7 Tips to Give Your Business a More Professional Look
Turning a hobby into a viable and profitable business is a dream for many crafters and artists. The reality is that only a small percentage are successfully able to make the conversion. You can be an expert in your respective discipline, but if you fail to present yourself in a professional manner, others will not see the value in your work and may pass on your products/services. So, how do you create a professional image? Here are a few suggestions that have been proven to work.
At the end of January the Italian premium thread brand, Aurifil, announced a partnership with The Plastic Bank, a social enterprise based in Canada that aims to clean up plastic waste from the ocean while providing work opportunities for people living in poverty. Most weights of Aurifil threads currently come wound on plastic spools.
While Stuart Hillard didn’t manage to make it to the final round of the Great British Sewing Bee, his bubbly personality showed through and he was described by the judges as the person who “brought the joy into sewing.”
Carolina Moore says Creativation, the annual trade show for the Association for Creative Industries (AFCI) which took place in Phoenix Arizona January 17-21, 2019 was smaller this year and there was intrigue surrounding the move to a management agency, but was still a great show that was absolutely worth attending. Here’s her report.
Amy Friend was commissioned by her town’s cultural council to create a quilt in honor of the town’s bicentennial. Find out how she got that gig and the inspiration behind the quilt itself.
The Road to California Quilters’ Conference and Showcase, or “Road” for short, opened on Thursday, January 24th, at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, CA. The building was crowded with thousands of enthusiastic quilters and festooned with quilts, turning it into a sea of color and inspiration.
Berlin-based Makerist would love to work with more American crafters. Makerist—voted one of Germany’s top 20 Internet start-ups last year—is a market leader in Europe for digital patterns and e-learning related to sewing, knitting and crochet. They recently entered the North American market, and founders Axel Heinz and Amber Riedl and their team are particularly interested in working with U.S.-based digital pattern makers and with those who love to instruct via video.
Creative businesses benefit from keeping tabs on trends — it’s one way to stay ahead of the curve with your marketing efforts. Here’s what’s on deck in 2019.
This month, Jenn McMillan is celebrating the 1-year anniversary of her company Sew Fine Thread Gloss, proving that a little help from your friends can go a long way in growing a business. The company offers beeswax-based thread conditioners that help avoid thread snags, frays, and tangles when doing any kind of handwork. Jenn’s goal is simple: help make hand-sewing a more enjoyable process.
Each year, the Pantone Color Institute looks at the film and entertainment industry, art collections and new artists, fashion, design, travel, new technologies, and materials, as well as socio-economic conditions to establish the Color of the Year. 2019’s Living Coral is a lively orange hue with a strong pink undertone; the warmth of Living Coral speaks to a yearning to connect socially in meaningful ways but through digital tools.
Bluprint CEO John Levisay sent out a survey to instructors yesterday with questions intended to learn more about their impressions of the company and goals for working together in the future. The survey was accompanied by a letter from Levisay that acknowledged the company’s shortcomings in instructor communication over the past year, as well as the drop in revenue many instructors have experienced since the move to a subscription model and the NBCUniversal buyout.
JOANN has just launched a print-on-demand fabric service, MyFabric. We place an order and sew up some samples to see how it works. Here’s our review.
SNAP, the conference for creative bloggers and influencers, has new owners and they’re ready to guide the popular event into its next chapter.
Spoonflower, the Durham, North Carolina-based print-on-demand fabric company, has announced a new grant program for small businesses. Are you getting ready to launch, or do have a new product in mind? Are you preparing for a craft fair or big event? A Spoonflower small business grant will get you a $1,000 credit to use for custom fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap to help make your dream a reality.
Michaels, the Irving, Texas-based craft store chain, launched a new program last month encouraging local makers to teach craft workshops in the stores’ classrooms. Called MAKERS Nation, the program is currently being piloted in five areas: Los Angeles, Chicago, Kansas City, Northwest Florida, and Salt Lake City. 
Online class and supplies platform, Craftsy.com, alerted pattern designers yesterday that it plans to reduce the size of its pattern marketplace as part of a revamp coming in 2019. According to the FAQ document linked to in the email, the Craftsy team reviewed 220,000 patterns from 12,000 shops leading up to yesterday’s notice. 
Hey craft business owners! This gift guide is just for you. If someone has been asking you what you want this holiday, we know you’ll find some things on this list that you’ll need and love. Treat your business (and yourself) to something fun this holiday season!
Weaving rarely surfaces to the level of popular culture, but in the aughts it has fared well. Here are some of the trends that are bringing weaving to the fore. 
Pompoms and tassels are happy things—joyous, whimsical additions to any outfit or décor. Throw in neon-bright colors and it’s a party with yarn. But pompoms as a business? 
Fabric company RJR sent an email to retailers notifying them of a minimum advertised pricing (MAP) policy that will go into effect for Cotton+Steel on December 1, 2018. The policy limits the ability of retailers to advertise prices below a certain level.