Episode 43: The Economics of Handmade

This week on The Sewcial Hour Podcast, we’re talking about a topic that can get uncomfortable real fast… money. 💸✂️

Why does fabric feel so expensive? Why do makers consistently underprice their work? And what are we actually paying for when we choose handmade over mass-produced?

In this episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on the true cost of creating - from materials and tools to the often-overlooked value of time, skill, and experience. Because spoiler: that “quick afternoon project” didn’t just take an afternoon… it took years to be able to make it that quickly.

We’re diving into:

• What really goes into the cost of a handmade item
• Why time is the most undervalued part of sewing
• A reality check on what your projects would cost if you paid yourself fairly
• Why handmade will never (and should never) compete with fast fashion pricing
• The invisible labor behind every finished piece
• Why makers fall into the trap of underpricing their work
• The difference between hobby pricing and business pricing

We also get honest about the emotional side of pricing — how it’s tied to identity, confidence, and the fear that no one will buy - and why underpricing doesn’t make you generous… it makes you unsustainable.

Whether you’re a hobbyist, a side hustler, or running a full creative business, this episode will challenge how you think about the value of your work and help you decide what kind of maker you want to be.

✨ Join the conversation:
 DM us what you think your last project really cost (including your time 👀), and share one thing you’re going to stop underpricing this year.

🎧 New episodes of The Sewcial Hour Podcast drop every Tuesday on all major platforms. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a maker who needs permission to charge more.

Next week: We’re chatting with Karen Wade of Bessie Pearl - you won’t want to miss it! 🧵

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hi everyone, welcome back to the Social Hour Podcast. I'm your host, Audra.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

And I'm Bethany, and today we're talking about economics.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

The economics of handmade.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Get excited.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Yeah. Well, yeah, this topic feels like a topic we should touch, and I don't know if we're gonna enjoy it or not, but we're gonna do it. Taking into account the actual cost of things, because I don't know about you, Bethany, but I will absolutely go to Target and see a tank top, and it'll be like$15. And I'll be like, oh, I can make that. But the reality is, is if I make it, it's not gonna be$15.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Or I'm probably never gonna carve out time to make it. I should just buy the simple tank top. And we think we all do this with all types of crafts. I do it all the time. And then I'm like, I never made that. And I actually really liked that. Or how many times I've taken pictures of things. That's a really cool way of doing that. I should make something like that for my front door or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

You don't even know how many photos I have on my phone of things. I'm like, ooh, that's cute, I'll make it. Ooh, that's cute, I'll make it.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

It's probably half my photo photo album is like Inspopics and the other half is my dogs. Let's be real. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

We'll start with our icebreaker. And I think both of you had the exact same answer to this icebreaker. If you had to guess the most expensive handmade project you have ever done, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

I have no freaking clue. I don't either. I have no idea. What's I have things that look expensive because I made them with high quality products or materials. But a lot of times, and this is this is where I'm like probably an anomaly over here, but a lot of times some of those things, those materials were either gifted to me or I got them like to prepare for a class. Like so it was like I got reimbursed for it or whatever, you know what I mean? Like, so or there's a dress that immediately pops into my mind because it's like a formal gown that I made, and I absolutely love it. And when I tell people I got that beautiful floral satin fabric for six dollars a yard, they're like, what? And I'm like, yeah, it looks expensive. And I spent some time on it, but it wasn't a hard sew. Like I didn't, and I have things that I've spent a lot more time sewing that aren't don't look as impressive as that dress. The value to me is priceless because I'm so proud of that make. I don't care that I, you know, that I got a good deal on the fabric. I'd probably care more if it was really I probably wouldn't have made it if the fabric had been more expensive. So I'm always trying to be savvy or figure out a way to get like top of the line materials for less if I can, or collaborations or things like that. Um, but because I want things to look really nice and polished and finished. Like I have bags that are people are like, that looks like I could have bought that at like Kate Spade. And I'm like, that's a huge compliment because I love Kate Spade bags, but it's the skill building side of it. So it's the quality of the materials for me, it definitely adds up in the time, but I don't know. I just I don't think I have a dollar amount. I don't.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

No, I don't either. And I think maybe part of it's like denial because I don't want to think about cost. And really, you you you brought it up perfectly. It's not necessarily the the materials that cost, it's really also the time because time is something you can't get back. You can't you can't replace time. Once time's gone, you can't you can't return it, you can't refund it, you can't ask for it back if you don't like how it went.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

But I don't mind spending the time if I really enjoyed making it. And like that's exactly it. And so to me, the time value there is like, man, I loved, and I still think about some of these makes, and I'm like, I loved every second of it, even though I'll probably never make it again because it did take a long time. But I loved that I just spent 13 straight hours on that dress, you know, because look at what I made. Like it's so to me, like the value of that time. Now, if I was making for someone else, that's a whole different well, and we're gonna talk about that a little bit too.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Because we're gonna we're too really what this episode is is just talking about facing the true reality that our hobby is not inexpensive. And we're gonna talk a little bit about some of the things we factor in, but that's also why we have a hard time charging real value if someone asks us to make some things. Before we dive into the math part, which I think Bethany is gonna make me lead, is let's let us know what what is your most invaluable project you've completed. We're not necessarily talking about sunk costs of needles and fabric, et cetera. We're just talking about for you, what is the most expensive thing you have ever made. So let's dive in and talk about real cost of doing what we do. And we don't want anyone to walk away from this episode feeling down, but it's also thinking holistically about how we approach our craft, starting with what factors into what we make. It's easy for us to go, all right, I bought this pattern. So for example, at QuiltCon, I bought that whole circle studio FPP around the world pattern. I bought the pattern. I've got my pattern cost, I know that easily. I've got to buy fabric, I know that cost easily. Then things start to get a little muddier because we don't really talk about thread cost or needle cost. And we kind of talk about time, but we're all like, oh yeah, that took me however long. But we don't really think about time as a value necessarily. We also don't talk about wear and tear on our machines. We know we take care of our machines, we know we get them cleaned every year, but we don't actually think about that in regards to cost. The other thing that we really don't factor in when we're in our projects is maybe the class cost, education cost, or time in class that we took to gain the skills we've grown. So these are all things to take into account, and not necessarily if you're sewing for just yourself, but if someone asks you, hey, can you hem my pants? Probably like the most cringe-worthy question out there. Or someone says, Hey, can you make me a quilt? Or hey, can you make a t-shirt quilt for my kid who's graduating high school?

SPEAKER_00 6:01

When you quote them, Well, I literally get that text from a stranger a couple months ago, a girl I went to high school with, and I'm like, I haven't talked to you in like five years, and and you're gonna send me this text, assuming that I'm gonna make a t-shirt quilt, which I've never made a t-shirt quilt before because I don't want to make a t-shirt quilt. And uh for your son that I don't even know, like Yeah, I I I did sorry, I left that one on red. I'll admit I did, man. That was like diabolical question, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

And especially coming from left field. And then if you actually give them a real quote for the cost of that project, one million dollars when yeah, because you have to justify your cost, not just the fabric and the thread, it's also all the other things that factor in. Right. So, really, when we're talking about the economics of handmade, handmade is not inexpensive, and frankly, it shouldn't be.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

No, you should be paying a premium for handmade because you're getting one-on-one personalized attention to whatever the make is. And just because someone asked you to make something, and just because you have the skills and the tools and the resources and the ability does not mean you have to do it either. And so let what I did be a lesson, maybe respond. But I never heard from her again, so I guess you got the hint. But like, one thing I that always stuck with me growing up that my dad taught me, because my dad owned a commercial construction company here in Nashville, and he did all these bids to do all this work, right? And I was like, you know, some of these jobs, he was like, I don't, I don't want that job, but like it's part of the process to bid on them. And he was like, I would intentionally bid high so that I wouldn't get the bid, or if I did, it would be worth the hassle. And it was usually because of whoever the company was that he was gonna have to work with. He's like, I've worked with them before, I learned my lesson, you know, they were not an easy client. So he like bid high to almost like get out of having to do it, but he did it by obligation to be, you know, in the industry. But he's like, but then if they did pick me for whatever crazy reason, being the highest bid, it's because they know I do good work and then now financially it's worth the extra hassle to deal with that hard client. And so so you have to kind of think about that. So when I jokingly said like one million dollars for a t-shirt quilt, like it's because I I I didn't say that, but it's kind of think of it that way: what would it take for you to finally just say, okay, I'll do it, but I'm this is what it's gonna be? Because it would not be easy for me to do that t-shirt quilt. I've never done one before, and I have a long arm, I could do it, but it's it's not a good use of my time. And what would make it worth my time when I have all these other things going on? And there's a lot that you have to kind of calculate into that. And if it's something you don't want to do, but you feel obligated to do, make sure it is worth your time and you're getting paid for it.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yeah, and if you really break down the cost, so let's take like a real life project example. I'm making a bag, I'm taking I don't even factor in product or materials yet. If this bag takes me 10 hours to sew and I'm paying myself minimum wage, say I'm paying myself what I would get paid working at Target, it's like$15 in labor alone. That bag is$150 right from the jump. Right from the jump. That's not that's not materials. We're worth more than minimum wage. And well, and that's saying, but that's just I'm just saying, like, yeah, no, even if you were there, yeah, yeah, you're you're at$150 right before you even get to materials. So that is why handmade can really never ever compete with the$20 bag at Target or the$10 tank top at Walmart because the math doesn't math.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

The math ain't math anymore. Yeah, it's hard, but and we also expect like this quick turnaround and a personalization and all these things. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm not Amazon over here shipping things in one day or two days, you know. Like, I think we've been as a society desensitized to what handmade really is because it it's it it almost kind of sometimes feels like a lost art. And I think part of that is like you look at websites like Etsy. I used to have a shop on Etsy back when Etsy was truly handmade, very little feels like it's handmade on Etsy anymore. And so I think we've just discredited what handmade really means and the value of handmade and the value of customization, personalization. And also when you make something handmade or you have something handmade, it has sentimental value, there's a purpose behind it, there's thought into it, and and it can be like an heirloom that gets passed down, things like that, especially with sewing and quilting. And we've kind of lost the value of those things because of the abundance of all the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

There is, it's so consumable, it's so easy to get to. And I think inherently, we as makers don't think that we have the chops to compete with mass production, or have balls to stand up for our value.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

I'm just saying, like so many people I mean, people aren't really gonna spend that much on that, are they? Or especially at these vendor shows, they start to question like how much should I really sell this for? And I'm like, hella how like let's break it down. And and when you start to break it down, it can feel discouraging. But you gotta own it. And this is where when I did my bandanas, Audra, and I had my bandana business, I wasn't the cheapest bandanas. I definitely wasn't the most expensive. I found a sweet spot for me where volume and price aligned to make it worth my time. And that's where if you're doing one-off customizations, this is where you've got a price per project. But when you're doing like mass production, and I don't want to say mass production, but I was making hundreds of bandanas. I could make hundreds of bandanas, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Mine that's mass production, like making a the idea of making a hundred bandanas makes my eyes cross.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

I've probably made 5,000 bandanas or more in my career of having that business, maybe way more than that. I lost count. But I would sell them and then 24 hours I would make thousands of dollars selling$15 bandanas. So for me, it was worth it, but it's it's not always the case, and you've got to find that sweet spot, and it is case by case. So it's not that you can't charge a reasonable price, fair market price for what other things like that are going for, but there's there's got to be a balance of production to that to make the time worth it.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

It is a spreadsheet and some calculator work for sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

I do think a trap for people who are producing to sell, like you did with your bandana business, there's this default to chronically underprice yourself. And I think there's a few reasons for that. I think, I mean, I'll speak for myself. There's imposter syndrome is is my work good enough to sell at this price? How can I compete with mass production? You know, there's all those feelings of just that imposter syndrome. Fear that nobody will buy it, fear that you'll ask a boutique to carry something you made, and if you put it at a price that is reasonable, it won't sell. And then that makes you look bad or the boutique is upset that it didn't sell. Comparing yourself to mass market production again, that imposter syndrome, you just we get stuck in this comparison trap. And we talked about this in previous episodes when it comes to social media, but we also get in it from the space when we're selling goods of well, theirs is better than mine. And it's not just other makers, but it's also trying to compete with like factories. You can't compete with a factory. You are a handmade artisan, you are not competing with anybody, so you can't confuse your hobby pricing with business pricing. You really focus on yourself as a business.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Your cost of materials will be higher than a factory because they're able, because they buy so much, they get a lower price point than we could ever get as a hobbyist, you know, or even a small business owner. The volume that they purchase at gives them deeper discounts on the same material that you're purchasing at a higher price because you're not purchasing as much. And so just even like things like that can add up very quickly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

It really does. And especially if you are, and Beth, and you can speak to this better than I can, because I've sold stuff in boutiques and one-offs, but you actually had a structured business. There are things that you had to account for, like making sure you had a profit, how you're gonna grow, how you're gonna pay taxes, you know, how you're gonna pay your bills. Like it's a whole different approach if you're even creating handmade goods for a business.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

There's the Etsy fees, because I had a huge Etsy shop. So there's the Etsy fees, and then Etsy fees would change often. Um, then Etsy would charge for like any marketing that they did, and then per click, that'll be a sticker shock real fast for you. There's the marketing that you do for yourself, uh uh my emails that I sent out, like that whole software program. I on I had a decent Instagram and I had on average, I had about a hundred dog fluencers on Instagram that were every year would come through my program. And so they all got discounts to share, and they earned either based on sales, like earned free bandanas or money like for their commission. Like, and so like I'm paying out commissions to influencers, but it was helping my business grow. So, like, trust me, there's always more cost than you even think about, depending on the scale that you get to. And I loved every second of it, but I'm gonna be honest, this started by me making dog bandanas for my dogs so that they wouldn't get stuck in the crate. And mine are snap-on and reversible, they didn't have the tie knot and they weren't over the collar. And so I started putting them on them and take them to the dog park in Florida when we lived there, and all the dog moms wanted them, and then they encouraged me to start an Etsy, and that's how this took off. And I learned a lot about budgeting and business and taxes and and and fees and and marketing fees and email fees and all these other things and strategies, and and definitely grew a lot myself and in so many ways. I think it's prepared me for what I want to do now, but but it it adds up quick, and I was having to quickly, you know, adjust my pricing. The other thing is I got creative with where I was sourcing fabric, what season I would purchase like nicer, more trendy fabrics for, like holidays, I would sell so much during the holidays. And then the other thing is I did a lot of local vendor shows, vendor fairs, and those booths fees can range drastically in cost. And one thing I really learned when I started doing a lot of vendor shows is to ask questions to those running it, like the money I'm giving you for my booth, and that all of us are giving you from what is that going towards? The space, are you what marketing are you doing? How much are you putting into marketing? Are you just relying on the vendors to market? Because if that's the case, this isn't worth it to me. Like, I want to know like what this money is going towards to help bring the traffic in so that I'm gonna have enough foot traffic to push my product to make it worth me spending$400 to have a booth here today. You know, those kind of things. So, anyways, not to get too nitty-gritty into it, and we've talked about small business stuff before, but just to kind of give you an over overarching glance into just what how quickly it can add up and like the things you probably didn't even think about. Like, even just having a square card reader to take cards at vendor shows, all those transaction fees that are fees every single time.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

It's a lot, it's a lot, it really is, and we don't bring any of this up to discourage anybody from either making for themselves personally or to discourage anybody from selling. It's so you can go in with both eyes open. I've been there, I made someone asked me to make a quilt once, I made it, and when I I didn't even think about pricing until really after because I was new to quilting, and then afterwards I totaled up all the pricing and I was like, I can't charge them what this actually costs. Thankfully, I was a really dear friend, so I really didn't care and it was a good learning experience for me, but it was a very eye-opening moment of wow, this adds up really fast. So don't feel like if if someone asks you to do something and you want to do it, that's the that's the clear thing there, and you want to do it. If you give them a fair price and they say no, that's okay. Don't ever, that's okay. Don't ever take that as any type of judgment on your talent or opinion about what you do. It's just you gave a fair price for your time and materials, time being the most important thing in there, in my opinion. And if that doesn't work for their budget, that doesn't work for their budget. It's not in any way a referendum on you or where what your passion is.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Well, and and not to discourage you guys, like by what I was like, all the fees and all the costs and all those things. It's like I still made good money selling dog bandanas, okay? Like, but you have to like I had some surprises that I wasn't prepared for. And you know, just the I had to become a photographer, I had to learn how to edit my my uh stuff, I had to learn how to make videos.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

That's all time, it's all time.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

I had to learn, and I learned, I figured it out, and it's built skills that I have now that I actually use every day, and I'm grateful for it. So it's all a learning opportunity that we can continue to grow with, even if that business no longer exists. Um, but there's a there's a lot, you know, as a creative, we're like, I just want to make pretty things, but I want to sell them and make it so I can like make a living off of it. And that's great, that's great. But there's so much more to running a business than just making the thing. You gotta market it, you gotta promote it, you gotta customer service, you gotta test it, you gotta become a photographer, videographer, an editor, like you know, and it really you're wearing a lot of hats as one person. You gotta remember, and I was literally having this conversation with someone else the other day. When you're in corporate world, there's departments that do all those things, and you just do your one area of focus, right? And then you pass what you did on, and then they create the marketing, and they pass it on, and they edit it, and they pass it on, they put it on the website, and they make a whole thing around it. And that's kind of how it worked when I was at Singers. Like I made the project and and wrote the blog post or the tutorial, but then they would take it from there and get it out to the masses. So when I was done, I was done and I was on to the next thing. That's not the case when you're a solo act or even just two people, you know. So you have to start wearing all these different hats and building skills, and that's where things can feel hard sometimes because you're learning new things every time you take the next step in your business or making something selling online or making patterns or whatever it is. But just keep taking that step. It will get easier, and I will say, one of my biggest pieces of advice is to find people who are really good at the thing that you're not good at and and get help. And and maybe it's like Audra is really good at you know XYZ and I'm not, so I'm gonna go to her and go, Can I pick your brain about this? Can you help me wrap my head around this? Like what tools maybe should I be using for this? So I'm not having to do all the research up front, like you've already mastered this, and then what can I help you with? It's a two-way street, right? So find people that are in your community trying to do what you're doing, but maybe they're stronger in other areas than you, and and work together because there's room for all of us to grow and be successful. So that's one of the biggest things I've I've been doing more lately is learning from my peers, people that I look up to.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

There's room for everybody, there's always someone willing to share their knowledge. There's no, there's no gatekeeping here. If they are gatekeeping, then maybe ask somebody else. The reality is you can create because you love it. You can create to make money, you can do both. You just have to know what your plan is going in. You just got to know the field you're playing on to make sure that it benefits you in the way that you would like it to benefit you, whether that's emotionally, that fulfillment, whether it's financially covering your costs, whatever that is, just know what you're doing and in it for and make sure you're accounting for all of that. And for this,

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Of you that are listening that have no interest in selling or making for a cost, I recommend not looking at it. I'm just kidding. You might have some sticker shock, okay? Like, we all like, oh, I just spent a few bucks here at the quilt shop today, but like I've done that every week for like the last year, you know. Like it can add up, you know. It's like going out and getting coffee every day, and then next thing you know, like, oh, I spent$50 this week on coffee. Just coffee, you know, like so. It we all we and it's always this culture that we live in, it's so quick to buy, easy to buy. There's always something to buy, there's always another email in my um inbox, or uh the Instagram ads get me more often than I'd like to admit, but it it's so easy, quick set you know, gratification of a purchase, right? And and I get it, I am I am the kettle over here. So like it's I'm not judging anybody. Um, I'm the example and probably the reason why they do have social ads on social media these days because I am subject number test subject number one. Truthfully, like if you are enjoying it and you want there, I have so many people that are like, I make charity quilts, I don't want anything out of it. I just love that it's going to over here to help these people. Great. You know, but if you're in a position where you're like, I'd like to make some extra money so that we can save up for a vacation this year, cool. Like, make sure it's really worth the time that you're sacrificing to be able to have that weak vacation, right? Like, so just find what is important to you, your purpose and your why, which we talk about all the time. Like, we have a purpose and a why as to why we sew. Now you've got to decide the purpose and the why as to why I might want to sell what I sew. And I think that's really important to define that before you go down that rabbit hole. It can be a very successful and lucrative rabbit hole, but it can also be a very challenging and hard rabbit hole. And as the saying goes, it takes money to make money.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Yeah. And I think if you are interested in shifting from a hobby creator to a professional creator, a recommendation I have is before you start making that shift, is to start tracking your expenses like it's a business. Start approaching it like it's a business before it's a business. This gives you the training wheels to get a better handle on your costs and to live it before you start doing it. And you can decide if it's really the jump you want to make. And then if it is, when you make that jump, it's really not that much of a shift because you've already been treating your expenses and your costs like it's a business. So mentally you've already done, in my opinion, the heavy lifting. It's just a matter of shifting into a more external promotional space than just making an in your own space.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Well, there are some really beneficial like spreadsheets or Google Sheet docs that are already created to help you track business expenses. If that's something you're like, I don't even know where to start, like tracking this. Go to Etsy, search those kind of like you know, business financial trackers, and there's a ton of them. And they just download to your Google or Excel. Like it's nice to have all of those because you don't need to then become an Excel spreadsheet whiz um and know how to do all of that. So there's tools out there that are inexpensive. Download that. There's so many of those. I've downloaded many. I use one for tracking my marketing. Work smart. You're out there.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Yeah. Yeah. And then make sure you're also tracking your time in there. Not just your cost, but also your time. Like I'm I made this project. These are the material costs. This is how much time it took me. This is how much I want to make per hour, you know, like all those. So anyway, I think we covered this in a pretty decent spot. And hopefully, we don't want you to walk away down. We want you just to walk away aware. That's our goal is for you to walk away aware.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Hopefully, having an honest conversation about it helped your brain think of some things that you may not have thought about yet. And that knowledge is power. Knowledge gives you confidence to take that next step forward. So if you were like hesitant, now I don't want this to scare you. I want you to go, okay, now I didn't even think about those things. I need to write those things down and look into that as well as I start to look into taking this path because it's definitely a path that we've seen many people be successful with. And that doesn't mean that you can't too, but just to set you up for a better success, to know what you're walking into, and then find people that are walking a path, maybe even a few steps ahead of you, so that you can learn from them. And and community is everything. We talk about that all the time. Community is everything. So school school is our week, and this is where we uh share a little sewing tip, little tip or trick, or whatever we feel like might be beneficial to you guys. We haven't done one of these in a hot minute.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

No, we haven't. Mine is one we've talked about it before. I will continue to talk about it again because I feel like it's one of these things that we're just gonna need to keep being reminded of. Yeah, is that you need to change your needles all the time. All the time.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

And work those needles into your business costs.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Yes, work those needles into your business costs. I used to not change my needles that much, full disclosure. And it wasn't until maybe in the last decade I got smarter and realized, like, oh yeah, I that's why there's a thudding sound in my machine. That's not right. So the general rule of thumb is new needle every eight hours or every new project. That is your general rule of thumb. If you hear a thud, thud, thud, thud, that is your needle needing to be replaced because it is not piercing the fabric like it should be. It is like forcibly going through the fabric in a very uncomfortable manner, which also puts additional stress on your machine. So there's that snag.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Yep. And you're gonna get snags in your fabric. It's they wear down, even though to the naked eye we don't see it. They wear down and they get these burrs on them. And and if you're sewing with any sort of adhesive or tape or fusible, like that gunk will build up. You need to be cleaning them throughout your project and then toss it. Like if you want a beautiful end result and a quality end result, then then your needle is step one. It's really important.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Yeah, and they're not that expensive. No, they're not that expensive. And I love needles, I love all the different kinds of needles, I love using different needles for different projects. We could probably do a whole episode on kinds of needles. Ooh, that's a be a good one. We could do that. I love talking about needles, and I have a whole lot of talking about needles like jersey needles and metallic needles and microtext needles and denim needles. Oh my!

SPEAKER_00 28:35

I love needles. All right, so my school school is um I I didn't think this was a fun fact until I shared it on a live one day, and people were like, wait, what? I didn't know you could do that. And I was like, Oh, I I thought everybody knew this. So I'm just gonna say it with the assumption that nobody knows, and probably you all know, but it doesn't hurt to repeat it. Um, so we and if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see this. This is just a regular spool of thread. This is what they typically look like, and and they have um like that little nick in it to like tuck the thread into. I'm gonna be honest, I absolutely hate using spools that are like this because that little nick, there's one on each end, sometimes my thread gets caught on that on my sewing machine and it yanks and tears and and it drives me nuts. Well, I don't like purchasing threads that are built like this. Most of my threads come on a spool like this, and I love these because it comes tapers and comes right off the top, and there's nothing catching the top. But did you know that the bottom opens? This was what blew people's mind. The bottom opens, and so I can take my thread tail and I can just like tuck it and wrap it around that little bottom piece, and then just clip it in, and now my tail's secure and it's out of the way. And it so when I throw this in my bin with all of my hundreds of other threads just like this, I don't have a tangled mess. It is amazing. There's no nets, there's no slap bracelets, there's no nothing. It's built in to this. I don't need anything extra. It's built in. Look at that. Can you hear it? Can you hear it? I'm so satisfied.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

So a lot of my embroidery thread is like that. My normal machine thread is there's a couple like that, but not many.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

But yeah, I think it's worth my so this is just cotton thread. All of my embroidery thread is like this, but my cotton threads now are like this. I love it. I don't have to worry about my threads getting caught on some tiny. I've literally taken a nail file to these and tried to file them off. It's so frustrating. So that's my little fun tip. If you get frustrated with spools that are like this, source ones that are like this. And there's a lot of different brands that start that are starting to carry these little little ones like this, and you do get more thread. You do get more thread. So, anyways, that's my fun fact. If you already knew that, great. If you didn't, I hope that blew your mind today.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

And if you're listening, you have to go watch the episode for all of her visuals. Me holding up my threads. Okay, so what's your you love to see it this week, miss? Happy April.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

I feel like the first quarter of the year is always like the hardest to get through. And we're officially in like Q2, quarter two, and it just I'm ready for all of it. It's like as I said in the last episode, like I love sewing with florals. I'm gonna show you what I made. Look at this beautiful. This is Hydrangeas by the Garden or in the Garden. Hydrangeas in the Garden by Riley Blake. It's a new line that came out this year, and it's hydrangeas fabric, and it is it is even more stunning in person.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

She's showing a big jelly roll rug for those who are I made a big jelly roll rug.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

So we here actually, when this comes out uh at the beginning of April, we're doing a retreat in Madison, Indiana. Uh, and this is the project, and this is the exact fabric, and I'm obsessed. This might be one of the prettiest jelly roll rugs I've ever made, and I have made so many of them. And we're also gonna make a quilt block with this fabric as well, which I have the purple colorway here, but we're gonna make there's like pink, there's blues, so we're gonna be making some fun quilty projects with this as well as the jelly roll rug, so they'll all match and be cute and floral and springy. And I just love this time of year, even though my allergies hate it. I love it. You love it.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

My love to see it is uh it is a two-show musical month for us in this house. So for those of you who might be new to our podcast or maybe I haven't talked about in a while, we are a massive theater family in a variety of ways. Dave is involved in theater, I'm involved in theater, Charlie is involved in theater, and this month we Charlie is in two shows. So we've got one performance run the second week in April, and then another performance run the fourth weekend in April. So we are basically going from show to show with overlaps, and then she's also starting rehearsals for another show in April as well. So we will be starting rehearsals for one and then wrapping up to all of the month of April. So we're just gonna call April theater month in our household. It was as if every month isn't theater month.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Catch you on the flip side, whatever that may look like.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

It's always a fun time when you see your children doing something that they just love and so passionate about. It makes it makes any of the lift super easy to do. Yeah, totally, totally. All right, our next episode have Karen Wade, the owner and founder of Bessie Pearl Binding Company. And we are so excited to have her on and talk all things binding.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

I know. She's lovely. We get to meet her in person at QuitCon and see her bindings in person, and it's just like, ugh. I'm excited to talk to her because we just talked a lot about economics and of handmade and running a business. And I'm excited to talk to her even about that of how she took binding and made a whole business just around binding, which is fascinating. And she's even shared with us uh in person, she's like, I can't believe I have a whole business around binding. It's like it's just wild to me, but I love it so much. I'm really excited. I think you guys are gonna really love chatting with her next time.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Thank you so much for joining us. Please follow us on the Social Hour podcast on Instagram. You can find us on YouTube. Please join the social sewist Facebook group. And if you like our podcast, please share it with a friend of yours who's also a sewist or a creator. And then also, we love a review. If you guys give us a review, it costs you nothing and also bumps us up in the ratings on all the streaming platforms. So any support is always greatly appreciated. And have so.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Yeah, happy April. Bye.