Episodes

Monday Jul 20, 2020
Episode #173: Ellie Lum of Klum House
Monday Jul 20, 2020
Monday Jul 20, 2020
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business in bag making with my guest Ellie Lum.
Ellie Lum is an accomplished creative entrepreneur, artist, and skill-building educator based out of Portland, Oregon. Ellie’s passion lies at the intersection of education, art, creative business, and environmental justice. Along with her passion for creating, she is deeply committed to sharing her skills with those who want to learn.
As a business owner of 20 years in a craftsman-based business, R.E. Load Bags, she has honed her skills as a leader and teacher instructing those who worked with her how to master the craft of industrial sewing as well as small business management. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Ecoliteracy, where she studied adult hands-on learning theory in garden education. For the past few years, she’s been teaching sewing and mentoring folks on their creative business ventures through her DIY Workshop and handmade goods brand, Klum House.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Episode #172: Stitch People
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business in cross stitch with my guests Lizzy and Spencer Bean.
Lizzy and Spencer are the founders and owners of Stitch People, which began in 2013. They both share a great love of entrepreneurship, dog rescue (they have 3 shelter dogs!), and performing which they share as their "capital "D" Dream." They got their start on the stage, but now Lizzy more frequently performs on-screen, and Spencer has become a talented voiceover artist.
Stitch People has been their source of hard work and joy for the past 7 years and they are absolutely stunned by the amazing creations of the incredibly talented and supportive Stitch People Community.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Monday Jun 15, 2020
Episode #171: Amy Oxford
Monday Jun 15, 2020
Monday Jun 15, 2020
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 developing carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis, Amy worked with an engineer to develop her own ergonomic rug making tool, The Oxford Punch Needle, which is now celebrating its 25th anniversary. In 2013, Amy settled down and started her own school, The Oxford Rug Hooking School, in Cornwall in a 200-year-old farmhouse.
Her work includes everything from dollhouse rugs to a room-sized rug and a stair runner. She’s the author of six books on rug hooking including her latest, Punch Needle Rug Hooking - Your Complete Resource to Learn & Love the Craft, which will be released in the fall of this year by Schiffer Publishing. She lives in an off-the-grid wind and solar-powered home in Cornwall, Vermont.
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Today's episode is sponsored by WHITNEYMANNEY. WHITNEYMANNEY is a fashion and textile label creating wearable culture inspired by the aesthetics of street art and cultural movements. Through every garment and accessory, WM challenges you to wear your statement. Use code WMPOD for $10 off of orders over $50 through June 30th.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Monday Jun 01, 2020
Episode #170: Allison Hoffman
Monday Jun 01, 2020
Monday Jun 01, 2020
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 “Crochet 'The Golden Girls'” and “‘Friends' Crochet”, both to be released Fall of 2020.
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This episode is sponsored by Timeless Treasures. Timeless Treasures is recognized for its unique novelty prints, bringing fun and playful designs to life. You can browse Timeless Treasures diverse collections, novelties, batiks, patterns, and large library of free projects on ttfabrics.com and follow us on Instagram @TimelessTreasuresFabrics. Look for Timeless Treasures next time you visit your favorite fabric store.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Monday May 18, 2020
Episode #169: Amy Smart
Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
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 local quilt shop for 10 years, starting a blog - Diary of a Quilter - in 2008, teaching locally and at large events like the Fat Quarterly retreat, QuiltCon, and Riley Blake's Garden of Quilts, writing and selling her own quilt patterns, publishing a book, and eventually designing fabric collections for Riley Blake Designs. It has been an exciting ride - full of unexpected opportunities and lots of lessons learned along the way.
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Janelle Hardy is the creator and teacher of transformational memoir-writing course The Art of Personal Mythmaking.
Sometimes it feels daunting to write your lifestory down. So let’s start sorting through and organizing all the details you need to structure your memoir inside Outline Your Memoir, a free on-demand video workshop. The workshop will take you through your vast, storied and varied life to get you started with writing it all down.
Janelle’s courses cater to highly creative curious people who have a desire to write their memoirs and heal from the difficult parts of their lifestories at the same time with her Outline Your Memoir workshop, Keep Writing circles and the Art of Personal Mythmaking. Use the coupon code CIA10 for 10% off any of Janelle Hardy’s courses, through the end of 2020.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Monday May 04, 2020
Episode #168: Toni Lipsey
Monday May 04, 2020
Monday May 04, 2020
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 product business. Designing soon became the focus and she was able to quit her day job in 2017. At present, Toni spends her time nurturing her community of over 175K makers across platforms by offering approachable crochet patterns and handmade business wisdom.
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Today's episode is sponsored by Amy Barickman. Amy is the founder of Indygo Junction and authored the award-winning book Vintage Notions: An inspirational guide to needlework, cooking, sewing, fashion and fun! Visit Amy’s blog and sign up for her newsletter to follow her journey as she curates and shares fabulous images and projects for you to create. Amy’s will newsletter notify you about upcoming Vintage Made Modern videos and Vintage Notions LIVE events.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Monday Apr 20, 2020
Episode #167: Heather Ross
Monday Apr 20, 2020
Monday Apr 20, 2020
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 Catch a Frog chronicles her childhood spent in a remote corner of Vermont, in a wilderness setting that remains a major influence on her creative work. She is also a celebrated illustrator of numerous children’s books, including the best-selling Crafty Chloe series, winner of the Kirkus Star. Heather Ross was a regular guest on The Martha Stewart Show and one of the most-viewed artists featured on the how-to video channel Creativebug. She regularly speaks on a wide range of topics that include creative living, the modern craft movement, and handmade.
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Today's episode is sponsored by Stockabl. Stockabl is a curated wholesale marketplace for handcrafted goods, built by makers like you, not by Silicon Valley. We’ve got convenient features like risk-free Net 60 buyer terms without the hefty commissions, and orders are always paid within 3 days so you don’t have to worry about cash flow.
With the average wholesale order being worth $250 and some platforms charging commissions as high as 25%, switching to Stockabl helps you put an extra $62.50 per order in the bank. How? As makers ourselves, we understand how every dollar counts so we’re waiving our transaction fees.
Learn more at stockabl.com/craftindustryalliance. Apply to sell today and get your first month free.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Monday Apr 06, 2020
Episode #166: David and Holly Lesue of Stately Type and Maker Valley
Monday Apr 06, 2020
Monday Apr 06, 2020
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 designs graphic tees with the help of his social media followers.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Troll Brothers Quilt Designs. Troll Brothers Quilt Designs is a Canadian online quilt shop located on picturesque Vancouver Island, BC, focusing on today's modern fabrics and trending designers in the quilting industry. Stacie Wilson, the owner of Troll Brothers, provides you the best online shopping experience and personalized customer service to bring you the fabrics, patterns, and notions you are looking for!
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Monday Mar 16, 2020
Episode #165: Norma Loehr of Orange Lingerie
Monday Mar 16, 2020
Monday Mar 16, 2020
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 over the U.S.
Her company’s mission is to enable sewists to make their own beautiful and professional looking lingerie.
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Today’s episode is brought to you by Therm O Web, maker of some of the craft industry’s most enduring and innovative brands, including HeatnBond, ZOTS, iCraft and Deco Foil. Based in the Chicago suburbs, second-generation, family-owned Therm O Web is proud to have served the creative community for nearly 50 years with quality products for sewing, quilting, embroidery and paper crafts. Visit thermowebonline.com to learn more.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

Monday Mar 02, 2020
Episode #164: Kate Alarcon
Monday Mar 02, 2020
Monday Mar 02, 2020
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.
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This episode is sponsored by Darice.
With over 45,000 arts and crafts items across hundreds of product categories, Darice is your one-stop source for wholesale supplies for your craft hobby, business or store.
Whether you make items to sell at craft fairs and your Etsy shop or you teach workshops or make craft kits to sell, find all the supplies and products you need for your handmade business. Darice is offering an exclusive promotion for Craft Industry Alliance listeners. Visit Darice.com and use promo code CIA15 at checkout for 15% off your order. Offer valid through 3/31/20.
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To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.