When the lovely and talented Christine Haynes entered our New Biz/New Year giveaway in December her business was in the middle of transitioning. Christine had grown beyond her identity as a ready to wear clothing designer and into a new exciting life as a pattern designer, published author and teacher of all sorts of sewing goodness. Her Kickstarter campaign to launch her first pattern line had been fully funded and she was ready to rebrand and grow her business.
This amazing woman and her creative business have been featured by The New York Times, NBC’s The Today Show, The New York Post, Martha Stewart Radio Network, Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Lake Magazine, Time Out London, People.com, Daily Candy, and Los Angeles Apparel News. She has made appearances on PBS’s Sew It All Episode 210, American Sewing Guild National Conference 2011, Craftcation Conference and her writing published in Craft Zine, CraftStylish, SewStylish and Sew News (2012)!
Since January, Christine has been busy giving her blog a makeover, working on her rebrand and getting ready for pattern designer superstardom! She’s visiting us to share her plans for 2012-be sure to read to the bottom of the post to see how YOU can help speed Christine on her path of crafty world domination!
Hi Christine! Your business is at a really exciting place with so many wonderful things happening for you-what do you hope 2012 will hold for your business and what will you be working on to get there?
At the start of each year I think about what worked the previous year and what didn’t work out so well. I think it’s good to reflect and be as honest as you can with yourself about how things are going and make positive changes that will further you and your business in the best way.
Usually I implement some new projects at that time, but this year I already had a lot in motion, so right now I’m deep into a bunch of projects and frankly, I’m just trying to hang on!
The biggest project is that I am working on my new line of sewing patterns! My Kickstarter project was funded last fall and since then I’ve been working on the design, the patterns themselves, and next up is the big photo shoot. I’m on track to launch the first two dress patterns in the spring and will of course keep you all in the know!
Another big project that I’m working on is an online class with Craftsy! This is still in the works but it appears to be official and I can’t wait to virtually teach all those seamstresses out there that can’t take classes with me due to location. The people at Craftsy are lovely and I really look forward to working with them more. Stay tuned for all the
details on my class!
I am continuing to write now and then for SewStylish and Sew News magazines. The new spring 2012 issue of SewStylish has an article in it with me, Cal Patch, and Gretchen Hirsch, where the three of us all interpret one pattern in our own way. I’m super happy with the dress I made and the other two are really cute too! I will also be in an upcoming issue of Sew News where I show three different ways to customize the Colette Patterns Sorbetto Top with collars, pleats, trim, and gathering. It’s such a great blank canvas project to customize!
I’m also hosting three workshops at the upcoming Craftcation Conference happening in March in Ventura, CA. This conference is full of great crafty people of all kinds- food, fiber, legal help, sewing, and loads more! If you’re thinking you might need a vacation, this is a great way to go! Crafting and vacation all wrapped up in one! (Editor’s note: visit us Friday Feb 17th for a guest post from one of the founders of Craftcation)
What’s crazy is that all of this is happening by the first half of the year, so who knows what the second half will hold! I hope it means another couple of new patterns, more writing, and more of those wonderful unknown projects that just haven’t presented themselves yet!
In addition to the more glamorous projects, I also just launched a new blog and am working on a new website. I’ve had my current website for 5 years and my blog for 7, and neither are reflective of what I’m doing now, so it feels really great to rebrand it all with the upcoming launch of the sewing patterns.
Wow, that’s a lot! But clearly I love what I do and hopefully I will continue to be lucky enough to do it for many years to come! Thanks for taking the time to feature me and thanks for all the OMHG support!
Now its your turn dear readers, just like Christine mentioned in her giveaway entry she is “super hard working and am literally a one-woman show, but every now and then a girl needs some help”. I think we can all relate to that! We are such a creative and supportive community with tons of knowledge + experience to share. I invite you all to get to know Christine by visiting her links below and watching her giveaway entry. Then visit us in the comments to share your ideas for her rebrand, suggestions, support and general cheerleading to help propel Christine into her 2012 adventure.
Ready? Set, Cheer!
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