Craft Industry Alliance

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...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about running an indie craft show with my guest Tricia Brancolini-Foley, the Executive Director of Handmade Arcade . Tricia believes in the power of making things by hand. She has been a maker and crafter her entire life. She started at Handmade Arcade in 2010 as a volunteer and in 2014, she spearheaded the organization’s tra...

 On this episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a career bringing people together through yarn with my guest Shelley Brander. After a successful career as a copywriter and broadcast producer, creating campaigns for brands like AT&T and Hard Rock, Shelley Brander followed her passion and started an improbable "side hustle"—she opened a local yarn store. She and...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a business in scrapbooking and photography with my guest Azzari Jarrett . Azzari is a photographer and designer who is inspired by simple, everyday moments. You can usually find her chasing natural light with one too many (film) cameras. She enjoys a good morning run, a daily cup of coffee, and evenings on the...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business as a watercolor artist with my guest Anne Butera . Anne Butera is a self-taught artist who finds inspiration in the beauty of her garden and the magic of nature. She works primarily in watercolor but also loves challenging herself to try new things. She strives to seek out and celebrate life’s little...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about creating a textile magazine with my guest Polly Leonard. Polly Leonard is the Founder of Selvedge , an internationally renowned textile magazine that was launched in 2003 and now has almost one hundred issues to its name. From its modest beginning on Polly’s kitchen table, the magazine revolutionized the way textiles ar...

On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a yarn shop, both online and brick-and-mortar, with my guest Kathy Elkins. Along with her husband Steve, Kathy is the owner of  WEBS  – America’s Yarn Store located in Northampton, MA.  WEBS was founded in 1974 by Steve’s mother and in 2002 Kathy & Steve assumed ownership.  Kathy holds a B.A. in Communication f...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building an audience as a sewing blogger with my guest Alexis Bailey . Alexis is a DIY sewing blogger, sewist, and recently handsewist. She is passionate about sustainability, intentional making, and natural fibers. Entering the online sewing scene in 2017, Alexis has built a truly impressive audience in a short time an...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking with Anne Oliver of Lolli and Grace .   For Anne, drawing, painting, and crafts have been a part of her life since almost the very beginning. She spent several years out of college working at a small independent craft store (a dream job, for sure), then started her own business hand-painting clothing, custom murals and furnit...