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We talk with designers and makers about what it really takes to build a creative business. Then we recommend great stuff we're loving right now.
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LATEST EPISODE

Podcast Episode #291: Micah Clasper-Torch

On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about punch needle with Micah Clasper-Torch.

Micah is a Los Angeles-based artist, designer, and educator helping to lead the modern revival of punch needle rug hooking. With a background in fashion design from The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and the Polytechnic Institute in Milan, Micah blends fine art, heritage craft, and wearable design to create one-of-a-kind textile pieces that range from coats and accessories to wall hangings and soft sculpture. 

In 2019, Micah was formally trained as an Oxford Punch Needle Instructor at the Oxford Rug Hooking School in Vermont, and in 2020, she launched Punch Needle World, an online community, shop and educational platform dedicated to uplifting the craft and its history, and making high-quality supplies and training accessible around the world.  

Her debut book, Punch Needle Fashion, comes out in June 2025 from Quadrille and brings punch needle into the world of contemporary fashion through 15 original projects and a beautifully photographed exploration of the medium.

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THE HOST

Find out what it takes to build a business in the crafts industry. In each episode host, and Craft Industry Alliance co-founder, Abby Glassenberg, interviews a creative entrepreneur to learn about their journey to success. Hear their stories and find out how to earn a living through a love of craft.

FEATURED EPISODES

BROWSE ALL EPISODES

Please note that this show was previously called the While She Naps podcast. On October 1, 2019, it was renamed the Craft Industry Alliance podcast. The name has changed, but the mission of the show, the host, and the style are the same.

Podcast Episode #238: Gretchen Hirsch

Podcast Episode #238: Gretchen Hirsch

In this podcast interview, sewing pattern designer Gretchen Hirsch traces the development of her career from working in publishing to starting a blog to writing books and creating an indie sewing pattern company.

Podcast Episode #237: Libs Elliott

Podcast Episode #237: Libs Elliott

In this podcast interview, modern quilter Libs Elliott talks about how she uses generative AI to create quilt patterns and the development of her career in the quilting industry.

Podcast Episode #235: Cheryl Ham

Podcast Episode #235: Cheryl Ham

In this podcast episode, Cheryl Ham talks about her journey from working a day job and dyeing yarn as a hobby to starting a sold-out indie dyed yarn subscription box business.

Podcast Episode #233: Porfiria Gomez

Podcast Episode #233: Porfiria Gomez

In this podcast interview, modern quilter Porfiria Gomez talks about how she’s built her business through collaborations with other designers and bigger brands.

Podcast Episode #228: Andrea Mowry

Podcast Episode #228: Andrea Mowry

In this podcast interview, knitwear designer Andrea Mowry traces her creative career from working as a pastry chef to returning to a love of knitting and creating a business with knitwear design that supports her family.

Podcast Episode #227: Amy Small

Podcast Episode #227: Amy Small

In this podcast interview, Amy Small talks about how she came to found Knit Collage, her artisan yarn brand. From being a sweater designer for Free People traveling all over Asia, to creating unique chunky yarns that incorporate her love of “trinkets,” this is truly an inspiring entrepreneurial journey!

Podcast Episode #226: Simon Hurley

Podcast Episode #226: Simon Hurley

In this podcast episode, designer and influencer Simon Hurley traces the genesis and growth of his cardmaking business from creating YouTube videos in his parent’s basement when he was 14-years-old, to full-time crafts entrepreneur in his early 20’s.

Podcast Episode #225: Cynthia Treen

Podcast Episode #225: Cynthia Treen

In this podcast interview, artist and designer Cynthia Treen discuss the value of writing a book once you’ve built a business that aligns with it.

Podcast Episode #224: Julie Robinson

Podcast Episode #224: Julie Robinson

In this podcast episode, fashion designer and knitwear designer Julie Robinson talks about her creative journey from going to Parsons, to working in the fashion industry, to branching off on her own teaching pattern grading to knitwear designers.

Podcast Episode #223: Sandra Chandler

Podcast Episode #223: Sandra Chandler

In this podcast interview, quilt artist and teacher Sandra Lee Chandler talks about how she came to specialize in transforming denim into gorgeous contemporary quilts and explains her unique take on quilt clothes.

Podcast Episode #218: Nicole Snow of Darn Good Yarn

Podcast Episode #218: Nicole Snow of Darn Good Yarn

In this podcast interview, Nicole Snow, the founder of Darn Good yarn, explains how she came to run an import business of cast-off silk yarns from India and how she’s expanded the business over the years to include women’s garments.

Podcast Episode #216: Whitney Manney

Podcast Episode #216: Whitney Manney

In this podcast episode, Kansas City fashion designer Whitney Manney talks about how she developed and launched her independent fashion brand.

Podcast Episode #215: London Kaye

Podcast Episode #215: London Kaye

In this podcast episode, crochet artist London Kaye talks about how she went from being a dancer to working at the Apple Store to creating yarn installations for major brands all over the US.

Podcast Episode #214: Anne Merrow

Podcast Episode #214: Anne Merrow

In this podcast episode, Anne Merrow discusses her long career in craft publishing from Interweave to co-founding Long Thread Media.

Podcast Episode #212: Craig Swanson

Podcast Episode #212: Craig Swanson

In this podcast interview, Craig Swanson talks about his journey building a tech support business that included video training sessions and how that led him to co-found CreativeLive.

Podcast Episode #211: e Bond

Podcast Episode #211: e Bond

In this podcast interview, artist and graphic designer e Bond talks about how she fell in love with making artist books, the combination of type and images, and her new fabric line with Free Spirit called Glyphs.

Podcast Episode #210: Heidi Parkes

Podcast Episode #210: Heidi Parkes

In this podcast interview, artist Heidi Parkes talks about her career as an art teacher and how she transitioned to an art practice creating quilts and teaching quilting.

Podcast Episode #209: Safiyyah Talley

Podcast Episode #209: Safiyyah Talley

In this podcast interview, knitwear designer and podcaster Safiyyah Talley talks about the development of her multi-faceted craft business. Safiyyah’s interests in writing, marketing, and fashion design came together when she realized she could make a business of designing knitwear patterns.

Episode #206: Jill Wiseman

Episode #206: Jill Wiseman

In this podcast episode, Jill Wiseman traces the development of her career as a beading teacher both in-person and on YouTube, as well as the growth of her online bead store.

Podcast Episode #205: Tian Connaughton

Podcast Episode #205: Tian Connaughton

In this podcast episode, designer and tech editor Tian Connaughton traces the development of her career from learning to crochet from a co-worker while at her corporate job, to designing and publishing patterns in magazines, to teaching others how to get published.

Podcast Episode #204: Zak Foster

Podcast Episode #204: Zak Foster

In this podcast episode, improvisational quilter Zak Foster talks about building a community of creativity online, creating memorial and burial quilts, and his commission for the Met Gala.

Powering the Creative Economy with Spoonflower

Powering the Creative Economy with Spoonflower

In this limited series of the Craft Industry Alliance called Powering the Creative Economy with Spoonflower, we’re talking with five artists about how they propelled their business forward using Spoonflower’s print-on-demand capabilities. In the sixth episode, we go behind the scenes at this fast-growing business.

Podcast Episode #203: Jenny Doan

Podcast Episode #203: Jenny Doan

In this podcast interview, Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Co. discusses how she and her family built one of the largest retailers for quilting fabrics and pre-cuts in the US through the power of YouTube.

Podcast Episode #202: Wendy Ward

Podcast Episode #202: Wendy Ward

In this podcast episode, sewing pattern designer and teacher Wendy Ward talks about her career path from working for a fast fashion brand to learning about sustainable sewing practices to teaching and authoring sewing books.

Podcast Episode #201: Schacht Spindle

Podcast Episode #201: Schacht Spindle

In this podcast interview, Jane Patrick and Barry Schacht of Schacht Spindle Company talk about how they created this successful, family-owned business that’s a leading supplier of looms and spindles in the US.

Podcast Episode #200: Karen Barbé

Podcast Episode #200: Karen Barbé

In this podcast interview, artist Karen Barbé talks about the development of her career in embroidery. Raised in Santiago, Karen’s popular blog, Instagram account, and book have inspired thousands of people to learn about color and thread.

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