Modern Sewciety Podcast

I am so lucky to get to chat with such amazing creatives for the podcast. I knew my guest, Jessica Swift, was amazing but this chat really made me love her even more. I love how colorful Jessica's artwork is and she carried that saturated color into her fabric line with Art Gallery Fabrics. We chat all about how she started out as a creative, designing fabric, be creative with our kids, the most popular items in her shop, and so much more. We even learn all about her class called Pattern Campfire. This chat is so full of awesome information. Check out the show notes for all of the links. 

This episode is so special for me because I am chatting with Be Creative with Workbox magazine's editor, Mary Bennellick. Mary contacted me for a feature she was working on for the magazine about podcasts. We emailed back and forth and the article was published in the magazine. Mary mentioned she would like to do a write up about me in an upcoming issue of the magazine and I was like a girl that just got asked to prom. There was a little happy dance I may have done in my sewing room and thank goodness I am the only one who saw my dancing skills. I came up with the idea to have her on the podcast for a chat to get to know her a little better and have it air when the article was published. It has been such a fun couple of months of communication with Mary and her managing editor, Amber. These ladies are doing a phenomenal job with Be Creative but learning more about how they came to be the editors of the magazine was so cool. The podcast today really helps you get to know more about the magazine and what these ladies are looking forward to in the future. Oh and we even let you in on the secrets to getting your own work published in the magazine. Take a listen and make sure to check the show notes for all of the links we chat about.

Elea Lutz is one talented creative and I have followed her work for years. She designs fabric for Penny Rose Fabrics, a division of Riley Blake. Her fabric collections are always so playful and colorful with ditzy florals, stripes, and playful characters. She has a new book out, Dolly, that is full of sweet doll projects including pillows, quilts, bags, and everything you can think of to sew for your child's doll. The bag that looks like a doll house is just one of the cutest projects. And the cute child sized doll house quilt. Okay I love everything about the book and those oh so cute projects that Elea is so well known for. I learned so much about Elea's journey into fabric design on this chat including the product packaging designs companies hire her to create. Elea is such an amazing creative and I instantly felt connected to her work and designs. Make sure to check out the show notes for this episode. 

Natalie, from Hungry Hippie Sews (or as I know her from instagram @sewhungryhippie) is one of those creatives that just does it all. She makes clothes, quilts, bags, and everything in between. She is always posting pictures of her creations and they always have one thing in common - COLOR. Natalie loves color and she loves to be creative which makes me smile. I wanted to have her on for a chat to get to know more about her and to ask her all of the questions I have from following her. I wanted to know all about her journey into sewing, having a blog, starting patterns as a part of her business, and so much more. She shares everything with us and to be honest I can't wait to have her back on for another chat. After the chat we even decided to do a sew along with our favorite dress patterns! So stay tuned for that. Just click on the post to see the show notes. 

My guest today, Karis, has the cutest modern fabric shop in Sarasota, Florida. I visited not that long ago and knew that I needed to have her on the podcast for a chat. She is always up for a chat about sewing and fabric which is my favorite type of chat. I wanted to know more about her story and wow is it an interesting one that led her to open her own shop. We chat about fabric, patterns, Block of the Month clubs, and so much more. I love how Karis and Jenni, her awesome shop manager, are really involved in their local sewing community. The Modern Sewist is just a slice of heaven filled with fabrics, threads, patterns, notions, and so much more but the one thing I love are the loyal customers that are always stopping in to say hi. They are building a vibrant sewing community and I can't wait to see what they do this year. This is a chat that you are going to love. 

I have followed Dana since I started sewing in 2007. She always had the best tutorials on her website with the cutest pictures. I have learned so much from her and I was so happy when she added YouTube tutorials to her site. As a visual learner I think watching someone make something always helps me understand patterns better. Dana and I chat about the beginnings of the blog, tutorials, designing fabric, making tutorials for her Youtube channel, and every thing I have been wanting to ask her for years. She was so sweet and shared so much insight into her business. I can't recommend enough the tutorials and videos on her site. She really is an awesome teacher and creative. 

I receive emails all of the time from listeners and readers wanting to know how to turn their passion of sewing into a business. I was so excited when Jen emailed me about her new Digital Pattern Academy, from concept to launch: bring your PDF sewing patterns to market in 4 weeks. I have taken the entire course and recommend it to anyone looking to monetize with pdf sewing patterns. She takes you step by step through the process of writing your own patterns with in depth videos, worksheets, and a Facebook group. She even covers topics like pricing, software, and how to load your patterns onto platforms like etsy and craftsy to get you started. I really loved that she only used free software that is easily downloaded and accessible to anyone. This is just a dynamic course and she is giving listeners a 25% off with code, modernsewciety25, to get you started!

I just love chatting with creatives. It seriously never gets old or boring. Today's episode is just magical because I am chatting with the very inspiring Kim Niedzwiecki or as most of us know her, GoGoKim. I have followed Kim for a really long time and I always wonder how she stays so inspired. She is seriously always making something new and fresh so I ask all of the questions about social media, staying inspired, standing and sewing, and pretty much everything in between. So tune in for some awesome quilty goodness.

I have been a huge fan of Melanie from Southern Charm Quilts for a long time. She has such a great quilty instagram feed and website. She is also a fan of prints which you will see in her amazing photography. She is so real and honest about her quilty journey and process. I invited her on the podcast for a chat because I wanted to know all about her photography tips and tricks, her studio that she shows in her photos, newsletters, and so much more. We even chat about the reality of having a small business selling handmade goods online. This is a must listen chat for sure. 

I am so happy to have Sara back on the podcast for a chat. She was one of my first guests on the podcast. She has really been busy lately with her new minikins which are quick finished with a smaller amount of fabric, as well as, a lot of new video content. She always has high quality patterns and her video are just as awesome. Sara talks about why she is doing more videos and how her husband has been a huge part of the project. It was great to catch up. And just a note on this episode. I edited this one myself. I usually don't do that, because I have the amazing Kevin from The Podcast Editors, but I wanted to give you something a little old school. I hope you enjoy.

To kick off 2018 I thought it would be awesome to have Michelle from Sew Sorted come on for a chat. Michelle is a virtual assistant for the creative industry. Her super powers include organization, copy editing, email organizing (yea this is in my future for sure), and so much more. I am learning how to utilize Michelle in my own business to help me do some things I don't enjoy doing. I think this is a hard struggle when you have your own business because you are the only one to get things done. I hope this chat with Michelle will help you think about the benefits of having a virtual assistant for your creative business. Michelle is the best resource a business owner could ask for with her amazing skills at finding copy and pattern math mistakes, as well as, helping you see how your customers see and use your products. She is seriously such a value to your creative business.

There are so many things happening at Modern Sewciety. I wanted to take a moment to say Happy 2018 and let you know some changes and new things happening.

I am a huge fan of Helen and Caroline and when they started their podcast, Love to Sew, I knew I needed to have them on for a chat. It is so much fun to listen to their conversations on their podcast and I have to admit it makes me want a cohost! lol I wanted to have them on to talk about why they started the podcast, their own businesses, and pretty much everything in between. It is so much fun to have another podcaster on the show because they are usually in my shoes so turning the tables is so much fun for us both. You are going to love this episode and I am pretty sure you will be subscribing right away to the Love to Sew podcast.

I am chatting with Minki Kim today on the podcast. I need to warn you to get ready for some inspiration. Minki Kim is someone I have followed online for a really long time so when the opportunity came to have a chat with her I was so excited. She was a little nervous about chatting because English is her second language. I thought she did an amazing job of sharing more about her journey into sewing. how she gets inspired in her creative process, and so much more. I ask all of the questions on photography, illustrating with thread, business, oh and her amazing fabric collections. I can't wait for you to listen to this episode because it is just full of so much great information and inspiration.

HI! Stephanie here. I am popping in on todays episode to tell you a little bit about what is coming up in 2018 for Modern Sewciety. I have been working behind the scenes on some things and I can't wait to share some sneak peaks with you. I also share a little bit about what worked for me and what didn't work in 2017. AND one big THANK YOU to you, my amazing listeners, for all of your support. Just a quick note from the podcaster who loves you!