Craft-ish Episode #29: Craft Industry Alliance’s Abby Glassenberg
A conversation with Craft Industry Alliance’s Abby Glassenberg
This week Vickie spoke with Abby Glassenberg from her Massachusetts studio. Abby is a writer, activist, and the force behind the home sewing blog and plushie pattern company, While She Naps. She’s also the the co-founder, along with Kristin Link, of the Craft Industry Alliance, a trade association for craft industry professionals serving makers, designers, suppliers, and pro bloggers.
Abby and Vickie talked about the humility that the motherhood experience can sometimes bestow up us, her choice to veer from the path that her formal, advanced degree from Harvard laid out for her to instead go rogue and become a creative entrepreneur, and her passion for advocating for the fair treatment and livable wages of those of us in the craft industry.
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Abby at home with her daughters.
Show Notes:
Abby Glassenberg is the author of While She Naps — a blog about the home sewing industry and creative entrepreneurship with a focus on craft publishing, fabric manufacturing, feminism, and social justice. I’m a sewing pattern designer, craft book author, writer and teacher.
In 2005 she started While She Naps to record her work in the studio making dolls and toys. As her designs became more professional and grew in popularity, she turned her passion for designing and sewing stuffed animals into a thriving business. Today, she writes craft books, licenses her designs to national companies, sells her sewing patterns and ebooks, has a podcast, and teaches sewing and business practices.
Abby grew up in Potomac, Maryland and went to Johns Hopkins University undergrad where she got a degree in History. Then she joined Teach For America and taught middle school in the Mississippi Delta for two years.
She has a master’s degree in education from Harvard and taught middle school social studies in Newton, Massachusetts before becoming a textile artist and the mother of three girls.
Abby’s also the co-founder and of Craft Industry Alliance, a trade association for craft industry professionals serving makers, designers, suppliers, and pro bloggers. They publish a twice monthly professionally written digital journal and our members have access to secure online forums and resource library.
Enter to win Abby’s eBook, How to Create a Powerful E-Mail Newsletter: The Comprehensive Guide for Creatives. Post a comment letting us know what’s your favorite way to receive creative inspiration and information (newsletters, Facebook, Instagram, etc). Comments must be received by 10pmCT on December 14, 2016.
Links:
Mentioned in the Show
Credits:
Produced by: Vickie Howell
Edited & Mixed by: Dave Campbell
Music Provided by: Explosions in the Sky
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3 Responses to “Craft-ish Episode #29: Craft Industry Alliance’s Abby Glassenberg”
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What a great episode. Abby Glassenberg’s willingness to explore hard issues in the craft industries to inform all, and to ask hard questions about “accepted” practices is amazing. She demonstrates courage and integrity that certainly inspires me. She is a catalyst for change, and does, indeed, deserve to feel pride in her craft industry journalism, and, of course, in her sewing creations and expertise. For craft and art generally, I am inspired by this podcast, Abby’s podcast, and the Savvy Painter podcast (Antrese Wood), and perusing, when I have time, images on Ravelry, and the websites of guests interviewed on various podcasts.
I thin this has been one of my favorite episodes so far! I am not a mother, but Vickie your comment about being more than glue was the best. I tend to receive my inspiration from Instagram and Pinterest, and Information from Instagram and Facebook, and some newsletters and podcasts. Like Craftish, Power Purls, and the Sweet Georgia Show. 🙂
Thank you for a very enjoyable conversation. Abby, I liked hearing about starting a blog while at home with a baby, to being company president!
For inspiration and information, I favour Pinterest, Google Images, Podcasts, newsletters and an occasional spot of Ravelry. I also love a good old-fashioned magazine! I applaud brave independent publishers who produce magazines in this Internet age.