches fashion design, pattern making, and sewing in the Boston area. Taylor creates one of a kind garments, experiments with techniques like weaving and embroidery, ...
Jun 17, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 90
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about quilting as an art form with my guest, Denyse Schmidt . A former graphic designer and graduate of Rhode Island School of design, Denyse Schmidt began creating quilts in 1996. Intrigued by the rich historical nature of quilts and inspired by beauty born of necessity, Denyse adds her distinctive aesthetic sensibility – clean, spare lines, rich color and bold graphics – to this rich art form, and has won acclaim from the ...
Jun 03, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 89
On this episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about running a fabric, notions, and gifts company with my guests, Mark, Brian, and Josh Dunn of Moda and United Notions. Mark Dunn got his start in the fabric industry in 1966 working with his father William Dunn at Sewing, Sales, and Services which they founded together. In May of 1975 when Mark was 29, he moved to Texas to start United Notions Inc. He started with a five-man operation where he would take orders in the mornin...
May 20, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 88
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about building a career as artist who makes quilts with my guest, Jane Sassaman . After a varied career in the design world, Jane Sassaman began to quilt in 1980. She found that these “soft paintings” satisfied the draftsman, the craftsman and the artist in her. Consequently, she is now a dedicated (some say “obsessed”) quilt artist and fabric designer. Her art quilts have been shown in many national and international exhibi...
May 06, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 87
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about building a retail fabric and yarn shop, both online and in a brick-and-mortar setting, with my guests Joelle Hoverson and Page Marchese Norman. Joelle and Page, along with Jennifer Hoverson Jahnke, are co-owners of Purl Soho , a fiber arts supply company that brings a modern sensibility to traditional needlecrafts. We begin by talking about the story of how Joelle came to found Purl in 2002 as a small knitting store on...
Apr 15, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 86
