While She Naps

How to Reassure Potential Customers and Help Them Overcome Objections

Have you read The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau? It’s excellent. Real, actionable steps to improve your online business, launch a new product, and build a community of customers. I’m taking many of Chris’ ideas and applying them to my own creative business. Right now I’m focusing on writing an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).

I’ve never had an FAQ before. Customers and blog readers email me frequently with questions, but I don’t mind answering them one by one. I have an About page and figured that was probably enough.

I stand corrected.

Chris explains that the mission of an FAQ is to “identify the main objections your buyers will have when considering your offer and carefully respond to them in advance.” If you think about it, customers are encountering your blog or online shop visually. They are looking at your photos, and reading what you’ve written. You aren’t there in person to reassure them when they express doubt. Instead, you’ve got to do it in 3 typed sentences.

Imagine one of my potential customers. They’ve wrapped up their day working at their job and taking care of their kids, and now it’s 8:30 in the evening. They’re relaxing by clicking around on Etsy. One of my patterns catches their eye and they visit my shop for the first time.

Stella the Owl pattern

They add the pattern to their cart, but then begin to wonder, “Is this pattern really going to be easy enough for a beginner to make?” They remember a time a few months ago when they tried to make a doll from a pattern, found it frustrating, and gave up.

Them they wonder, “Hmmm….$9? There’s got to be something on Pinterest for free that’ll be just as good, right?” And then maybe they click away.

Chris points about that every customer has objections like these, to some degree, with every purchase. These objections are rooted in basic human emotions such as desire, fear, and need. When we’re considering purchasing something, especially online, we ask ourselves:

• How do I know this really works?

• Is this going to be a good investment?

• I wonder if I can get this product without paying.

Our job as shop owners is to preempt each objection by showing that we are trustworthy and we are an authority. Where can we do that? In an FAQ. That’s where we have the opportunity to:

•  Explain why our products really work.

• Show that other people think our products are great.

• Prove that what we’re offering is superior to what’s available for free.

Chris’ next point is really key: don’t be defensive. The goal here is to create a set of sentences that will proactively respond to potential customers in a positive, affirming way.

I buy quite a bit online from creative businesses. I’ve bought craft supplies, patterns, graphics, finished goods, ebooks, and online classes. Every time I shop those same questions run through my head, but when I buy something from someone I’ve already associated as a trusted expert I hesitate less because I’m confident that I’ll get a quality product delivered swiftly and securely.

I’ve reworked my Etsy shop announcement to function as a power FAQ in the style Chris describes. And I recommend reading The $100 Startup. I think you’ll find multiple ideas you can apply to your handmade business right away. It’s an easy read, with a friendly storytelling tone, but it’s packed with useful content that will help you understand how online businesses succeed.

Disclaimer: Links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links.

How to Shop for Sewing Supplies at Thrift Stores and Rummage Sales

I’ve stocked much of my sewing studio from local thrift stores and rummage sales. Reusing materials you find secondhand is eco-friendly and usually much cheaper than buying new. Here are my best tips for a successful shopping trip to the resale shop:

1. Don’t buy thread.  Thread becomes brittle over time. Old thread will fray and snap so you can’t sew with it. Because I love wooden spools I buy old thread, but just for display purposes.

2. Find the “holiday décor” section.  People who organize rummage sales often stick the fabric and sewing supplies in the holiday décor section. Search for the Santa figurines and Christmas ornaments. I’ve found tons of awesome fabric shoved in bins under the holiday table.

Photo by Larry & Teddy Page on Flickr.

3. Look under the table.  Fabric is bulky and hard to display. It often gets shoved into garbage bags or cardboard boxes and is underneath the table at the sale. Be sure to pull the bags and bins out and have a thorough look inside.

4. Head over to the “linens” section.  Large cuts of fabric are often mistaken as tablecloths and may be hanging with the linens. Old linens themselves are also awesome sources of fabric. Vintage cloth napkins, linen placements, and tablecloths make great fabrics for tote bags and all kinds of other craft projects.

5. Check for stains, weak spots, holes, and smells.  Items often end up at a thrift shop for a reason. Be sure to look things over carefully. Just because something has a stain, or a moth hole, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it, but assess how much of the piece is usable before making your decision.

Image by Orin Zebest on Flickr.

6. Finish what other people start.  Half completed needlework canvases, quilt squares that have been sewn but not assembled, embroidery kits that were never begun…these are all wonderful treasures! Don’t feel limited by the work that has already been done. You can disassemble or cut up what’s there and use the materials in a new way.

7. Don’t buy stuff just because it’s cheap.  Having too much stuff crammed into your studio space is demoralizing. Just because fabric is cheap doesn’t mean you need to take it home with you. Evaluate your finds and try to think clearly about them. Do you need 3 yards of zebra print canvas at a $1 a yard? Maybe not.

Photo by Dan DeLuca on Flickr.

8. Don’t forget the books.  I learned to sew stuffed animals from vintage soft toy books. Be sure to peruse the book section of any thrift store before you check out. Craft books are often shoved in with the gardening titles and cookbooks. Vintage craft books are like gems, full of crazy color combinations, antiquated language, and terrific inspiration.

9. Keep an open mind.  Thrifting is a treasure hunt. If you have time, look at everything that’s for sale. Those leather gloves could be cut up and used as teddy bear paws. That skein of yarn would make awesome doll hair. And the funky fleece scarf could become and excellent elephant. Think broadly and embrace the thrill of the hunt.

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Do you shop secondhand for craft supplies? If you’ve got story of a great find, we’d love to hear about it! And please share your tips for successful thrift store shopping.

 

Pattern Updates

I'm working my way through my older patterns to bring them up to my current style. This means I'm sewing new samples, taking some new photos, adding additional links to helpful blog posts, and generally polishing each one until it's shiny and new.

Darcy the Dachshund PDF Sewing Pattern

I worked on sewing all new dachshunds this weekend. I used this awesome piece of cheater patchwork that I've been saving for years to line her ears. It's so nice to actually use this treasured bit of fabric and this was the perfect project.

Another Darcy. I love this burnt sienna fleece! Such a perfect color for a weiner dog.

Spend an afternoon sewing a dachshund. It's fun! The pattern is in my shop now.

And my pattern for the Six Months of Softies subscription club was released on Friday. Meet Hadley the Horse:

As the cover says, this pattern includes instructions to make not only a horse, but a zebra and unicorn as well. One basic set of templates - three fun softies to make! Find out more about Six Months of Softies and see the other Hadley variations right here.

Happy sewing!

The Real Truth About Crafting For Charity

Wherever you are right now, you are fortunate. Why? Because you’re reading this post from a screen of some kind, which means you probably have electricity. And most likely you’ve got a warm place to sleep tonight and enough to eat for dinner. We know that not everyone is so lucky.

Every few months there’s some kind of terrible news story that shakes us through and through. Watching it play out on television we are heartbroken for the victims and their families and we desperately want to help. That sentiment comes from a true place, but things often go wrong from there.

As someone who sews, quilts, knits or crochets, it seems like the best course of action is to start making things to send to the victims and those in need. After all, a handmade quilt, or a knitted stuffed animal, or a crocheted blanket is a warm and comforting thing of beauty that expresses our heartfelt feelings of compassion for people who are going through terrible times.

Photo of Hurricane Katrina donations by Schnittkes on Flickr.

The truth is, though, that direct donations of goods, especially in the wake of a disaster, can truly cause more harm than good. Boxes and bags of blankets and clothes and stuffed animals pile up on the floors of warehouses, waiting to be inspected, sorted and distributed. The flood of donations commonly creates a second crisis of sorts.

Beyond the strain on already strapped volunteers, though, donating a handcrafted item is an inefficient way to help people in need. It feels good to make a stuffed animal to send to a child, but it just doesn’t make sense as a way to help. Here’s a sorta corny, but very truthful short video that explains this inefficiency. Take a look: 

Give to charity. But instead of making a quilt, write a check and give it to a vetted charity that will use it efficiently. Particularly after big natural disasters, the most critical needs aren’t things that crafters can make and send. Things like jet fuel for rescue helicopters, life support equipment for injured people, and money to pay overtime for police and fire fighters are what’s critical. These are things that make the biggest impact and only money can buy them.

On a smaller scale, charities that work directly with people know what’s needed most. They can use your donation to buy goods directly from suppliers in a cost effective way, and distribute goods quickly and efficiently from an organized warehouse. Let them buy the blankets if blankets are what’s needed.

How do you find a charity you can trust? If you live in the U.S., one option is Charity Navigator, an independent charity evaluator. Charity Navigator evaluates the financial health, accountability, and transparency of 6,000 of America’s largest charities.

I asked Sandra Miniutti, the Vice President of Marketing and the CFO of Charity Navigator, how she would advise a crafter who might want to knit or sew for charity.

“We tell people it’s always better to donate cash, rather than goods,” Miniutti said. “If you truly want to create something and donate it to charity, there very well may be great charities out there that would love to receive handcrafted items. Once you find a charity that looks like a good candidate, just give them a call to discuss your donation. This would ensure that you don’t send them items that they can’t use.”

“I think the same idea goes for victims – it can’t hurt to try to contact the victim or a family member to determine if they’d be happy to receive the items.”

Photo by Jamiesrabbits on Flickr.

If you think about it, what charities need most is dedicated people and people cost money. A cash donation worth the cost of the yarn it would have taken you to knit a hat is more valuable to a charity than the hat itself.

But what if you want to give more than you can afford right now? “One thing you could do is make items, sell them, and donate the money,” says Miniutii.

It’s fairly common in the online craft community for people to announce that they’ll be donating a percentage of all sales from their Etsy shop to a particular cause. I think that’s terrific, but you need to be transparent. Are you donating all of the proceeds or just your profit? If you’re donating all of the proceeds, how are you paying for your materials? Keep in mind that you will be donating the money that would otherwise pay for your materials, listing fees, PayPal fees, and postage as well. Your donation has now created a loss for your business, which is okay if that’s what you want to do, but these are things to consider before you announce your intentions.

Photo by MoneyBlogNewz on Flickr.

Another common reaction to a tragedy in the news is for one craft blogger to start a drive of sorts. They’ll collect the handmade items, or the proceeds from sales of handmade items, and then make a single donation on the participants’ behalf. You should insist on transparency in this situation as well. If you’re part of a collective craft-it-and-sell-it for charity project, you might be better off sending the money to the charity yourself, instead of to another crafter, especially if they’re someone you don’t know well. And again, use Charity Navigator, or another resource, to check out the charity. Most charities are managed well by people with good intentions, but some are terribly inefficient and a few are straight out frauds.

In times of tragedy we want to come together as a community and take action, even in a small way. As Miniutti points out, “Sometimes people just need to do something. I think this is why runs and walks are so popular for health causes. They may not do much to enrich the charity’s bottom line, but they give people an outlet to come together and do something.”

I think we should give to charity, as crafters and as people, but we should be sure to optimize our generosity by doing it right.

By way of disclaimer, my husband works for a large, regional charity as a fundraiser so there’s a lot of charitable fundraising and management talk in my house.

I Have an Internet Nemesis. Now What?

Make anything and put it out for public display and you’ll attract criticism. You’ll attract praise as well, of course, but no matter what you do there will be people who don’t like what you’re doing. Some will keep it to themselves, and some will tell you what they think. Of those that tell you, some will be polite with their suggestions, and some will be confrontational.

The more you make, the more critics you encounter and the more likely it is that one of them will be of the confrontational sort. They may email you curt critiques or detailed essays about what you should change, or they may comment in a public space like on a blog post, Twitter or Facebook. Some of these critics you can surely dismiss, but I guarantee they’ll be at least one that makes you feel angry, or ashamed, or like a fraud. Something about what they’re saying really gets to you and triggers your deepest insecurities.

Image from Evil Erin on Flickr.

What do you do next? The gut reaction is to start searching through whatever they’ve created to find flaws in it. First we want to critique the critic. Later when we’ve processed their words more fully (by rereading their emails 100 times) we remind ourselves that what we’re doing is good work, and hopefully we move past this incident with our spirit and our drive intact.

We might then respond directly to the critic, or keep our thoughts to ourselves, but from then on that person may end up becoming our crafty internet nemesis. What’s that? It’s a crafter you love to hate. I think you’re not being honest if right now you’re thinking, “I don’t have an internet nemesis.” I’ve got one and I’m betting you do, too.

Here’s what you end up doing when you have an internet nemesis. You frequently lurk around on her site, reading her blog posts. You check her Etsy shop to see how many items she’s sold this week.  You know how many 3 star reviews her book got on Amazon. You’ve looked up her stats on Quantcast (What's Quantcast? It’s a handy site where you can see analytics for websites. Look at you! You’re heading over there now. Right after you check your own stats, you’re going to put your nemesis’ blog in there and see what comes up. I know. I did that, too, when I discovered it.). Each time you do this, you feel a bit of that initial pain again. It’s like scratching a bug bite until it bleeds.

Image from Kelsey_lovefusionphoto on Flickr.

How does this happen and why is it so widespread? I think there are a few reasons. First, craft bloggers are primarily women. We’re socialized to be positive or be quiet. Girls should be nice. When someone breaks that rule we feel the sting more strongly than men who may be used to being confronted more directly by one another, especially in business.

We get caught up in internet jealousy. The race for more followers, more sales, more deals, more sponsors, makes us feel that what we have is not enough. Insecurity creeps in. Maybe I’m not getting opportunities because I’m not good enough. When the critic pipes up she becomes an easy target. Why is she getting more than me?

And the internet makes it so easy to spy. She’ll never know I was looking at her numbers or reading her posts or her tweets.  It’s important to keep on top of the competition, right?

So here’s my question. What effect does this antagonistic relationship have on our well-being as creative people? I feel it in two ways. On the one hand, it makes me work harder. I strive to do more, and do better, to show her (and myself, right?) that I’m the real deal. My nemesis is motivating me to reach further. On the other hand, I can’t even begin to add up the time I’ve spent lurking, and fretting, and lurking some more. My nemesis is stepping on me.

Image from Thomas Ricker on Flickr.

I don’t want to be motivated by antagonism or jealousy or insecurity. And I don’t need to be. This year I’m working to set myself free from my internet nemesis (it’s been 8 years!). I’m confident that I can. Without that negativity, I’ll be a better person, a better blogger, and a better businesswoman.

Tell me your nemesis story, because I know you’ve got one. No naming names, of course, but how is she effecting you? And are you with me in making an effort to let go?    

Selecting Fabrics for Sewing Softies

I love sewing softies.

I love that softies are quick to make and are a great first sewing project if you’re just getting comfortable with a sewing machine.

Ducky Rattle made from my Animal Rattles pattern

I love that at the end of each project I have a little creature on my desk looking up at me, something I can give to a child or a friend and it’ll make them feel good.

I love that softie making is a thrifty craft. Most projects require just a 1/4 yard of fabric and a few ounces of stuffing, and that fabric can be almost anything. I can’t think of another area of sewing in which literally anything goes when it comes to fabric choices. Fleece, felt and cotton are the most common softie-making materials, but upholstery fabric, fur, corduroy, velvet…whatever little bits of fabric you've got stored somewhere can become part of a softie.

Selecting and combining fabrics is a big part of the creativity of sewing a stuffed animal.

I have a new pattern coming that incorporates shiny fabrics, fleece, and felt. His name is Hadley the Horse and he's the next pattern in Six Months of Softies, a subscription club for people who enjoy sewing softies. Hadley is a 3-in-1 pattern. The instructions show you how to make a horse, unicorn, and zebra, too. The variations are primarily dependent on fabric choice.

A blog reader, Anjali Sastri, has a Six Months of Softies membership.

She says, "I’m learning to sew, primarily by making toys. I joined Six Months of Softies because I love the concept of trying out a ‘sampler’ of patterns by designers whose work I admire. Honestly, I really look forward to receiving each month’s pattern in my inbox. Like the magazine subscriptions that I momentarily forget about between issues, when the new softie pattern arrives it’s like getting a surprise present that I can’t wait to tear into."

Anjali’s been sewing elephants from Wendi’s pattern and I think what she’s done exemplifies the creativity and freedom involved in selecting fabrics for soft toys.

"Emile, the elephant, is made from a remnant of cozy gray fleece, printed flannel, and embroidery floss for the eyes. For Marielle, the albino wooly mammoth, I experimented with a piece of thrifted cream faux fur, coordinating printed flannel, and black safety eyes. Currently I’m sewing up a third elephant from a velvety leopard print that I spotted at a fabric flea market."

Erika de Niet-Winkles is a subscriber as well. She runs Stitchee, a fabric and craft shop in the Netherlands. One portion of the shop is devoted to handmade softies, and that’s where she’s put the toys she’s made from the club.

Erika said, “I love to learn about different designers and their styles. I visited all of the designers' blogs and was happy to see that they all had very different styles and use different kinds of fabrics like fleece, felt, cotton and other fabrics. Lovely! I wanted to try out the different styles so I signed up!"

Erika made the elephant, too, as well as the whale designed by Jen of Zooguu. She said, “The thing I love about the whale pattern is that it comes with templates for three sizes! How nice is that! I love the little whale and loved using my textured blue felt. In my stash I have a beautiful purple and yellow checked fabric. My next whale will be the big one sewn from that fabric.”

Mouse from my Cute Critters pattern

Using treasured bits of fabric is a big part of the fun of sewing softies. Whatever you have, whether it's an old sweater or scraps from making a quilt, or a thrifted pillowcase, you can make a stuffed animal you'll love.

I’m excited to show you my pattern for the club on Friday. And if you’d like to join us, sign up! You’ll get immediate access to all the patterns that have been released so far and then Hadley the Horse will arrive in your inbox on Friday.

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What kinds of fabrics do you like best for softies? Have you tried anything unusual? Any recommendations?

PicMonkey Tutorial: How to Add Handwriting to a Photo

I don't own a graphics program, not even Photoshop, and investing in one isn't in the budget this year. Instead I'm really enjoying learning to use free online programs to their utmost.

PicMonkey is one of my very favorites. You may know of PicMonkey as a photo editing program, which it is, but it's also an incredibly powerful tool for creativity. This post is part of a series of PicMonkey tutorials I've created. Check out the other ones here. Enjoy!

Writing on a photo instantly makes it personal. Whether you want to illustrate a blog post, create a digital scrapbooking page, or make a special postcard, a great shot becomes more memorable with a few words written in your own hand.

Write on a colored background to make a neat tag or business card. So many creative possibilities! I better start practicing my cursive lettering.

Adding handwriting to a photo is easy in PicMonkey. Are you ready? Let's go!

First, upload your photo to PicMonkey. Here's my daughter holding Stella the Owl, a sample of one of my patterns. Cute!

Now head over to the Effects menu. That's the one with the icon that resembles a bubbling beaker. Scroll down until you see the colored pencils with the word Draw.

Now zoom in on the area of the photo where you'd like to begin writing. Zooming in allows you to get a smooth line when you write. It may look pixalated now, but it will look smooth when you zoom out later.

Bring the Brush Size down pretty low. I set it at 16. Experiment with Hardness. I left it at 100%. If you bring it down you can achieve a softer outline. Now use your mouse to write! It may take a few tries. That's okay!  Just hit the "back" arrow up top to erase and try again.

Zoom out and see what you think. I like it!

In keeping with the love theme, I added a few Doodly Hearts. You can find them in the Overlay menu or down at the bottom in the Themes menu under "sweethearts."

Here's the final image. Almost as much fun as writing with paint pens on Polaroids, minus the smell of the paint pens and the cost of film.

Give it a try! All you awesome people with great handwriting are going to make amazing images this way.

 

Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way by PicMonkey. I just love it with all my heart.

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How to Run an Ad Program On Your Blog

I love blogging. I spend about half my work hours writing posts for my blog. It’s a tremendous investment of time and effort to continuously write posts that are interesting, well-researched, and valuable. I find the process incredibly rewarding. About six months ago I acknowledged to myself that my blog needed to become an income-generating part of my business.

In response to this realization I took Sister Diane’s Monetize Your Craft Blog class, which was excellent in every way and helped me realize that I had already monetized it indirectly. Writing consistent good-quality content led to two book deals, paid freelance work, and teaching opportunities. What now? One answer was an ebook I could sell right from here so I wrote one. Another answer was to start an ad program.

Diane helped me examine my statistics and determined I had a large enough audience to go forward. I knew that if I was going to do an ad program I wanted to run it myself so that I could choose the companies I work with. I worried about how complex it would be to install the ads, and uninstall them, each month. I worried about the work involved in invoicing advertisers and accepting payment. And I worried about how I’d go about finding advertisers each month.

Then I came across Passionfruit Ads.

Their tagline, “Start selling ads on your website in minutes,” caught my eye. Here’s what Passionfruit offers:

•  Advertisers use PayPal to buy the ads directly from your site. You approve each ad before it goes live.

• Passionfruit hosts the ad images. You get a bit of code to insert in your site and it serves your ads forever, auto-expiring and auto-running new ads as they go live. This is awesome and so easy.

• No need to send out invoices. Passionfruit sends automatic reminders to sponsors, thanking them and asking them to renew, removing the awkwardness of doing that yourself.

For all of this, Passionfruit takes $1 per add. That’s it.

I felt like this was a service set up for people just like me. On the afternoon that I discovered it I sat down to set up an ad program for While She Naps. It took less than an hour. Then I wrote a blog post about my new ad program. I had five ads running that same day.

What I didn’t know until I was actually earning money directly from my blog was how badly I needed this to happen. I’m not kidding you when I tell you that I was in tears. Here’s an email I wrote to my friend, Stacey, that afternoon, “I just had to share. Someone bought an ad! Oh my gosh!  I'm so excited. I don't know why I'm this excited about it, but I feel like now I might be able to get paid for all of the work I do on my blog. What a relief!”

That weekend I redesigned my entire site. Instead of resenting the hours it took to fix everything, I felt compensated for my time. I could feel my approach to the blog shift from, “I should probably get off the computer and go sew or my business is going to die,” to “I should probably brainstorm names of small business experts to write posts about.” My blog got better because of it.

To that end, I asked Jason Lynes, the founder of Passionfruit, how he came up with this business concept. “I’d been experimenting with a few ideas for a side project on how to improve online advertising, and began interviewing a few bloggers for their experiences. I realized these ‘boutique’ ads they were selling were already a huge improvement over traditional advertising, but it was a huge pain to set up and maintain by yourself. So I began working on a tool to make it super easy to run your own ad network.”

And that he did. Using Passionfruit couldn’t be easier, but it still isn’t easy to run an ad program on a blog. At the end of every month I worry, “What if my current sponsors don’t renew? What if I can’t find new sponsors?” I write a lot of pitch emails. I’m constantly searching for businesses that would be a good match.

This month, though, Passionfruit solved that problem for me. Passionfruit has a marketplace on their site where businesses can come to find a blog to sponsor. Sweetbriar Sisters Patterns found me there and bought an ad. About the marketplace Jason said, “Finding advertisers is almost as hard as finding a good blog to sponsor. There’s nothing like what Passionfruit is doing: a free-to-join, no acceptance necessary marketplace of blogs that accept advertising. Advertisers need it, and bloggers need this extra boost finding sponsors.” The Passionfruit Ads Marketplace is an effort to answer to the most enduring and difficult part of running an online ad program: finding advertisers.

Last month I had a snafu with an ad and needed some help. Passionfruit customer service helped me quickly, but I was really struck when I saw Jason’s phone number on the site’s homepage with an encouragement to call or text him any time. When I asked him about this unusual level of access he said, “I'm the only one I know who's doing this. I get calls and texts every day, and people are shocked to find out it's actually my cell phone. I respond to texts after midnight and people freak out. I did it from day one.  I've always wanted to be on hand to help with anything.  Passionfruit is my baby and even though we've got thousands of blogs signed up, it means a lot to me to be so intimately involved. I'm on the site's live chat every day, I run our Twitter account, our Instagram. I'll be this involved forever I imagine.“

I can relate to that feeling. My business is my baby, too, and While She Naps is a big part of that. Thankfully it’s now financially sustainable.

Baby Bear and Blankie Set

It's so easy to collect fabric. It's beautiful and it feels good to the touch. It's not all that expensive for a small cut, and when you see something you love it's hard to know if you'll be able to find it again.

In December I began keeping weekly financial records for my business. Looking at the numbers eye-to-eye each week has made me think very carefully before I spend money on new materials and I've cut way back.

So, when I license designs to a company that pays for the cost of materials it's a truly special treat.

On Friday I went to Fabric Place Basement in Natick, MA, with just such a treat in hand. I went to buy some supplies to sew fresh samples of the Beastie Bags to send to Simplicity. The Beastie Bags will be out as my second a Simplicity pattern envelope early spring 2014. Fabric Place Basement is a family owned fabric store, or warehouse really, and their customer service is terrific. They'd put all the fleece in storage for the summer, but let me go look through the bolts in the back. They've got an amazing selection.

I bought some light brown velour. Many commercially made stuffed animals are sewn from velour and I've wanted to give it a try. I made this Baby Bear and Blankie with it and I think the results are really excellent.

The blankie is double-sided: velour on one side and flannel on the other. I lined the bear's ears with the same flannel to make it a nicely matched set. I used a plastic nose and some blue safety eyes from 6060 on Etsy. This bear is incredibly soft and snuggly.

I'm giving this set to my sister who will be having her first baby, a girl, in the fall. I hope she likes it.

Make a Baby Bear and Blankie Set yourself. Get the pattern here.

How to Review a Craft Book: A Blogger’s Guide

When you have a craft blog you should constantly be thinking of ways to create value for your readers. Writing a project tutorial, showing a special technique or tool, or explaining your design process helps readers know that they can turn to you for expertise. A look at your studio space or a show-and-tell of some new supplies you’re working with provides inspiration and motivates your readers to tackle their own creative projects.

Reviewing a craft book can be of terrific value to readers, too, especially if the topic of the book is something you’re knowledgeable about. Most of us learned one craft technique or another from the pages of a book. Craft books, like craft blogs, are visual and instructional and we like that. But like craft blogs, craft books are numerous. An expert’s evaluation of a new title is tremendously valuable.

How can you get publishers to send you review copies of new books? The simple answer is to write well-written reviews of craft books. I’ll bet you’ve got a favorite craft book on your shelf right now. It could be an old one that you’ve treasured for years and could never part with. Review that book. Or maybe it’s a new one that you find exceptional. Review it. Consistent, high-quality writing is key to building a large readership. And that reach is key to attracting the attention of publishers.   

Craft publishers create a media list for each new title. The list is made up of magazine editors and bloggers and probably other people, but I don’t actually know because the list is proprietary. It’s not shared with the book’s author. In fact it’s often not even shared with the editor. There was a 100 person media list for Stuffed Animals that I was not allowed to see. A portion of the 100 were craft bloggers who were deemed likely to be interested in writing about my book. It was a fun surprise when many of them emailed me saying they’d received a copy!  

Although I had no access to the list I was allowed to add a few extra names. So, one way to get a review copy of a forthcoming craft title is to ask the author for one. Another way is to contact the publisher directly and ask to be added to the list. I received a review copy of a book a few months ago after contacting the publisher and asking for one. Dig around and you can usually find someone in marketing to contact. Then write a convincing and professionally worded pitch email. Write a quality review and you just might end up on the media list for future titles.

What makes a quality review of a craft book? Certainly not, “Oh, look how pretty!” New craft books are universally pretty. You’ll need to dig deeper. When I get a new craft book here’s what I do:

• Read the author profile and dedication. Who is this person and how did they come to write this book?

• Read the introduction. This sets the tone and tells you what the author is hoping to achieve.

• Read the table of contents. Craft books have an overarching organizational plan that’s spelled out for you in the table of contents. What does this book cover? How does the information unfold?

• Look at all of the sections. Browse. Read the sidebars. Get a feel for the author’s design aesthetic.

• Read at least two projects start to finish.  I’m a nerd for technical directions. I enjoy reading cookbooks and sewing instructions. If you’re going to review a craft book you need to read the directions.

• And now pick a project and make it. A book can go from “pretty!” to “ack!” very quickly once you begin to put it to actual use. Or maybe it stays “pretty!” but you’ll never know until you try.

Then write about your experience. Tell the story of this book and you. Illustrate the story with images provided to you by the publisher. If they didn’t give you any, ask for some. The media plan includes a set of images that are okay to be posted online.  Illustrate the story with pictures of what you made. Nothing is more compelling than the word “I”. “I made the project on page 23. I think it came out so pretty!”

What if you didn’t like the book? You’ll need to decide how to proceed. I once asked a publicist at a big craft publishing house about this. She said to donate the book to the public library rather than say something negative. It’s acceptable to be a book critic if you write for the New York Times, but it's unacceptable to be a book critic in the current craft blog culture. Of course, I think this should change. I’ve written some critical book reviews. One thing I’ll say, though, is that you don’t stay on the media list if you do that. It’s up to you.

Writing a craft book review can also help your blog generate a (tiny) bit of income if you sign up for Amazon's affiliate program. Be sure to follow FTC guidelines and disclose your affiliation. 

How do you approach reviewing craft books on your blog? What makes a book review compelling to read, in your opinion?

New Sewing Pattern: Stella the Owl

Look who's coming! I'd like to introduce you to Stella the Owl.

Stella is made from a single fat quarter of quilting cotton, plus some scraps of accent fabric. It's so fun to pair prints for her wings and body, then choose another for her feet. I made three owls, but I could keep going and make a whole rainbow.

And check out her wings! She's got little velcro tabs sewn in so that she can snuggly hold her sweet baby owlet. My new mini rattle inserts fit inside the baby perfectly, too, for a little added fun.

The pattern for Stella will be ready on Friday!  Are you excited?

A Tribute to Kathreen Ricketson

I've been so saddened in recent days by the sudden death of Kathreen Ricketson, founder of WhipUp. If you haven't heard what happened, here is the news story. Kathreen was a mother, a crafter, a leader in the online craft world. She was a forward thinker, a collaborator, and a unique voice. If you want to hear her voice I recommend listening to this interview she did several years ago with Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of the CraftSanity podcast. 

I didn't know Kathreen personally, but I followed her work for years. I read the blog that preceded WhipUp, Redcurrent, and I remember the day WhipUp launched in 2006. I contributed to one of her books, was featured in one of her calendar's, and wrote several posts on WhipUp over the years. I read and learned from her and appreciated the way she appreciated craft.

It's been difficult to know what to say about Kathreen's death, but I feel compelled to say something here. Kay and Ann over at Mason-Dixon Knitting suggested that in order to remember Kathreen we look back through WhipUp to find posts that spoke to us. This felt like the right approach, for me to honor Kathreen's memory in my own way.

Kathreen said she chose the name WhipUp for her site because it means:

to prepare quickly. to create. to manufacture. to build. to invent. to conceive. to push.to upset. to incite. to provoke. to excite.

In just these few words Kathreen expressed what I admired most about her: her leadership. She wasn't afraid to say what she believed, even when it wasn't popular. She wasn't afraid to upset or incite or provoke. The post that stands out most to me from WhipUp was one she wrote in the aftermath of a really controversial guest post entitled Give a F*ck by quilter Chawne. More than 100 critical comments came pouring in about the offensive words Chawne stitches into her quilts. Comments such as:

"This is the most offensive quilting post I have ever witnessed. I am deleting my whipup link because you would even consider posting such an article."

Many people would have balked at this feedback, doubted their decision to publish images of these quilts, and taken the post down. Kathreen wrote something so brave and so admirable in response, I've never forgotten it.

"WhipUp has always shown and will continue to show art and craft in all its configurations – that includes the nice and safe and the raw and real...I featured her work on WhipUp for precisely those reasons and will continue to feature artists and makers whose work is real and raw, as well as the nice and practical and the thoughtful and artistic, just as I have done since WhipUp first launched over 6 years ago."

"Many readers were down on WhipUp for posting this and some even suggested that I remove the post as they found it ‘offensive’ and ‘disgusting’'...of course I won’t be removing the post, and I will continue to defend and showcase a wide variety of crafts here at whipup, just as it is your right not to read this website if you choose."

In my life, both professionally and personally, I endeavor to stand up and say what I see as the truth. When I read those words I knew that Kathreen was a true leader. She stood by her beliefs. She had a clear vision of how things should be. She was someone to be admired. She was unafraid. Although I never met her, I miss her dearly. To you, Kathreen.

Party Origami by Jessica Okui

Before I found sewing, I was really into origami. I think something about making three-dimensional shapes from a flat piece of paper has always appealed to me.

Back in 2002 when we got married I folded 145 origami irises to use as placecards at our wedding. And when I taught middle school I held an after-school origami club in my classroom. It was so fun to hang out with all the crafty kids on Monday afternoons!

I still love good origami books and clever ways to use origami to make things.

This week I've been playing with Party Origami, a new origami booklet and kit by one of my favorite bloggers, Jessica Okui.

Jessica Okui

Jessica writes a terrific blog of craft tutorials called Zakka Life. I'd describe her aesthetic as cute, tiny, careful, and clever. Some of the projects and recipes she's posted have become staples in my household. Here are a few highlights:

sticky note monsters These are on my list for a rainy day.

mini postage stamp flags Such a brilliant idea! I have a huge bag of old stamps from my grandfather's collection.

DIY oversized sequins So cute for a New Year's party!

packing peanut igloo My kids already did this. So much squealing with glee when the peanuts stuck together!

no carve pumpkin faces On the list for Halloween 2013.

soft serve origami Would be great on a summer birthday card.

wine cork vase Cute!

butter mochi  Say the words "butter mochi" near my children and they will run up and hug you. I have three boxes of rice flour squirreled away so that we never run out of ingredients to make this.

out of this world valentines These were the 7-year-old's valentines this year. Huge hit.

Party Origami fits right in with Jessica's other work. The front is a booklet with instructions to make 14 origami projects and the back is stocked with 75 sheets of two-sided patterned papers.

My 7-year-old daughter, Stella, shares many of my interests. After school last Wednesday we sat together and made five models from the booklet: the boat chopstick rest, name place card with favor pouch, paper square coaster, pinwheel cupcake topper, sweet lollipop heart cover, and star candle holder.

As we worked it struck me how difficult it must be to write origami instructions. I'm accustomed to writing technical directions for sewing patterns and craft projects, but origami has its own set of symbols and accepted wording. I asked Jessica to tell me more about the process.

"I'm at the point where writing tutorials and instructions comes fairly natural to me," Jessica said.  "However, when I had to create the origami instructions, it was like learning to write tutorials all over again.  Everything has to be very specific and exact.  There's no 'eye balling' in origami."

Origami instructions are really visual, with universal symbols for mountain fold, valley fold, pleating, and reverse folding. "With each fold I would document what I did through a hand drawn illustration," Jessica explained. "Once I had the illustration made, I would write directions for that illustration only.  The directions had to be consistent.  For example, if I was referring to a 'crease', I could only say 'crease' and not use any synonyms."

An exacting process, just like the act of folding origami.

Use Party Origami to make fun decorations for celebrations all year: Thanksgiving placecards, Fourth of July pinwheel cupcake toppers, and Valentine's Day heart-shaped lollipop covers. These projects are cute, tiny, careful, and clever, exactly what Jessica is known for.

Disclaimer: Chronicle Books sent me a review copy of this book. Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.

Is Secrecy Necessary to Sell Craft Books?

On Monday evening I spoke on a panel at a bookstore in Boston with two other craft book authors and an editor from a craft publisher. We talked about how to write a book proposal, we discussed what editors are looking for, and we shared our experiences writing and marketing craft books. It was a terrific discussion.

The panel got me thinking about what goes in to creating a great craft book and what makes craft books sell. It also made me think about the issue of secrecy and the idea of “the big reveal.” Specifically, keeping the content of a new book under wraps while it’s being created so that it’s content will be “fresh” once it hits bookstore shelves.

I woke up this morning to find a newsletter from Interweave in my inbox. Interweave is the publisher of my first book, The Artful Bird, and, after being bought by F+W, they began sending out a special enewsletter to their authors. This one included answers to "Frequently Asked Questions From You." 

Here are they are. From the Interweave Author Newsletter, May 24, 2013:

Frequently Asked Questions from You
 
Q: When can I talk about my book in my blog/website/workshops, etc.?

A: We know you are excited about your book, and want to shout it from the rooftops. Be aware though, that books have a long lead-time—as much as 2 years from the time you sign your contract. While people might be excited to hear about your book, interest can wane when they realize how long they have to wait. It’s best to talk about your book in a slow reveal.
 
Once you have your contract, it’s ok to mention that you are working on a book and mention Interweave. Don’t talk about the subject beyond the broadest strokes (“knitting” “quilting”). As the months go by, you may want to drop little tidbits without giving anything away. “I sent in my book projects last night!” “I’m getting ready to go to Colorado for my photo shoot.”
 
Q: Can I show things from my book?

A: It’s not okay to show projects or photos—you want to keep these under wraps, particularly if you are featuring a new technique or design idea. You should feel free to show the box of yarn or the pile of fabric that arrived for projects, but not the projects themselves. If you are doing a photo shoot, it’s great to talk about your trip, maybe showing travel photos you took along the way. This will help build a sense of excitement among your fans as they follow your progress.

That’s one approach. In fact, it’s more liberal than some. An author recently told me she can’t reveal the topic of her new book yet, much less the cover or title, even though the book is coming out this fall.

Why bring this up? Because I think these words of wisdom are based on assumptions and not real data. Many (all?) of you are craft book buyers and readers, and some of you are also craft book authors. How does this strike you? Is this what you would say to your authors if you were a craft publisher?

There's a sharp contrast here to a recent announcement by Stash Books. Stash will be doing a blog series in conjunction with a newly acquired author about the entire process of creating a new craft book from both the author’s and the publisher’s perspectives. Here's their announcement, taken from the Stash Books blog:

We are launching a new blog series about the process of writing a book with us – specifically, with Stash Books.

When newly acquired author, Casey York, approached us with the idea of her writing a blog series about her own experience of proposing, writing, editing, and actually making the projects – we thought – what about taking that one step further?

What if we wrote about the process of writing her book from our point of view?

What happened when we received her proposal? What do WE do with the items she submits – from beginning to end – we plan to share the process of Crafting a Book!

Stay tuned for the first post in this series towards the end of this month!

This idea seems really fresh and new to me, and more in keeping with the behind-the-scenes approach taken by craft and lifestyle bloggers now.

The author, Casey York, emailed me a few weeks ago to tell me about the project. Here's an excerpt of her blog post explaining what she's doing:

Based on the attendance at Quilt Con’s book publishing panel, there is a lot of interest in book writing in the on-line quilting community, so I’m also excited to be announcing the beginning of a new series here in conjunction with the Stash Books blog.

“Crafting a Book” will detail the publishing process from the author’s and editors’ points of view. I’ll describe the my experiences putting together a proposal, what happens early in the development of the book, writing the manuscript, and other steps as I work through them. I’ll also be happy to answer any questions you have to the best of my ability, although keep in mind that my perspective is only one of many that go into producing a book like this.

Over on the Stash Books Blog, my editors will weigh in on their end of the process. I hope this series helps all of you aspiring authors out there get a better sense of the steps a book goes through on its journey from concept to finished product, and perhaps prepares and encourages you to propose your own projects in the future!

I really applaud Casey for approaching Stash with this idea, and Stash for taking her up on it.

I understand that book projects should be fresh, and that book ideas get old if they're overly discussed. I get that books have a two-year lead time and that’s a long tine for consumers to wait for a new title to be released. But is secrecy necessary, and is it best? Will you be less likely to buy Casey's book after reading about it for so long?

On April 1, 2011 I announced that I was writing a book about soft toy design. The book came out May 7, 2013, two years and one month after the announcement. If you were around then, did your interest wane? (You can tell me. I’m okay with honesty.) And how many of you were even around then?

I asked Lark, the publisher of my new book, about the question of secrecy when I was signing my contract. Here's what they said, "Regarding sharing info about the deal/new project: go forth! And going forward, I really trust your instincts with regard to your readers!"

As you can see, my publishers disagree.

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Okay, so here's what I'd like to talk about with you:

The web moves fast and there’s a lot to see and read all day, all the time. Is it really necessary to not “talk about the subject [of your book] beyond the broadest strokes” as Interweave advises?

Is secrecy more important now than ever? Every one of us has to ability to show anything we want, any time we want, to an audience of many. Perhaps it’s more important in today's media landscape to remind authors to keep quiet?

As authors it’s in our best interest to drive sales. Is Casey shooting herself in the foot? Is Stash? Or is their bold move one that will bring you closer to both author and publisher, and bring your mouse closer to the "buy it now" button when the book is released?

Benji the Bumblebee: A New Pattern

I've got a brand new pattern in my shop today!  I'd like to introduce you to Benji the Bumblebee.

I designed this guy in the middle of a very long, cold New England winter. His bright smiling face cheered me up while we waited for green grass and longer days. I made Benji for Stitch Craft Create magazine and he was all ready for publication in the Summer 2013 issue, the very next one to hit newsstands, when the magazine folded. So sad!

But nobody can keep Mr. Benji down. I had planned to put him in my shop right after his magazine debut, so he's just as happy to land there a few weeks early. I love this softie and I hope you will, too.

Okay, make a bee-line to your fabric stash, grab the pattern, and sew your own Benji the Bumblebee!

Awesome Handmade Toys: Jess Quinn

The post is part of an occasional series called "Awesome Handmade Toys." These posts feature toy makers whose work I think is particularly fresh and inventive. You can see previous posts in the series here. I also pin toys to my Inspiring Softies pinboard on a regular basis if you're looking for more inspiration.

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Jess Quinn is an artist who openly embraces the creativity of childhood. Pompoms, embroidery floss, bits of floral fabrics and ribbons combine together to evoke funny, colorful characters. Her softies amuse me and lift my spirits. Come meet Jess and her work.

Jess Quinn

Formally trained as a painter at Glasgow School of Art, Jess now lives in Bristol, England where she is a full-time maker and mom to three kids.

When motherhood left her little time for painting she says "instead of snarling at that pram in the hallway I took up sewing and knitting once more and I’ve been making fabric sculpted doll characters ever since. Life is exhausting but rich."  

Jess grew up in a creative household. Her own mom is a knitter and sewer and made all of Jess's clothes when she was growing up. Her dad taught furniture design.

Jess Quinn's work table.

Most of Jess's work is one-of-a-kind. Truly no two of these characters are the same. Jess loves bright colors and vintage fabrics.

Garlic Girl by Jess Quinn

I'm particularly struck by the wonderful facial expressions she's able to evoke with just a few lines of thread and some felt cutouts.

Buzzy and the birds by Jess Quinn.

Her dolls and toys have a nostalgic feel, but are still so modern. Here are a few of my (many) favorites.

 

 

 

Carnival Birds by Jess Quinn

Rag Doll by Jess Quinn

 

Dolls and softies by Jess Quinn

Dolls by Jess Quinn

She makes both animals and dolls from cloth, but she also works with shrink plastic and pegs and clay. Jess draws on mugs and shirts and wooden spoons. I think she could take anything as her canvas and make it charming.

 

Horse by Jess Quinn

 

Cat by Jess Quinn

I'm inspired by Jess Quinn's attention to tiny details and freedom to experiment with all sorts of materials. She has a signature style that is easily recognizable and her work is incredibly beautiful.

Check out Jess Quinn's blog to see what she's up to most recently and head over to her shop on Etsy to get yourself an original doll.

Twitter and Your Creative Business

 

For a long time I didn't understand what Twitter was all about. What could you say in 140 characters that was worth my time? I just couldn't figure out what Twitter was for. Would I enjoy it or just find it to be a waste of time?

Although at first I found Twitter difficult to grasp, I now really love it and recommend it crafters and creative business owners.

To help me explain why Twitter is awesome I got in touch with Blaire Windsor. Blaire's blog, Dirtsy, is about turning a craft into a business. I first connected with Blaire on Twitter (oh the irony!) and have become an avid reader of her blog.

Blaire knows a lot about how designers and makers can build a presence on Twitter. Our aim in this conversation was to shed some light on how Twitter might benefit you as a crafter and creative businessperson. Okay, here we go!

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Hi Blaire! Thank you for joining me in this discussion about Twitter for creative businesses. Let me start by asking how you describe Twitter to people who say, "I just don't get it."?

That's a great question, Abby. I didn't get Twitter at first either: I signed up years ago, didn't really know what to tweet about, and let the account sit.

Looking back now, not embracing it was a huge mistake on my part.

To get the most out of any marketing tool, I believe you have to understand the best way to leverage it and use it properly. I use Twitter primarily as a networking tool, and I'd describe it as the perfect social network to stay updated, connect and learn.

For anyone starting out on Twitter, I recommend coming up with a strategy first. Define your goals, then map out how you're going to reach them.

Photo by Rosaura Ochoa on Flickr

So Abby, what's your Twitter strategy?

I primarily see Twitter as a place to connect with people in my industry. I’m a sole entrepreneur and I work from home. I use Twitter to keep abreast of what’s happening in the sewing and craft world.

I follow all of the major players including the craft publishing houses, trade shows, retailers, and major and indie designers so that I can see what they're concerned about, what news is happening, and who they are working with. Many of my most valued relationships began as Twitter interactions.

I use Twitter to follow my interests. I follow start-ups that serve small creative business because I enjoy writing posts here on my blog about new tools for people like me. I follow a slew of content marketers because I’m interested in learning more about the connection between blogging and selling.

The articles all of these sectors link to via Twitter are often eye-opening and give me clues about better ways to run my own business and blog.

Okay, Blaire, how would you suggest a crafter get started with Twitter?

I'd recommend writing an attention-grabbing bio to start with. Bios are the first thing anyone who checks your feed sees and they're what compels someone to follow you back. Unfortunately, it's also the very thing most Twitter users ignore. Twitter bios are often unclear, boring, or worse- blank.

Think of your bio as the social media version of an elevator pitch: you've got 160 characters to define your business and convert readers to followers.

The best bios evoke a desirable emotion (be it shock, amusement or curiosity), tells the reader about your product and inspires action (usually a follow or a click). Putting in relevant keywords will also improve your chances of showing up in searches.

Once the bio has been written, it's time to start following people.

Photo by Coletivo Mambembe on Flickr.

Abby, how do you go about looking for who to follow?

Twitter really gets fun when you’re following great people! Start by searching for your favorite bloggers and makers. Most bloggers have a Twitter icon right on their blog which makes it easy and you connect with your favorite Etsy sellers on Twitter right from their Etsy shops.

I also enjoy following some of my favorite comedians, chefs, writers and musicians on Twitter. Just check to be sure that they are actually tweeting more than once a year before you follow them!

When someone I’m following will retweet something interesting posted by another Twitter user. I check out that person’s bio and then often choose to follow them, too. Keep in mind that following and unfollowing someone on Twitter is less personal than on other social media platforms. If someone is tweeting too much for your taste, or tweeting material that is irrelevant to you, you can always change your mind and unfollow them.

 

Photo by John Benson on Flickr.

Any last words of Twitter wisdom to share, Blaire?

Yes- automation. It's a huge time saver! One of the keys to Twitter success is tweeting often. I tweet at least once every two hours and it's impossible for me to log on to Twitter so much.

What I do is automate a lot of my tweets, then check in once every few hours to reply to mentions and thank those who have re-tweeted me. I actually lost my internet for an entire day last week and because I'd scheduled my tweets a day ahead, my tweets didn't suddenly stop. I was still able to share interesting articles, cool handmade finds and business tips with my followers.

There are many tools that can help you schedule your tweets: FutureTweets, HootSuite and Buffer are the ones I've tried. My current favorite is Buffer. It's so easy to use and their support is stellar (responses within minutes!).

If you're looking for something a bit more “all-in-one”, HooteSuite Pro lets you create multiple personalized streams. Since I tweet on behalf of clients and help with their publicity, I create streams with search terms that help me find bloggers to pitch to.

Of course there are pros and cons to everything, including automation. A huge event might occur and you'll seem obliviously tweeting to followers. For this reason, I recommend scheduling tweets for two days at a time.

Photo by wonderferret on Flickr.

Thank you so much for our talk Abby. It was fun to to discuss insights into Twitter. If you have any last thoughts on Twitter as well, I'd love to hear it. 

When I first set up my Twitter account I really didn’t understand how Twitter worked, no matter how much I read about it. I decided to just set up an account and give it a try for six months. If I still didn’t get it, or thought it was worthless, I’d end it. I came to see how valuable Twitter is for professional relationships and keeping up with my industry and now I wouldn’t run a business without it.

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Thank you, Blaire! You can find Blaire at dirtsy.com where she blogs about turning craft into business. When she's not blogging, she's preforming professional blog critiques and helping small business owners build a presence on Twitter. And I hope you'll come say hello to me on Twitter as well. 

 

So how do you use Twitter? Has anything here changed your perception? And if you dont' use it, why not?

9 Reasons Why You Should Have a Blog

Want to see something embarrassing? Here’s the first post I ever wrote on my blog:

Oh my goodness. Housewife? My head is now on my desk. But there’s something to celebrate here, too. The date. That was eight years and 1,065 posts ago. I’m still here regularly writing in this space.  Starting a blog was one of the best moves I’ve ever made and keeping it going was another.

But why? Why should you, or anyone, have a blog. And tied to this fundamental question is the equally important corollary: how do you hang in there.

First the why. 9 reasons to write a blog:

Make space for reflection and self-examination. The process of sitting down and formulating my thoughts helps me see myself more clearly. Countless times I’ve come to the computer without knowing what I would write about and somehow ideas bubble up that I wasn’t aware of. Once they’re on the surface I can act on them.

Keep a record of what you were thinking and what you’ve done. When I started blogging in the spring of 2005 I was going through a shift in my identity. I’d left the workforce and become a mother and was feeling rather useless (hence the “housewife”). Rereading is painfully embarrassing, but also such an incredible reminder of who I am and who I was. 

Get motivated to finish the projects you start. I often describe my blog as a hungry mouth that needs to be fed. It's hunger pains get me off the couch and into the studio to create something that will satiate it, at least for now.

Express yourself. My blog is my kingdom and I don’t need permission from anyone to say what I want, how I want, and when I want. There’s no editor here (although sometimes I wish there was). I go with my gut and explore what I find interesting.

Connect with people. I sew alone. I began sewing and blogging at the same time so for me the two have always been tied. This blog took something solitary and make it communal. There simply aren’t all that many people in Wellesley, Massachusetts who are really excited about designing sewing patterns for stuffed animals (ahem, I’m the only one). Hooray for the internet for making it easy to find likeminded people all over the world.

Create a living portfolio. When Charlie watches me as I come across a new blog he always laughs because I scroll through the first four or five pages of images saying, “What do you make? What do you make?” If I see something I like I’ll stick around. A blog is dynamic and ever changing. It’s what you’re producing today, last week, last month. In a glimpse I can see your creative life.

Show social proof.  Comments, likes, tweets, and shares are evidence that what we’ve said matters to people. That evidence feels good as personal validation, but it is also a demonstration to other, more powerful people and institutions that our voice and our creative output is being noticed. Use the numbers as leverage to get whatever it is you’re seeking: a freelance job, a book deal, a licensing opportunity. Use your blog to put your work in front of the people who matter.

Get better at writing and taking photos. Nothing beats practice. I’ve certainly written more words here than in college and graduate school combined and I’ve become a better writer for it. A craft blog is a type of hyper visual media that demands good photography. Take a great photo and make even a crappy project look amazing.  Take a poor one and you might as well have not made the project at all. My blog has made me into a photographer.

Be part of the larger conversation. I’m a keen observer of the craft industry as a whole and often find myself with something to say about what’s happening. On my blog I draw attention to what I think other people aren’t saying. I feel compelled to shine an honest and forthright light on what’s I see happening and I can do that here. 

And now to the other vital piece: how to hang in there.

Realize that your blog can change as your life changes. You don’t have to start over, just shift directions and keep going. If you go back through my archives to the early years (Oh no! You’re not doing that now are you?) you’ll see I was decorating cakes for about six months, and making a crapload of origami, and planning a flower garden that died. I was sewing tote bags and aprons and learning to be a mother. And then it became about softies.

Life isn’t a one-directional focused march and your blog doesn’t need to be either. Like with any healthy relationship, it’s okay to change.

Penguin and Egg Reversible Toy!

Guess what I've been working on?

Something is about to hatch.

Hmmm...Could it be a baby penguin?

Yep!  Hello little guy.

The pattern for this penguin and egg reversible toy will be ready soon...

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UPDATE!

The Penguin and Egg Reversible Toy pattern is now in my shop! Thanks everyone!

 

Forecasting the Future of Craft Publishing

 

In early 2005 I became a craft publisher by starting a craft blog. Between then and now I’ve watched the industry change in radical ways. Favorite magazines folded (remember Adorn? Domino? Now Stitch Craft Create is no more). Big companies bought out smaller, craft-exclusive publishing houses (most recently F+W bought my former publisher, Interweave). More independent crafters became bloggers and the number of craft blogs skyrocketed into the tens of thousands. Blogs are increasingly saavy, rivaling the pillar of craft and homemaking media, Martha Stewart, in the quality of photo styling and project originality.

Independent publishers like me create content nearly every day, and it’s free to consume. A friend of mine recently asked me about blogs, specifically why use an RSS reader. My response? “Your RSS reader is like the best magazine you could ever imagine. You tailor it to your particular interests, it’s constantly refreshed with new content, and it’s free.”

I’ve created traditional print media for the craft industry, over the years contributing projects to books and magazines and writing two books of my own. Last spring I expanded my role as an independent craft publisher by selling my sewing patterns as digital downloads on Etsy and writing an ebook. A year into it I can tell you what many internet-based businesses already know: selling information is profitable. If you search Etsy right now for PDF patterns 95,552 items come up. Now that Etsy offers automatic digital file delivery that number will only increase.

What does that mean for print media? Craft projects are generally small. The pattern templates can easily be printed on a home printer. How many times have you bought a craft book for the single pattern that caught your eye? No more. Chances are that author now sells patterns individually directly, and instantly, to consumers.

Self-published posts and patterns aren’t edited necessarily and the authors aren’t vetted by industry experts. How do you know what you’re getting is good quality? The truth is patterns often weren't tested even when they were published by well-regarded print publications. Indie designers prove our expertise to the public ourselves by consistently publishing quality content on our blogs and building our personal brand reputations. We don’t need another media company to intermediate.

What’s next? The radical shift I see is the rise of video instruction. Nothing can replace the value of watching a master at work. Say you’d like to learn to insert an invisible zipper. Would you rather read instructions from a book, or watch a video? Zippers are tricky. If I know I’m watching an expert, and I know the video is shot so that I can really see what’s happening, I would much prefer to watch than read. 

Online teaching platforms like Craftsy and Creative Bug offer high definition videos of nationally known instructors demonstration their skills. The classes aren’t free, but they aren’t expensive either, and once you see the quality of instruction it’s hard to argue that print media is better.

“My favorite classes are the most advanced ones taught by the instructors who have many years, if not decades, of experience,” says Veronique from Verte Adelie, a self-described Craftsy junkie. “It's like being a little mouse in their studio and watching them work. It's just as if the internet suddenly allowed us to experience a very traditional master apprentice relationship in a way books never allowed.”

Jackie Ashton has taken several Creative Bug classes and explains the benefits of video instruction this way. “When I view a blog post or a book I'm usually doing a lot of guessing and back and forth, re-reading to try to figure it out. It's like having someone showing you how to tie your shoes, or trying to learn it from a book.”

It’s exciting to be a part of the new media landscape in craft, even as it’s sad to say goodbye to the familiar forms of media we grew up with. When it comes to craft instruction video is here to stay, first and foremost because it’s worth paying for. As for print publishing, it’s still challenging to print a dress pattern on your home printer and for that it will remain, although much emaciated. Digital self-publishing will pick up the slack.

I’d see some voids. Tech editors and graphic designers could market themselves to indie designers to help improve the quality of what’s being produced. Software products could make digitizing templates and creating page layouts as easy as PicMonkey has made editing photos.

Some holes have already been filled. There are great platforms for easily creating a professional online presensce and for getting self-published digital media to market (see my blog sponsors, Virb, Goodsie and Retailr, as examples). A blog makes it  easy to share high-quality free content with customers. Social media allows us to interact with the public directly.

That’s my forecast for the future of craft publishing. What do you see? I’m curious what you think the craft media landscape will look like in five years? And in ten?