Stitchography

This week, I'd like to introduce Betz White.  Her amazing talent spans several textile disciplines. And I am so excited about her newest venture, the Llamallooma™ pom pom maker.  Have you read about how trendy pom poms are? They are showing up on purses, clothing, sandals and as tassels.  Here's a link for an article titled "10 Classy Ways to Wear Pom Poms". 

 Click HERE.

1.  Please introduce yourself (actual and professional name) and describe your areas of expertise

Hello! My name is Betz White. I’m a sewing book author, textile artist and craft/sewing pattern designer.

2.  What is your background and how did you arrive at your current job(s)

I have a degree in fashion design and worked about 20 years as a designer in the kids apparel industry. After I had my 2nd baby, I left my corporate job to be a mom and do freelance design work. I started a blog in 2006 and opened an Etsy shop to sell items I made out of felted wool sweaters. My work was noticed resulting in a book deal and an appearance on the Martha Stewart TV Show in 2007. In the 10 years since then I’ve written 2 more books, taught classes, designed fabric and sewing patterns for bags, and more!

3.  How many hours a week do you devote to your job?

40-50

4.  Where do you physically work?

My studio space is in an upstairs spare bedroom in our home that doubles as the guest room.

5.  What do you sell and how do you sell it? (It can be a service)

I sell PDF sewing patterns for bags, felt ornament patterns, sometimes kits, my new Llamallooma™ pom-pom maker in my Etsy shop. I also design, produce and sell knit home accessories which I retail online and wholesale to shops.

6.  What are you working on now?

I’m finishing up my 3rd fabric collection for Riley Blake and developing a few new online classes. I’m also creating my 3rd commissioned “yarn bombed” piece for a local yarn shop’s window display. I’m covering a bike in knits!

7.  What do you do when you are not working?

Sleep, drive the “mom taxi”, watch movies, knit. Currently my husband and I are taking a pottery class together.

8.  Perhaps an indelicate question, but people starting out want to know - what are your income sources?

Pattern sales, royalties from fabric and online classes. 

9. If you could give one suggestion to someone starting out, what would it be?

Don’t be afraid to pivot! There really are no mistakes. Go after what you want, and if along the way it’s not really making you happy, don’t give up. Make a shift and correct course. It’s easy to get caught up in the “shoulds” but remember that you are the boss and you decide what’s right for you.

10.  Where can people find you and/your products? (FB, blog, website, IG, Twitter, stores

Etsy Shop: betzwhite.etsy.com

Knits Shop: http://studioknits.betzwhite.com

Website: http://betzwhite.com

Blog: http://betzwhite.com/blog

Instagram: betz_white

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betzwhitedesigns/

It's Monday

I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve my communication with people who are interested in what I do and to grow my audience.  Recently, I was reading an article about how to have an unsuccessful blog.  Who would want to spend all that time writing a blog post, thinking about interesting content and moving the photos into the right spot for uploading if they wanted to be unsuccessful? It sounds silly, but I guess the title was to grab your attention, and it grabbed mine.  I felt pretty good reading the article.  The tip that would make me an unsuccessful blogger is that my posts are erratic.

The other day, this message was brought home to me.  My husband is not really into much soial media, but the other day hes mentioned that he was looking forward to someone's blog that he reads every Friday.  That surprised me, but it showed me that people do indeed look for certain blog posts on certain days of the week.

So starting with this post, I am committing to blog every Monday, thus the name "It's Monday".  Now that I have a monthly newsletter and post frequently on Instagram, a weekly post seems just the right frequency to blog.

This is my quilt that I created with a new line of fabric from Riley Blake, designed by Betz White called Juxtaposey.  The llamas caught my eye, and I have a certain DIL that loves llamas.  I named the quilt " Llama Kisses" and I constructed it with Curvalicious both to make the blocks and to create the scalloped border.

I started out with a plan to make a 9 patch.

I wasn't happy with how it looked so I eliminated a bunch of blocks and made it into a 4 patch.

It looked a little plain to me.  Curvalicious to the rescue to create a scalloped border.  I find that it's easier to attach  the binding to the border after it is quilted and before trimming.  

The first step is to mark the border.  Any pen will work because it will end up being the cutting line.  I  like to use one that I can see easily.  

To form the corner curve, use a circular template, like a plate or plastic templates in one corner. 

Copy it onto a piece of parchment paper and use it to create identical curves in each of the other 3 corners.

Since I had a limited amount of fabric for the binding, I had to use straight grain binding, even though I would have preferred bias binding. I make double fold French binding.   I lined up the raw edges of the binding with the line I drew using Curvalicious.  The good news is that since the curve was so gentle, straight grain worked just fine.  After stitching, trim along the marked line being careful not to cut into the quilt and then turn the binding to the back and stitch it down.

I do have a video on YouTube that demonstrates using Curvalicious for binding. 

 Click this LINK to be redirected.

And I created the backing to use up the extra fabric.

 What a sweet little quilt and it looks like Spring is finally here! Check your local quilt shop for Juxtaposey and maybe you'll make Llama Kisses.