SewShare co-founders Ursula Morgan and Julie Roehm, longtime creative industry leaders and the team behind Creativebug.

Founders

Ursula comes from a long line of sewists and states firmly that sewing is in her DNA. From her German ancestors who brought revolutionary linen-making technology to Ireland, to her Irish grandmother who was a couture seamstress, she was destined to be deeply involved in the craft. Although her diverse career didn’t always involve sewing, she was always drawn back to it.         

Julie, as well, has good genes when it comes to sewing and crafting. She has fond memories of sewing with her mother and grandmother. After many years working in fin-tech, she found her way into the creative arts, combining her tech experience with the crafts industry. Her UX (user experience) acumen and innovation was a primary driver for Creativebug’s incredible success.  

In July 2022, as the world was just beginning to emerge from the pandemic, Ursula and Julie met up while they were both in Madrid. Ursula sketched out her idea for SewShare: an interactive platform for people who sew, built on social, education and ecommerce components. Julie’s quick response was, “we’re going to build it.” 

Building the Business

Having gone through the process of raising venture capital and private equity investments for Creativebug, Ursula and Julie knew it was no easy task, but they were up for the challenge. For SewShare, they successfully raised an initial round of investments, yet they decided it would be prudent not to spend any of that until the full raise they needed to launch was secured. Instead, they dipped into their own savings and threw everything into their new endeavor. Both Ursula and Julie initially considered SewShare their side hustle, but come January 2024, as SewShare began to take shape and picked up steam, they both knew it needed to shift to their primary focus. 

Unlike the Creativebug paid subscription model, Ursula and Julie wanted to keep access to SewShare free for consumers. To make that work, they’ll get a share of the sales revenue generated through the website. So far, they’ve created strong partnerships with Mood Fabrics and Clover Needlecraft, two powerhouse vendors in the sewing space, offering their products for sale on SewShare. As SewShare scales, Ursula and Julie have an extensive roadmap of innovative technology planned with the potential to transform the sewing industry. 

Target Audience

Ursula’s initial idea for SewShare was singularly focused.

“We wanted to fulfill the needs of a sewist to access education, supplies, patterns and community all in one place.”

However, as she and Julie moved ahead with website development, fund raising and research, they discovered something surprising. After talking to many independent pattern designers, they learned that the designers’ tried and true revenue streams – Etsy, Instagram and Facebook – were quickly drying up as those platforms pushed mass-produced items and rewarded those who spent ad dollars.  

Seeing an opportunity, Ursula and Julie decided to pivot from their initial plan to build SewShare primarily for consumers. They added a private network for independent designers where they can access business-level support to help market and grow their brand, and collaborate with each other, something many solopreneurs crave. 

Not surprisingly Ursula and Julie went a step further: they built SewShare for sewing consumers and designers to interact with each other, creating a direct connection and fostering a supportive and vibrant community. Julie explains,

“The communities can intermingle. You can like and follow a SewShare store, get their announcements and notifications, comment and share – so you’re building real, direct relationships with people who are making the designs you love.”  

The SewShare platform brings together community features, education, forums, and shopping in one easy-to-navigate space.

Exploring SewShare

Whether you sign up as a member or not, there is a lot to discover on SewShare. Ursula and Julie have just moved the site out of its beta stage, opening up the Marketplace and Stores tabs to non-members. The password-protected sections for members include Community, Forums, and Education. 

Community

The Community page has a familiar social platform navigation hub, a la Facebook and LinkedIn, making it easy to locate content and interact. It was of utmost importance for Ursula and Julie to arrange the site so that users don’t have to hunt for content. Users can quickly access and post on their social feed, see who else is online, take audience polls, read the Pattern of the Day and Technique of the Day, as well as participate in discussions and read reviews.

Forums

The Forums page has a Reddit-like vibe where members can ask questions, comment or simply take a deep dive into more than a dozen sections, including Just Beginners, Show Off My Style, Patterns, Home Décor and Sustainability & Zero Waste. The Sewing Machine section is chock full of questions like why does my needle keep breaking, how do I topstitch neatly and how do I handle slippery fabric like silk? Members of the SewShare community have chimed in to answer each question in an informative and supportive manner (no trolls here!).

Education

The extensive technique library is a valuable resource for specific sewing assistance. More than 100 techniques are included in the section, from bead embellishments and piping to French seams and gussets. Each technique is linked to 3 videos carefully curated from YouTube and includes step-by-step written instructions as well. Not surprisingly, this section is community driven with an easy way to add comments, enhancements and additions.

SewShare’s Marketplace and Stores offer thousands of patterns, fabrics, and notions, plus interactive storefronts for independent designers.

Marketplace

Categorized into four sections – Patterns, Fabric, Notions, All Stores – the Marketplace is where users can shop for every sewing need. The Pattern section is a comprehensive list of the ever-expanding pattern library with over 1,500 digital sewing patterns (and growing weekly) from beloved independent designers such as The Friday Pattern Company, Folkwear, The Sewing Workshop, Named Clothing, Sew Anastasia, Paradise Patterns, Frocks & Frolics, and Patternforkids. Users can easily sort to make searching easy. Each pattern includes helpful resources like fabric and sizing recommendations, videos of sewing techniques needed to make the project and a dedicated forum where SewShare users can share tips and reviews. Soon to be included in the Pattern section will be the perennially popular sew-alongs. 

The Fabric and Notions pages are where Mood Fabrics and Clover Needlecraft products are listed; an assortment of more than 30,000 sewing products. According to Ursula and Julie, as partnerships are secured, many more vendors will be added. In the All Stores section, users can find links to all the pattern designers’ stores.  

Stores

SewShare’s Stores section is where pattern designers can really shine. Here, each shop sells its own patterns and whatever else one might need for a project, and users can easily like, share and interact directly with their favorite designers. Each designer has total control of their storefront and can edit as needed. The Store is controlled by an intuitive dashboard which works just like any other e-commerce platform, with order tracking, customizable reports, metrics, dashboards and Google analytics, giving designers more time back to focus on what they love most, creating.

Growth and Success

SewShare is a dream come true for Ursula, made that much more special with Julie by her side. The pair define success as being commercially viable and at the same time attracting active users and helping both top and aspiring designers earn a living. SewShare has already attracted an active, healthy community, sharing their creativity and support with each other and is growing daily. “It’s pretty cool,” Ursula says. “This site brings us so much joy; and this is just the beginning!” 

Paula Wilson

contributor