Craft Industry Alliance

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,...

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 sp...

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 sh...

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 S...

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...

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...

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 ep...

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 becomin...

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...

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...

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...

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 Colle...

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 . N...

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 be...

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 leaders...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about business pivots with my guest Kristi Schroeder Larson. Texas native Kristi Schroeder Larson is the creator of  Initial K Studio , offering modern quilt patterns and needlepoint designs to the market. Her designs are inspired by travel as well as by putting her modern twist on classic quilt blocks. Kristi’s book  Southwe...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast​, we’re talking about creating a community space for crafters with my guest Leigh Metcalf. Leigh is the owner of Topstitch Studio and Lounge in Atlanta, GA, a fabric and sewing studio (formerly an in-person physical space at  Ponce City Market ), author of  London Stitch and Knit, A craft lover's guide to London's fabric, knitting and haber...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about creating a digital magazine with the founders of Make Modern Magazine . Make Modern is Australia's only modern quilt magazine. It began in 2014 when a group of passionate quilters had a dream of producing a magazine for quilters, by quilters, filled with beautiful patterns and articles to inspire quilters to make more m...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about brand collaborations with my guest Tisa Jackson .   Tisa Jackson is the colorful brains behind This Is Tisa .  Tisa is a stationery designer and DIY craft content creator and workshop instructor. She’s inspired by color and has a passion for bright, colorful, happy designs and DIY projects.  Tisa has collaborated with b...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about textiles as a spiritual practice with my guest Christ Johnson. Christi Johnson's art combines cosmic visions and botanical beauties, a hypnotic dance of symbols stitched slowly and methodically into fabric. She is the woman behind Mixed Color, a textile studio providing functional pieces that are thoughtfully made. Chri...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about sustainable fashion with my guest Katrina Rodabaugh. Katrina Rodabaugh is an artist, author, and slow fashion advocate. Her work examines social and environmental issues through craft techniques like hand-stitching. Since 2013, she's focused on sustainable fashion by using mending, natural dyes, and redesign in her fibe...

On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about creating an inclusive craft community with my guest  Cecilia Nelson-Hurt . Cecilia is a proud Afro Latina who was taught to crochet as a child by her Grandma Sophie and learned to knit many years later. Known to many in the fiber community as ‘Creative Ceci,’ she is a global knitting and crochet enthusiast. Ceci is a Di...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about creating a knitting magazine with my guest Hanna Lisa Haferkamp and Claire Walls. Hanna Lisa is the CEO and owner of Making Stories , an independent, knitwear design publisher focusing on the intersection of sustainability and knitting. The cornerstone of her work at Making Stories is the biannual Making Stories Magazin...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business as a mixed media artist with my guest Mou Saha . Mou Saha is a mixed media artist and teacher. She has been published over 700 times in print media, appeared on PBS TV shows and created several coloring books of her own. Her academic background in clinical psychology fuels her ongoing quest for welln...