How to Take a Selfie: A Professional Photographer’s Tips on Lighting, Background & More
As a creative person and a small business owner, you may have wondered how you can photograph yourself and still put your best digital foot forward. Getting professional photos is a great option, but sometimes you just need to take a quick shot to help market your business. We asked a professional photographer for expert tips on taking great selfies. Here’s what she told us!
Making Things App Attempts New Pattern Subscription Model
Making Things is a new web app that launched on October 30 to the knit and crochet community and has provoked intense online discussion about the cost of pattern, designer compensation, and disclosure of affiliate links. Created by Megan Elizabeth and her partner, Rob Andrew, and based in Melbourne, Australia, Making Things is a monthly subscription service providing access to over 1,000 patterns as well as web-based pattern reading tools including stitch counters, row highlighters, chart grids, and editable notes, plus 24-hour live pattern support.
Show Report: Southeast Animal Fiber Fair 2018
On October 26-28, 2018, fiber enthusiasts gathered at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center for the Southeast Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF). This year’s show was no ordinary year, though, as SAFF organizers and attendees celebrated the 25th anniversary this year. Ashley Little was there and brings us this report.
Corporate Member Profile: Sulky
Craft Industry Alliance is excited to announce that Sulky has joined us as a corporate member. Sulky has a longstanding history in the sewing community and is best known for their rayon threads and stabilizers. The rayon threads and stabilizers are used most often for machine embroidery and quilting, but these make up only a portion of their products.
Recent Staffing Changes at Craft Companies
There have been a few recent staffing changes at craft companies so we thought we’d round them up here.
F+W Sells Martha Pullen Company and The Original Sewing & Quilt Expo to Hoffman Media
F+W has sold the Martha Pullen Company and its portfolio of books, patterns, teacher curriculums, in-person and online events, and online embroidery club to Hoffman Media. The sale includes the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo, a suite of eight consumer sewing, quilting and embroidery shows in the US.
How Malabrigo Yarn Company Became a World-wide Beloved Brand
Malabrigo is one of the few companies that has successfully executed hand-dyeing on a massive scale — something typically done by small, independent and one-person operations.
Show Report: The Handmade Fair 2018
The Handmade Fair took place September 14-16 at Hampton Court Palace in London. Founded in 2014 by Kirsty Allsopp, a British television presenter, the mission of the event is to help attendees appreciate the beauty of handmade and to become makers themselves. The show offers an exciting weekend of learning, community, and shopping for crafty people of all kinds.
Show Report: New York Sheep and Wool Festival 2018
Ask a knitter about “Rhinebeck” and you’re likely to hear stories of cider donuts, taking photos with sheep, and standing in massive lines for coveted hand dyed yarn. The New York Sheep & Wool Festival, a.k.a. Rhinebeck or simply Sheep & Wool, invites farmers, makers, families, and friends to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds for a weekend of wooly goodness. Held every October since 1980, Sheep & Wool has become a viral sensation in recent years, becoming the annual can’t-miss event for online influencers, bloggers, and vloggers.
We Need More Words for Craft
The word craft is used for everything from the work of highly regarded makers, such as Faith Ringold and Beatrice Wood, to hobbyists who sew, knit, make pots, turn wood, and hammer iron, to the awful foam stickers that appear for birthday party ‘crafts.’ While none of these are less valid for what they are, there is a big difference.
And with that comes the devaluing of the sublime, and the minimizing of what we hold dear. So, why don’t we have different words?
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