Looking back through Year 3 there wasn’t anything too major that stuck out. I think this year I was feeling more comfortable in my role and like I had things kinda sort of figured out. We did another shop shuffle and moved the classroom out of the center of the shop. We had some folks leave and some new ones join. We started the craft library! I think year 3 is when we started to gain some traction and we weren’t having $0 days anymore.
We started year 3 off by introducing the Free Little Craft Library. I found a $40 metal cabinet at second use and painted it with the leftover paint from the building. I set it out front of the shop and invited people to drop and take craft supplies as needed. I had high hopes for this little community offering. It lasted outside for almost a year I think. We used to get a lot of weird things in the library when it was kept outside. Including a morning in July when I came to work to find a pack of steaks and some tortillas inside. It was after that that we started bringing it in every night. That got annoying pretty quick and it eventually found a permanent home in the shop.
In November we hosted the 2nd Sewing Throwdown! I made an official mic holder, Tubey McTubeface, and we live streamed on Twitch! I started planning an even bigger and better round 3 for December. Unfortunately reality caught up with me and I ended up calling it off as I was feeling too overwhelmed. I’ve meaning to bring it back ever since. Maybe 2027 will finally be the year we see the return of Sewing Throwdown… I just need Netflix to pick it up, I would make a great host.
That winter we did our first edition of the Sewing Countdown Calendar. That was the year I decided I should hand letter ALL of the bags for the items. I spent may evenings in front of the TV hand letter the sandwich bags. I remember the production of packing it all up and realizing we were off on some of our numbers and scrambling to figure them out. That calendar also sparked my first angry customer email. I had someone who was very upset by all the swear words.
Classes continued and we expanded the catalog. We’ve hosted the Modern Wreath Making workshop every year, and every year I order way too much greenery. This year I was determined to use it all so I went to goodwill and bought a bunch of vases to make arrangements. I made extra wreaths and gave them to friends, and passed out the arrangements to our business neighbors. Maybe this year I’ll nail it down.
That winter we also hosted a raffle to raise money for Collective Justice. I remember getting some big ticket items like a quilt coat from Brittany Frey and A floyd quilt from Taylor of Toad and Sew. That raffle ended up raising over $3,000!
In the shop things were humming along. As I looked back through the IG posts almost all of them were live unboxings. I had so much fun showing off the new fabric and seeing how high I could stack the bolts. Carti-B joined the crew sometime in 2021 but this was the first photo evidence I could find of them. I still remember being in the container store waffling on whether or not I should spend the $10 to get the black one instead of the silver one. I also can’t believe how long I just schlepped bolts around before it. The cart is still going, kind of. Its wheels like to fall off and it’s permanently dented from carrying too many bolts of fabric. But we love our Carti-B!
This was also the year I painted our Looper inspired mural on the back wall. I loved how it turned out! It was also the first year of Merch! One of our Wyldwoodies, Savannah, did the “Make it Happen” designs for us and we had them printed through printful. I also have to mention the terrible haircut I got that year. I wanted to do a pretty big chop and get a razor bob. The person I found said she could do it but absolutely did not know how to use a razor and ended up just hacking my hair off in chunks. I had to go super short to correct it and I am still growing out that bad haircut today. I desperately miss my super long hair. I’m almost there!
In February I attended my first fabric trade show in LA. My aunt Theresa joined me for the quick trip. The show ended up being a bit of a bust but we had a great time wandering the fabric district and spending some time together. I still find it so cool that I can make work pay for a trip!
In March I celebrated my 32nd birthday and we took this iconic photo of me as a baby. I still remember me and Remy completely losing it and cracking up taking these. I think Remy’s creative direction was “now crawl away baby!” I had a little party at 4 generals. A lot of these folks are friends I made through the shop! It’s wild to me how many close friends the shop has brought me.
Our Wyldwoodies continued to grow and we had our first in person meet up at the shop. I love the little community of supporters that has grown each year. If you’re not a Wyldwoodie, you really should consider it. It’s truly the coolest group of sewists and makers.
That summer I got us neon signs from Noble Neon. I really wanted people from the street to know what we did there. They turned out great and I still love them! I remember not really having the money for those but saying eff it and buying them anyway. There’s a few times over the years I’ve done that and I’ve never regretted it. Looking at you Tina Toolcart.
That summer we also participated in the Renton River Days parade as cute little quilt people. It was a lot of fun! We also participate in our first market, Redmond Pride! Remy and I worked the button maker for pro noun pins for about 3 hours straight. There were a hit!
I was also hanging out with Taylor from Toad and Sew more. It was really fun to have a friend in the industry to talk shop with. I still remember her coming in and showing me her first ever quilt pattern, the New Years Kiss! I also hired our VA Olivia based on Taylor’s recommendation. Olivia is the behind the scenes rock star that fills in all my gaps.
August saw our first break-in. I remember coming into work that day and seeing the cash drawer on the floor. I went to the front door and it was OPEN. I immediately started hyperventilating thinking that I had left the shop unlocked overnight. But no, they had broken out the lock in the door. We didn’t keep things very secure back then so they got about $250 out of the crash drawer and our little surface laptop that we used for our register. It was honestly traumatizing. I never did get that laptop back, there’s a lot of photos, spreadsheets, and my personal patterns that were lost with it. Don’t worry, I’m much better at backing things up now, and the shop has an alarm system. My landlord paid to get the door fixed that day and we carried on.
We had a second attempt at a break-in later in October. That time they tried to break through the glass and woke up someone who lived upstairs and they called the police. Nothing was stolen but getting a phone call from Maggie at 7am telling me the door was shattered was not fun, and I had to pay for the door this time. (I did end up getting paid back from the person who tried to break in.) I remember talking to my aunt about it, she had owned an antique store with my Oma and it would get broken into all the time. At some level it’s just part of having a business.
In September we did our biggest shuffle yet! We moved the classroom against the wall and moved the register to the middle. I also added a curtain between the classroom and register area to help cut down on the noise from the shop. It worked okay, the tables were definitely too big for the space and things were tight. A lot of people would accidentally walk into the classroom because the entrance was directly in front of the door. It’s funny to see the slow improvement of the layout over the years. I definitely think our current layout has functioned the best so far.
I have no photos of the shop from the anniversary that year. These photos are the few I could find of the shop from throughout the year. I don’t even remember what kind of promotion we ran or how busy it was. There’s literally 0 photo evidence. Looking back at my photos it looks like we were broken into the Monday after the anniversary sale. I also went to a pumpkin carving party that night after the sale so it must not have been too crazy!
Overall year 3 sticks out as a good one. I remember feeling like we were getting things dialed in. I had a lot more help and we were really starting to grow!
