Markets/Events

*I'll be speaking at Hello Etsy at the Smithsonian American Art Museum this weekend* 

~ full details are here ~

Breaks don't last forever. And, truth be told: after about a week of taking it easy, I get all itchy to work again and make things happen. And, a lot has been happening already. Last week was the opening of my solo show Vanités Sacrées in Paris (you can read about it on Embroidery As Art ) and this weekend, I'll be speaking at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. as one of several U.S.-based satellite events for Hello Etsy, being held in Berlin. What is this all about? 

Hello Etsy: A Summit on Small Business and Sustainability is a hands-on gathering for small business owners who want to connect with their peers, learn the skills to find success and independence, and be part of the movement to build human-scale economies.

What: Hello Etsy

Where: Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Washington D.C. and Brooklyn.

When: Sept 17 - 18th 2011

Full information on all Hello Etsy events can be found here.

The Second Annual Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs is happening this weekend in San Francisco -and there's still time to register! I have been so busy with the move, I plum near forgot to blog about this amazing event was founded and organized by the utterly awesome Jamie Marie Chan, Lauren Venell, Laura Henry, Kristen Rask and Andrea Porter. Last year's CCE was held in Seattle (I participated there too) and it was a huge success. It's a rare chance to listen to three days of panel discussions with some of the top independent designers, artists and entrepreneurs. Like who? Like me! Yes, me mom!

Full List of Speakers - Full Schedule of Panels - Registration Still Open!

I'm speaking on these three panels:

Friday 8/5 Day 1:

1-2 pm Your First Book Deal with Jenny Hart, Meg Mateo Ilasco, Christina Loff and Jodi Warshaw, moderated by Susanne Woods.

Saturday 8/6 Day 2:

11-12 Taking it to the Next Level with Christine Schmidt and Evan Gross, Brandon Levey, Mita Patnaik, Ferron Salniker and Jenny Hart, moderated by Jordan Kushins.

3-4 Intellectual Property Discussion with Jenny Hart and Keith Cooper

x - x - x 

The conference continues through Sunday, but alas -back to work for me. Other not-to-miss sessions:

The Work of Art with Lisa Congdon

Creative Collaboration - Don't DIY Alone with Willo O'Brien

The Price is Right - Pricing Strategies with Grace Dobush

How to Approach a Gallery with Lainya Magana

A Day in the Life: Illustration with Jaime Zollars

I know the tickets aren't exactly cheap, but it is a very concentrated gathering of experience minds spilling their hard-earned info and best advice! I'd pay for that, myself. Hope to see you there!

I am absolutely thrilled and honored to have been invited to speak at the upcoming Hand and Lock embroidery conference in NYC. Why am I telling you about it now? Because they are still offering early bird ticket prices (only until July 31st) and I want you to plan ahead and come see me. I'd like to see your smiling face there.

Are you familiar with Hand and Lock in London? Gosh, their history only dates back to 1767. They are a UK institution with deep roots in the tradition of handmade gold lace and trims, hand and machine embroidery, beading and embellishments of distinction for royalty, bespoke work and services for couture houses such as Dior. Never heard of them? Well, they might not be as well known in the USA. That's why they have begun to hold this annual, prize-giving embroidery conference. I'm thrilled to be invited to speak at the event, particularly alongside the venerable and true "embroidery-goddess" Erica Wilson (who deserves a blog post all of her own -stay tuned).

Hand and Lock Conference 2011 - November 3rd

Information on the event

★ Book your early-bird tickets online here ★

Ready for a Renegade Craft Fair L.A. re-cap? Okay!  It can be tough to sneak away long enough to get photos of everything I'd like to, but here's what I got while running around in the heat.

This year was a family affair for me -that's my mom helping out in the booth while holding my niece. No one does PR for you better than mom. (That is my tried-and-true DIY business advice for the day.) No one made it past the table without her putting a promo card in their hand.

Mat Daly and his absolutely beautiful silk-screened posters. He does the Renegade posters every year and spent most of the money I made buying up old ones for Renegades I did, but didn't get a poster. He still had some from the very first one in Chicago which I very foolishly didn't get back then. Aaaand snag. Along with about six others.

Swap-o-Rama-Rama's tent is always crammed with people throwing elbows for the best clothing swap e-var. (No, not really. These are all very nice people. Just look at them.) I'd better get back to my booth...

Hey, hey Christine! This is Christine Haynes, who I shared a booth with. I met Christine several years ago at one of the Renegade Craft Fairs in Chicago and we've been friends ever since. Christine is the author of Chic and Simple Sewing and she also teaches sewing classes at Urban Craft Center and Sew L.A. It's obvious that she's a really good (and beloved) teacher, because her students were coming by her booth all day long saying "I took your awesome class...do you remember me?" blink blink?

♥ Christine has also launched a > > Kickstarter Campaign < < to fund her first line of sewing patterns. I wholeheartedly urge you (staring at you like I mean it) to check out her work and help get her line going ♥ 

 

O HAI! That's me with my niece Fiona who's eating a baby Mum Mum (which I was so hungry at this point I nearly ate it myself, but she's got quite a grip on her). The name of those crackers makes me very very happy. I'm an aunt! It's nice.

Might I interest you in some embroidery patterns and supplies and kits an' stuff? My table. I never have the cutest booth on earth, just straight-up embroidery goodness. If you look real hard you might find some new items that are not yet up on the site (hint: they come in pink, blue, black and white).

Why, hello there! Whatcha got there on your bag? This is Lily. She stopped by the booth to say hello and show me her wonderfully stitched-up bag! She said Sublime Stitching got her started and now she is addicted to doing her own thing in embroidery. Made my day. Can we see that work up close? 

Do you see what this is? It's Frida Kahlo as a Day-of-the-Dead sugar skull! (The uni-brow is the giveaway.) But, I especially love how she did the braids. I had to get a closeup because I knew you'd want to see Lily's work. Noice.

This looks like it's Lily's own wonderful design. But, if you want some sugar skulls and other Mexicana stuff all ready to go, I have Dia de los Muertos patterns right here.

And last but certainly not least...my youngest customer to date. Tegan's mom approached the table, threw up her hands and said "I don't even know how to do this, but she does, and she keeps asking for more patterns!" Tegan, that's so freaking awesome I can't even tell you. I hope you'll send in some of your work so I can see it! (hint, hint)

x - x - x - x

The rest of my time was spent gabbing with longtime DiY friends and spending practically every dime I made. If you weren't able to make it to this Renegade, here are some links you might want to check out of some of my favorites:

Mahar Dry Goods - Nice by Caitlin Holcomb - Fawa - Kattuna - Pop Pop Portraits -  Heyday Design - Uppercase -  Leighlena - Ryan Berkley - Paper Pastries - Queen Puff Puff

. . . and too many others to name! If you want to see even more photos, check out the 3rd Annual Renegade Craft Fair L.A. Flickr Pool.

And ♥ THANK YOU ♥ everyone who came to see me! That was the best part. xo

PHeweee! This has been a very busy July with lots of unexpected twists and turns (all of them good). Thus, my blogging slowed down, it's true. But, I have to slow down for a moment to tell you that yes! I will be at Renegade Craft Fair Los Angeles this weekend! My mom just might be there helping me out, too (she loves to do that). If you survive carmageddon you will be rewarded to find I have some special new things not yet up on the site. I'll be sharing a booth with my very good friend Christine Haynes so please come see us!

Jenny, is it okay if I bring my book/kit/project along and have you sign it or show you what I've made? Pleasepleaseplease? (Lots of you have been asking me this.)

Yes! Of course, silly! I would be happy to. Now, I uh...have to get all this stuff together. See you tomorrow! xo

Maker Faire was total cray-zay-ness! Look at all these people clamoring to learn hand embroidery! Only minor shoving was involved. I was in the BurdaStyle booth just after speaking on the "Crafting Your Online Presence" panel hosted by Craft and moderated by Diane Gilleland. The instant the panel was over, I had to run, not walk, to my awaiting table. Foolishly thinking I'd try to encourage passersby to mmmaybe give stitching a try, instead, I was mobbed. By a nice mob. Not a mean mob. See:

This was the most fun part of Maker Faire for me. It can be overwhelming for sure, but it's so very worth it. I really do love the opportunity to meet new people, see old friends and have longtime Sublime Stitchers show up to say hello and introduce themselves. I'm thrilled. It's not every day I get to connect with you on the other side of the computer screen. >donk donk< (tapping computer screen)

Calm before the embroidery storm. Speaking on the panel with Drew Emborksy, Cathe Holden, Moxie & Alice Merino. That's my very good buddy Garth Johnson of Extreme Craft to my left.

I think this could have been an all-day symposium to cover what we've learned about communicating online and using the internet to promote and sell our work. Considering how long I tend to ramble on, it's probably good that it wasn't.

Thank you to everyone at Craft, Maker Faire and BurdaStyle for inviting me to participate! Next year: I won't miss what I heard was a blowout Renegade Austin.

 ♥ MICHELE MADRIGAL ♥ YOU WINNER, YOU! 

I will be at the Bay Area Maker Faire! This is a two-day event, but I will only be there on Sunday. What will I be doing, you ask?

Crafting Your Online Presence - Sunday Noon - 1pm
I will be speaking on this panel that includes Garth Williams, Cathe Holden, Moxie, Alice Merino and Drew Emborsky. Then I will hustle my bustle on over to...

BurdaStyle Make + Take Lounge - Embroider With Me! - Sunday 1 - 3pm
Sublime Stitching and BurdaStyle have teamed up again and I will be hanging out in their Make + Take lounge, embroidering. I will have lots of supplies on hand, so you can join in at any time. Please come by and say hi! Leave with something embroidered and new handskills.

Full information about the entire weekend's events can be found on the Maker Faire website.

Oh yeah! I have a pair of one-day passes to give away! Who wants them? (I'm giving them away together, not separately. You know- so you can take a friend!) Compliments of the kind folks at BurdaStyle.

♥ DEADLINE TO ENTER ♥
Midnight CST Sunday May 15th

♥ HOW TO ENTER ♥

Just do one of these things:

1) Comment to this blog post (all comments are moderated so don't panic if your comment doesn't show instantly)

2) Tweet "Jenny I wanna embroider with you at Maker Faire!" to @sublimestitchin

3) Post a comment on Facebook here!

I'll see you there...

Renegade Craft Fair Austin is coming up quick! And while it breaks my heart to tell you I can't be there in person this year (I'm speaking at Maker Faire Bay Area the same weekend), I hope you'll still totally go check out the Sublime Stitching booth where Courtney will be waiting to greet you (be extra nice to her, okay?). If you say "FLOSS IS BOSS", she'll give you something special. Don't be shy! Say hi!

Sigh. ~wavy memory lines~ I used to do every single Renegade. By myself. I did them for five years in Chicago since the first one in 2003 and had just a little card table (my "booth" hasn't changed much), and a local friend to cover me while I ran to the bathroom (tmi?). I had a box of patterns by my chair, and I'd assemble your kit on site. Where have those days gone? Nowhere. Think I'm above it? No way! I just can't be at all the events at once that have exploded over the years. I'm gonna be at the next Renegade coming up in L.A. dude.

x - x - x - x 

♥ Come see me at Renegade L.A. July 16th & 17th ♥ sharing a booth with Christine Haynes ♥

Our good friends at Standard Recording are again holding their annual Craftacular Music Carnivale during SXSW! There will be a Sublime Stitching booth as always, but there will not be me there as always (I am visiting family and a new niece). Don't pout! My uber-helper gal Courtney will be there and she's just waiting for you to say hello to her, and tell her the secret word ("kaboing") so she can give you a free goodie. Click here to RSVP to the event! I wish I could be there and see all my crafty friends. Now I'm pouting. I'll stop.

Standard Recording Craftacular Music Carnivale!
Friday March 18th ~ 12 - 8pm @ Gypsy Lounge, Austin, TX

This weekend, I'll be speaking on a panel at the first Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs
in Seattle. Can't blog now -must pack!

CCE Speakers

CCE Schedule

CCE TICKETS!