On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about product development with my guests Jamie Trinier and Jessica Drain of SewTites.
An oil and gas engineer for most of her career, Jamie discovered the love of quilting after watching her mom sew many Halloween costumes, Christmas PJs, and quilts as a child. She started sewing when she made a king-size log cabin quilt for her husband over a decade ago.
In April 2021, Jamie made her lifelong dream of owning a quilt shop come true when she purchased a long-standing Calgary quilt and fabric shop, @outofhandquilting.
A career marketer and graphic designer, Jessica has been helping businesses brand and market themselves for almost two decades.
These days, Jessica spends most of her working time designing and developing new products, along with dreaming, strategizing, and managing the SewTites business as a whole.
Jessica lives in Billings, Montana, with her two sons. She enjoys hand lettering, which she posts from time to time over @sassiejessiegifts, is becoming a private pilot, and hits her local CrossFit gym as much as possible. She and her family are also often found outside camping, skiing, boating, gardening, and doing all the Montana things.
This episode is sponsored by Artistic Artifacts.
A creative resource for fabric, fiber, and mixed media art products.
Artistic Artifacts is a creative resource for fabric, fiber, and mixed media art products sold online and in our shop in Alexandria, VA. We are an authorized BERNINA dealer and carry a full line of WonderFil Specialty Threads. Our goal is to be the source of Creative Finds for the Creative Mind — come shop with us!
We carry a wide selection of fabrics for the sewing and quilting enthusiast — modern quilting cottons, Australian Aborigine designs, Indian, Indonesian and African prints, hand dyed and so much more — along with a variety of notions and sewing supplies. You will also find a wide selection of art supplies, and vintage finds. Use code CIF2023 to save 10% off your next order!
We begin this interview talking about Jamie and Jessica’s childhood growing up in rural Montana with parents who were entrepreneurs. We talk about their college years and then we discuss their first sewing-focused business which was a subscription box.
We talk about what they learned from that business and how a piece of swag they created to promote it at QuiltCon turned into a brand new business, SewTites. We discuss the evolution of the idea and collaborations SewTites has undertaken with several well-known designers in the quilting industry and the impact of those collaborations.
Jamie and Jessica at a show
Jamie and Jessica talk about sourcing and warehousing SewTites and doing consumer and trade shows to both spread the word about the product and to learn from their consumers.
SewTites collaboration with Tula Pink
We delve into the story behind the newest SewTites product, a magnetic cutting system. Jessica and Jamie tell the story of discovering that the technology for this mat was already patented and how they went about working with the patent holder to manufacture it.
The new SewTites Magnetic Cutting System
We also reference:
- Kitty Wilkin of Night Quilter
- Lisa Shaw of Bubble’s Menagerie
- Sarah Thomas of Sariditty
And, of course, I ask Jessica and Jamie to recommend great stuff they’re loving right now. Jessica recommends:
- Seth Godin’s The Song of Significance
- Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Journal
Jamie recommends:
- Seth Godin’s podcast Akimbo
- creating a quilt using foundation paper piecing.
Keep up with SewTites on their website and on Instagram.
