Evy Hawkins has been sewing since she was a child. During the course of her career, she has been a couturiere, a women’s wear designer, a freelance embroidery designer, shop owner, children’s wear designer/manufacturer and a graphic artist. Evy currently designs and digitizes her embroidery designs and creates projects, patterns, and more on her website, A Bit of Stitch. Evy is a friend to Sew Powerful and digitized the Sew Powerful beginner purse flap to make it ‘in the hoop’.

Evy Hawkins, A Bit of Stitch, machine embroidery, digitizing, in the hoop, Sew Powerful, purse, embroidery business, on-line business

A Bit of Stitch website, abitofstitch.com

Blog post, Sew Powerful Purse Project, https://abitofstitch.com/sew-powerful-purse-project/

The Sew Powerful Podcast shines a light on the people behind the mission to keep girls in school and create purposeful products in Zambia. Join us every week for a new 30-minute episode to meet new people, hear inspiring stories, and learn how you can join us in this global movement. Whether you sew or not, make purses or not, you will find something to enjoy in every episode. Listen today.

Host: Jan Cancila

Guest: Evy Hawkins

Jan 00:04

Welcome to the Sew Powerful podcast. This is your host, Jan Cancila. You know the sound of my sewing machine means it's time for another episode. So let's get started.

Jan 00:17

Welcome. Today we are going to venture out and speak to an industry influencer and great friend of Sew Powerful. If you don't already know Evy Hawkins, you may wonder what rock you've been living under. But don't worry, we're going to fix all that for you today. And then in the next 30 minutes, you'll get to know Evy Hawkins and her company, A Bit of Stitch. Welcome, Evie, how are you today?

Evy 00:45

I'm great. How are you?

Jan 00:47

I'm just fine. I'm so intrigued by your business. I've been a fan for a long time. Tell our listeners a little bit about A Bit of Stitch.

Evy 01:00

Well, that will probably take more time than you have. But to be brief, my online business is mainly machine embroidery. So I sell machine embroidery designs that I digitized myself, originally from my own artwork. So I get to draw it and then I get to punch it to live using my finger,click, click, click, on my keyboard. And I guess because I'm a projec-driven designer, that means I usually dream up the designs that go with the projects that I want to sew, I have a little bit of a different view on how the whole process works. But I also have a smattering of sewing patterns and some graph-related tutorials for specific machines or techniques that I'm in love, with like the Baby Lock Sashiko machine, for instance. That's one of my favorites. I have some, I have a book and some products for that, too.

Jan 01:54

What is the name of your book?

Evy 01:57

It's Sashiko Techniques Tutorial. And it's written specifically for the Baby Lock machines. Baby Lock, their retailers normally stock it at their stores. And of course, it's on my online shop. And it's a good book to have if you have that machine because I give you all my tricks and tips and inside know-hows, things that I learned about it, flying by the seat of my pants with it basically.

Jan 02:23

Well, you have an affiliation with with Baby Lock. How did that come about?

Evy 02:29

That's a kind of a funny story. I was, I'm a long-time lover of Baby Lock machines. I have an old serger, one of the very first that they ever invented, that someone gave to someone who gave to me. I still have it, There was a pencil holding up the thread stand because it's broke. But you know what, it still works. My very first embroidery machine was also a Baby Lock, one of the first ones that came out, a little older Sashiko that had that tiny little four-by-four hoop.

Evy 02:56

So long before there was such a thing as a brand sponsor or affiliate label or any of these other things that we have today, I was already teaching exclusively on Baby Lock machines, and at Baby Lock retailers just because I love the machines and I love the company. It's family run, the company's right here in the USA and they're a great bunch of people and I just fell in love with them. But today my affiliation title with Baby Lock is "Baby Lock Influencer for Machine Embroidery," specifically for the new Altair machine, which is like science fiction come true, or something. It's so awesome. And I'm also very lucky to be the spokesperson for the Sashiko machine. So, that machine and I have an ongoing love affair but don't tell my embroidery machines that because they're a little jealous of each other.

Jan 03:49

Okay, and so what is your background in sewing and embroidery and digitizing? I'm just so intrigued.

Evy 03:59

Well, let's see. I guess you could say that I've been sewing all my life ever since I was allowed to hold a needle. There, well, okay, let me back up: since I could be trusted not to lose needles. I can remember losing my new privilege when I lost one when I was sewing on my mom's bed. I didn't get one back for a long time.

Jan 04:19

Aw.

Evy 04:19

But in the course of my lifetime I've had the privilege of working in all parts of the sewing industry, from the back end of it to the front end and behind the scenes and in the factories and seeing how it worked. I worked at the Victoria Eight making evening wearing, wedding garments and special occasion wear ("fancy dresses," my granddaughter would say). And I worked for a small little manufacturing plant right here in Sumter. Actually with Dalzell, a little far away from Sumter. And it was there that I was introduced to machine embroidery.

Evy 04:53

So they wanted me to take my artwork and to have it converted into embroidery designs to put on the garments that I was designing for them. So they sent me to a plant in Lugoff, South Carolina where they were doing that. And it was a amazing. This was back before they had machine embroidery machines that you could buy and take home and do for yourself. So these were gigantic machines the size of a small room that did the design. So they were run by, it looked like movie reels of paper tape. So I got to watch the guy sit down at a little thing that looked like a calculator, an old fashioned calculator, and he would punch holes in the reels of paper tape. And each hole was where the needle went down. So I learned how to manually punch through watching him. I learned the basics of it. And I tell you what, when I figured out that I could take my artwork and have it converted into stitches, and that I could do that myself, I was hooked. And that was the beginning of it all.

Jan 06:00

Wow. And so did that background help you with the way you digitize now?

Evy 06:07

Yes, I still do. In fact, all the programs that I use, I always look for the ability to convert my artwork to stitches one at a time. So I have complete control where the needle goes down. So if you're completing an underlay, I want the underlay to be in a specific spot. If I'm putting in build stitches, or satin, or column or whatever it is that I'm doing, I like to have complete control. Of course, some of the software now is really fancy and it's fun to use, like automatic fills and things. But if I can't tweak it and make it do exactly what I want to do, I'm not going to use it.

Jan 06:47

Well, I have to tell you, I bought some software and I thought, Oh, well, how hard could it be to digitize? And the answer is: hard. And so I decided that's not my wheelhouse, I'm going to leave it to the experts like Evy. And so I'm so glad you do what you do, because it just, that was over my head. That was, I'm very impressed that you can do that. So basically, you've been sewing since you were a child, which led to embroidery and digitizing. And what was the impetus that caused you to form A Bit of Stitch?

Evy 07:27

Well, my family, they, I was creating all these embroidery designs and, you know, putting them on everything. I think they were living in fear that if they set a piece of clothing down, they'd end up having something stitched on it. They started hiding things from me, I think, just so I wouldn't put embroidery on everything they owned. So they weren't charging me to branch out. And I discovered that there were ways that I could sell my designs online then. So I looked it up and I was like, Nobody's gonna buy, hey're not gonna want to buy this stuff. This is just what I want to make. This i,s I just did my own art, what I wanted to sell. And that's what I was having making. But how little did I know? I

Evy 08:10

was so totally shocked and amazed that yes, people did want to buy what I made. And the business just kind of grew from there. It was very amazing. very humbly started very tiny, very small. And then it just took on a life of its own, so

Jan 08:29

And when did it start?

Evy 08:31

It started, let's see, Well, I'd have to do the math. My son, he's, let's see...

Jan 08:44

That's how I referenced everything. How old are my children?

Evy 08:47

Yeah, I know. Well, I picked put my two oldest through college with it. And my youngest, she started college too. So I was working when they were still in high school. I think he graduated in 2012. And I had already been working for about four years.

Jan 09:04

So okay, alright.

Evy 09:06

Someplace around in there.

Jan 09:08

And when you started, did you start with a website? Or did you use any of the other selling platforms? What did you do to sell?

Evy 09:14

I did, I just used one of the basic vendor malls (I don't think they're still there anymore) and I started with them. And it wasn't very long that I got very unhappy with it because I couldn't have contact with my customers. And I wanted to have contact. Plus I wanted to give them more instruction than I could give them. There was very, it was limited, like okay, you can give them this kind of a document and you can only put this much information in it. Well, I wanted to tell them about the things they could make with what I was designing and I wanted to give them more information for how to stabilize fabrics, I think they should be using all that. So I became unhappy and I started looking for ways to develop my own website and found somebody to do that, and very well. Let me tell you, I admire people who can build and run web sites. To me, that's like a foreign language.

Evy 09:16

Well, okay, and I've built a couple of websites, so I can't digitize, but you certainly can. So that's amazing. Who is your target audience? Who buys your products?

Evy 10:30

People who like to embroider and things I like to embroider, maybe? That sounds kind of funny. But if a your piece of my heart isn't in the design that I'm making, it's just not going to be born because I only create what I really love to stitch. And thankfully, there are folks who love to stitch the same thing. I think, tend to be kind of project-driven and technique-driven. People really like to learn something new. I mean, I do, don't you? My momma used to say, you know, a day is never wasted if you learn something new, so. And I like good old-fashioned, vintage-inspired, prettiness, and I think we're all yearning, sometimes, for good old-fashioned, vintage inspired, prettiness. So it's been, it's been well received. And I'm always so grateful and thankful for that. Because this is what I love. This is my heart that I'm putting out there.

Jan 11:21

Well, recently, you had a little contest on Facebook, to name your new designs that go on vintage-looking handkerchiefs. Talk about that contest and how that all worked out. That was so much fun.

Evy 11:39

That's kind of funny. I'm so thankful for people who are willing to help us out because that is one, believe it or not, of the hardest thing for me to do. And my girls don't like it any better than I do. They helped me with the website. Rachel runs the website herself. But when it comes to naming a set of designs, we're like, I don't know. I just don't know. And we'll just start throwing out these really weird and awful names and then we'll be giggling hilariously because it was like, okay, we can't call it any of these. So we just throw it out there to my wonderful followers on Facebook and Instagrams, and say, Name it, name this and win this. And we get the most amazing suggestions. So this is the second or third or maybe fourth or fifth time I've done that, and every single time, somebody and usually it'll be more than one person with the same name, which is fine, because then I get to give away more stuff. So, that's awesome.

Jan 12:35

Yeah, and so the name, the winning name was Hankie Dainties.

Evy 12:40

Hankie Dainties.

Jan 12:42

Yeah, I submitted some name that wasn't that clever at all.

Evy 12:47

Oh, I'm sorry.

Jan 12:48

No, no, that's okay. Well, after, you know, after I, when I enter these little things, I try to put mine down. And then I go up and see what everybody else says. So it doesn't influence me. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, these are such better ideas. So anyway, that was

Evy 13:04

There were some of the that were so cute. We really, really wanted to use them. So I've got a list of things that, if anything ever comes up...

Jan 13:12

Right. A future project, there you go, that's already pre-named. And so you have quite a following what is the typical way that people learn about you?

Evy 13:27

Well, I actually think it's word of mouth. I used to think it was from my traveling around in teaching at events and we do always pick up a good many more customers from that. But as you know, none of us have been traveling and teaching at events for the last few months. That guy had to quit in November last year because of personal issues. So I was already out of the game by then and not going to be getting started back until May this year. Well, that went out the door. So I was like, Oh my goodness. Well, we're just gonna stagnate but you know what, I'm still amazed because we have our newsletter signup has just blown us out of the water. I think it's word of mouth. I really don't know what else to say. I think, it's just people will buy something, they'll stitch it out and tell their friends.

Evy 14:18

And I have some wonderful friends at Baby Lock who are Baby Lock educators, like Missy Billingsley. She uses my designs in her classes and there are a lot of them. I love Baby Lock educators (well, they're called Ambassadors now, sorry). But anyway, what they do is go into their retailers and they teach, and Missy has a great following on her Facebook where she does evening podcasts, basically pitching new technique and lots of time she's showing some of my things or other designers. So I think it's like people like her and really help showcase what I do, and then people get interested and they go look me up. So it's a little bit of everything maybe.

Jan 14:56

Okay. Well, you mentioned your newsletter. How can people sign up for your newsletter?

Evy 15:09

There's a link on my website. And it's a great little newsletter to follow because lots of times you'll see embroidering sewing tips in it. So I might show you what new I'm working on, I might show you what I made and then I'll tell you how I made it. I give away a lot of freebies, much to the consternation of my daughter who has to handle all that. And she's like, Mom, are we doing a freebie this week? Okay, not this week. Okay, whew. Not that she doesn't want to give them away, but it's a lot of work. So, and she's trying to get a lot of other things done, like, get this new website out. So it says in the newsletter there, it's freebies, there's tips, there's new blog posts, there's anything, there's a lot of things in it. Plus there's always sales. So I always put specials on. And sometimes they're really good. Like, it might be a $39 set, and it's on sale for $10. So good deals to be had in the newsletters so sign up if you want to. You'll have fun reading them anyway.

Jan 16:11

Yes, and I love your newsletter. And I'm going to, we're going to talk about this in a little while. But I found the Sew Powerful "In the Hoop Design" news about that in your newsletter. So that was I was like, What? So I was very excited to read that and we'll talk about that in a few minutes. But, so as a business owner, what are some of your biggest challenges?

Evy 16:43

Well, not being distracted and stressed, away from my own deeply-felt personal values and beliefs, that kind of thinking about, that's a hard thing to do in today's world. Learning how to saying No. No matter how kindly I say it, I always feel like a real bad person telling somebody No, I can't do that. So that's really hard for me. And keeping absolutely true to my own vision, and not listening to the voices that told me that I "need" (I put that quotes there) to do such and such in order to do whatever it is, whatever new thing there is. Now not all of these things are wonderful, some of them are. But sometimes what is old and tried and true really does work. And sometimes it's not always good to jump on the new bandwagon. Sometimes it's good to let that be bandwagon trumble along the road a little while and just watch it.

Evy 17:43

So it's, the biggest challenge as a business owner is knowing, what is that song? Knowing when to hold 'em and knowing when to fold 'em, basically. You know, just basically sitting, staying in the boat, keeping true to your own vision. And my daughter would say that my biggest challenge is not giving away the store because I do so love to give people stuff. She's my Keeper. Gets me into hot water sometimes.

Jan 18:09

Well, on the other side of the coin, I'm sure there's a lot of rewards to owning your business. What do you enjoy about owning A Bit of Stitch?

Evy 18:18

Well, besides the fact that I can work in my pajamas most of my day, and I don't have set hours, you know, if I want to work all night long, then I can sleep in in the morning. And that's a reward on its own. But mostly, I think, what really, really, really makes me totally happy, insanely happy, is when I see what's come out of my heart, what I've created out of love, being stitched and loved in the hands of these wonderful, creative and talented, amazing people that I meet. And hear your stories and learning things from them because I learn so much stuff for my own customers. They're always teaching me things and they become friends. So it's, I don't know how to put that into words. That's a reward that doesn't have a price. It's priceless, isn't it? And that's just, there's not one day that goes by that I'm not completely thankful and grateful that I get to do what I get to do.

Jan 19:20

Well Evy, that sounds great. Why don't we take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to talk some more with Evy and she's going to talk about her inspiration, but we're also going to sort of close the loop and get to know how Evy and Sew Powerful became friends. So join me after the break.

Jan 19:44

Have you gotten the second edition of the We Are Sew Powerful book? This updated version of the original bestseller (4.9 out of five stars, by the way) is again authored by Sew Powerful co-founders Jason and Cinnamon Miles. It is available on Amazon in paperback or for your Kindle reader. This latest edition is packed full of moving stories about how Sew Powerful came to be, the volunteers who make it happen and the way this small movement has grown into a global mission to break the cycle of poverty through education and the dignity of work. And don't forget, when you place your order, if you use smile.amazon.com, and designate Sew Powerful as your preferred charity, Amazon will donate a portion of your purchase. Right back to Sew Powerful. And now back to our podcast.

Jan 20:48

Welcome back. We've been speaking with Evy Hawkins, owner of A Bit of Stitch, an online store with amazing embroidery designs and tutorials and all kinds of good stuff. Evy's been sharing with us her background and how she became the industry influencer for Baby Lock. Evy, you've talked a lot about being influenced or driven by projects. What's the inspiration process like for you?

Evy 21:21

Well, hmm. Generally, it begins with something I want to make. So if I want to make a little dress, for instance, for my granddaughter, and I'm thinking, Oh, well, this is summer, I'm going to put something real summery on it. And you know, I have this amazing software design. So I could just use something that I already have. But my brain doesn't seem to work that way. So I have to create something new for this little dress. So I'm. generally start with (that's what I mean by project driven). It begins with an entire project. And then it narrows itself down to an embroidery design or in-the-hoop technique or something like that. That's basically the beginning of my creation and most things, however, I have this backlog going on in my head.

Evy 22:09

My husband said to me one day, I don't think you're going to run out of things to make, and I just looked at him like he was insane. Like, what planet did you fall from? Because I'll never live long enough to do all the stuff that's flying around in my head. That's not gonna happen. And life inspires me, you know, my children, my grandchildren, my mom. Sometimes it's what she needs. Like, oh, maybe I need such and such. Well, that will just start the ball rolling. My friends, my family, my neighbors, my cat. She needs a little quit right now.

Evy 22:42

And you know, looking at nature. Well, I don't grow flowers because I have no green thumb. But all the weeds that grow between my house and my studio on my walk, I call them my flower gardens. They're not weeds, they are beautiful because they're blooming. Anyway, they inspired me. So sometimes I actually did dandilions. Pretty much anything about the goodness of life is inspiring to me. But I don't think I will ever stop being inspired by

Jan 23:13

You are a friend of Sew Powerful. And a little while back you met our co-founders, Jason and Cinnamon Miles. Can you tell us about that first meeting, how that happened?

Evy 23:26

Yes, I can. Well, I was introduced to them first, before meeting them, through a sponsorship program that Baby Lock was doing at the time. And then last year at Baby Lock Tech, I met them in person. And I just adored that they were so down-to-earth. They were so friendly and just genuinely wonderful, nice people. And besides that, I mean they have this project that they're doing, this deep, heartfelt desire to do what they're doing. And you know, compassion, true compassion, is seeing a need and doing something about it. Well, that's what they're doing. They saw a need and they're doing something about. And once you run across folks like that you just hold them in your heart with joy. I am just totally honored and very humbled, and I hope I get to do lots more with the future.

Jan 24:20

For listeners if you haven't heard our previous podcast, Sew Powerful asks volunteers from around the world to make a purse, and the purse is available from the Sew Powerful website. And then the purse goes to Zambia, Africa where Sew Powerful employs seamstresses to make reusable feminine hygiene supplies. And those of us that make purses (and there are 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of people who do this around the world), we are always trying to up our game and Evy, you were a part of that, and especially I'm going to say for me, personally, thank you so much. You digitized the flap for the, what we call the beginner purse. How did that come about? And tell us a little bit about the process of doing that.

Evy 25:10

I'm gonna, it's kind of embarrassing to admit that I'm a lazy sewer. Well, okay, I'll take back. I'm not really lazy, I'm just, I want to get things done in least amount of time as possible, because I have so much I want to do in that little bit amount of time. So you could say I'm a time-challenged sewist who always think that I can get more done in a given amount of time than is really humanly possible. This has been a lifelong battle with me.

Jan 25:35

My husband needs to hear this, because that's my problem, too.

Evy 25:40

It's a real problem, isn't it? There's got to be therapy for this. Anyway, thankfully, I have these wonderful machines and they're like sewing partners, and I can teach them tricks. And one of those tricks is saving time. So that's how that flat design became to be, I wanted to make more than one flat, and with all that is in my plate that I do for the business and my other obligations to Baby Lock and stuff I write, etc, etc, I was going to have, like, an hour to work. Well, I wanted to make more than more one so I want to digitize it. And then I could make four in the same amount of time that I can make one. So win-win, right?

Jan 26:18

Absolutely.

Evy 26:19

I'm going, I'm an embroidery designer, so I'm going to be putting embroidery on those flaps, because hey, that's part of the fun. So that means that fabric is going to be in the hoop at one point. I might as well go ahead and construct the whole thing in the hoop while I'm at it. So that's how it came to be.

Jan 26:39

Well, and I have to say, I've made very few purses without using your in-the-hoop flap just because it, well every time the stitches are precise, the corners are perfectly rounded. There is no little, you know, glitches or crooked seams. So it turns out so beautifully. And then the ability, I like, to put a little embroidery design on my flap, too. So like you said, it's already on the machine, you might as well take advantage of it. And you've given us some nice options. And besides the flap you also digitized making the inside pocket, the slip pocket, with a little edging in it. It just really dresses up the purse. It's a nice little surprise inside the purse for the girl who gets gets that purse over in Zambia, so.

Evy 27:32

There's no other way, as far as I'm concerned, to make pocket besides in the hoop. Because as you say, we can get the corners perfect and all that good stuff. So why not make them in the hoop?

Jan 27:33

Yeah. Well, we thank you, on behalf of everyone who uses your in-the-hoop design for Sew Powerful. We all thank you very much for for doing that. So was that a difficult design to put together?

Evy 28:00

No, really not. I just had to narrow down my choices and try to keep it simple so that anyone in a range of a skill level could do it. I didn't want to make it so complicated that people were scared to try it. So I just wanted to keep it simple and simply sweet. There. It wasn't, it wasn't really hard to do and didn't take long, really, my time to do it. I do more stitch out. In other words, I'll digitize something then you have to stitch it out sometimes multiple times in order to get everything right and fitting like it should. And so it proably takes a little while. But we don't, I don't talk about my mistakes. We just did, though. Well I put those rejects in the trash can and when my mom was visiting she goes through my trash cans. And she goes, What'd you thow this out for, what'd you thow this out for? And then before I know it she's got her pockets and pocketbook stuffed with stuff she's taking home, things that I've thrown away. But I've learned how to live with that.

Jan 29:05

So you know, as I look at, and I haven't tried all your designs I'm sorry to say, but what are some of the ones that if you're a more experienced embroiderer, what would you recommend might be a new thing for us to learn or to be challenged doing?

Evy 29:25

Well, there is the paper piecing in the hoop. That actually is very easy, but very, people, because there's so many parts that you should try that. And there's cut work, machine embroidery cut work. Oh my goodness, that is so much fun. But it also maybe is a little scary. And there's some tricks to it. But I have some videos and some blog posts. Those are two things, I think right there, those two things that sort of people stumble a little bit. They look at and they go, Oh that's so beautiful. I'd really love to try it but I'm not sure. And then, you know, a lot of people are afraid to do applique. I love applique. Mainly, the reason why I like applique is becaue you use up fabric. And you know what happens when you use up fabric?

Jan 30:09

Yeah, you need more.

Evy 30:12

Exactly. So okay, let's use up all the fabric. I haven't seen a fabric store I didn't like, or a yard that I didn't have to have two of. So those things. Appliques. I have what's called Try It tutorials, which I love. And I developed it just for my own customers, because they would write me and say, Well Evy, I love that you're doing this cut work and, you know, I used to do this by hand. And this is really cool but kinda scared me to death. And I said Okay. So I developed this little tutorial that really, you can sit down with half an hour of time and learn a totally new technique. Or there's over a dozen of them there now. And they're inexpensive, like ranging from $4 to $8, I think. And you, it's a class, it's a whole little class, comes with a design, and you just sit down and follow along and you learn something new. So those tutorials are good place to start something new.

Jan 31:08

Well, what what is on the horizon for A Bit of Stitch? What do you see in your crystal ball?

Evy 31:15

Well, a brand new website right now. We're about two weeks out from the launch, you know that, so we're all scared completely to pieces. It's, we've been working on it for over a year, and I had no idea it was going to be this much work. Oh, my goodness. I tell you what, I bow in amazement to people who do this type of stuff all the time, because just a little bit that I've had to do has really gotten me. But it's almost done. And we're really excited that it's gonna have so many, fixed so many issues that the old website had, and have so many new things like a wish list and the ability for me to give you embedded videos to show you something right there on the page where the design is, which is awesome. And just so many good things. I'm really excited about that. And there's a lot, always, there's new things. I've got three blog posts that are just sitting there waiting to be edited. I've got tons of new designs, a folder full of artwork is waiting to be digitized. I've got, the work right now on my desk is the Classic Sew magazine article for the winter issue sitting there looking at me, accusing me. And then there's the article for Baby Lock's Totally Stitching. If your customers aren't sign up, they should because that's a pretty free, that's through Baby Lock, and it comes in your inbox. And all the projects in there are, they're so fun. They're, for the most part, they're very easy, easy to follow. They're cool. There's a variety of them. And did I say free? I think I said Free.

Jan 32:51

I think you did, too.

Evy 32:51

So you don't have to subscribe. I mean, don't pay a fee, just go online and sign up for it. And then they're also doing some more summer promotions so I'll be working with them a lot. And I have got one cool project that I can't tell you about but I'm so exicited about doing. Get the newsletter; you'll get all the details there.

Jan 33:12

Oh, cool. Cool. Cool. Well, it sounds like you don't get much sleep. But having said that, do you have any advice for someone who might be thinking of starting their own online sewing or embroidery business?

Evy 33:27

Yes, just do it. And if you love it, just do it and be true to yourself. You be true to your own vision. Don't listen to somebody says No, can't do that. Just don't be afraid to try. You know, we might not have an Undo key in real life but we do have this wonderful human ability to learn by our mistakes. And sometimes those mistakes turn out to be the best thing that can happen to you. But don't be afraid to make them. Just go for it. Just like life. The process is the greatest part of the fun. So jump in there with both feet. And remember, you'll be in good company because all of us started at the exact same spot: at the beginning. Just do it.

Jan 34:13

We're going to end at the beginning there. Evy, thank you so much for your time. It's so fun to talk with you and learn about your business in more detail and the contributions you've made to Sew Powerful are so appreciated. You have a good day and we will talk with you soon.

Evy 34:32

Thank you. Good bye.

Jan 34:34

Bye. Bye.

Jan 34:35

If what you've heard today inspires you to want to make a difference, I urge you to explore the Sew Powerful website at www.sewpowerful.org. That's SEW POWERFUL dot ORG. The website has great information about the organization. It's where you can download the free patterns or even make a donation. We hope you will join us again next week when we bring you another Sew Powerful story. Thanks for listening. Now, go out and have a Sew Powerful day.