best podcasts for the maker

Anyone who has spent a weekend marathon sewing knows that while your hands may be busy, your ears are idle for hours at a time, especially if you live alone or are crafting while the kids are at school during the week. While binge watching Downton Abbey or listening to audio books are great options, today many makers are choosing to expand their minds with podcasts. This medium has really exploded as of late, to the point where there is just about a podcast for anything and everything you could ever want to learn, including the ins & outs of the sewing and crafting world. With all the amazing podcasts out there to choose from, where should you begin? Spoonflower staffer Theresa has been surfing the digital waves and is here to share five personal favorites for makers and creatives. Enjoy!

While She Naps is a wonderful podcast by Abby Glassenberg, who sits down with thought leaders, designers and makers about what it really takes to build a creative business. Here at Spoonflower, we almost never start a Wednesday without reading Abby’s newsletter – we like to think of her as our premier news reporter for the crafting world! Abby brings the same in-depth research and thoughtful questioning to her podcast that we have come to love in her weekly newsletters. Plus, you can hear a great interview with Spoonflower co-founder Stephen Fraser in episode #48! We even love Abby’s podcast so much, we decided to be sponsors!

After the Jump with Grace Bonney Features the founder and creative entrepreneur powerhouse behind the hugely popular blog Design*Sponge. Grace and her guests give business advice on branding, finance and how to make the most of your social media marketing. One of my personal favorite episodes is her interview with the amazing illustrator Julia Rothman, who also authored this excellent tutorial on how to create a seamless repeat by hand! This podcast took hasn’t recorded a new episode since 2014, but we were so excited to hear that Grace just announced the podcast will be returning soon!

Seamwork Radio Sewing your own clothing can change your perspective in surprising ways. Seamwork Radio brought to you by the maker of Colette Patterns brings you personal stories about all the ways designing, making, and wearing your own clothing can alter your life. We talk to artists, designers, and everyday creators about how the act of sewing has helped them slow down, get to know their bodies, discover their own identity, and take part in the growing movement to revive the art of sewing.

Think Make Sell (no longer recording live episodes) is a podcast by Thomas Borowski, which is perfect for those of us who are wildly creative and skilled, but struggle with monetizing our craft and turning it into a viable business. Hear thought-provoking interviews with creatives who’ve been successful at turning their ideas into businesses, and learn how you can do the same!

Thread Cult is a podcast for the fashion, sewing and textile obsessed, hosted by Christine Cyr Clisset of the popular blog DaughterFish.com. Christine interviews master craft people and creators in the home sewing, textile, and fashion communities. Want to find the new artist whose work you’re obsessed with? This podcast is for you.

Elise Gets Crafty introduces you to smart, interesting people who are good at what they do and are willing to share their expertise. It’s geared toward small business owners and creatives who are looking to get inspired by their fellow makers.

Do you have a favorite podcast that you listen to while crafting? If so, please share with us in the comments below!

+Theresa

Being crazy busy lately has meant that we’ve been fitting Spoonflower into our lives whenever and wherever possible. Stephen checks help emails first thing in the morning and well into nighttime hours these days. Whenever my two younger daughters are sleeping at the same time, I’m on the computer dealing with help emails, browsing our Flickr pool and your blog posts, and, more rarely these days, composing my own Spoonflower blog posts. When I’m packaging orders, it’s usually on the weekends while Stephen stays home with the girls. Or it’s early in the morning before anyone even wakes up. I got up at 5:30 this morning to go into work and walked blearily out of Spoonflower HQ with a big post office lug of 30+ packages to mail. Such is the life of a start-up. It’s mostly fun, often tiring, but inspiring and interesting daily.

I recently found a great new way to pass those quiet hours cutting and wrapping fabric, though. Obviously, craft blog surfing and rotary cutting fabric don’t mix, but craft-related podcasts fit the bill very nicely. The fact that there are intelligent, interesting women talking about all things sewing- and craft-related on-line is probably not real big news to a lot of you out there, but I confess that this is a pretty new thing to me. It’s WAY better than NPR in my book, and a good Craftypod episode from Sister Diane is the perfect match for an early morning fabric cutting session. Browse through her long list of episdoes–an interview with Stephen is one of them!–and after you’ve exhausted all that good stuff, check out her sidebar of other crafty podcasters. I guarantee you’ll find someone–and certainly some new inspiration–that you love.

Another crafty podcaster I ran across recently is Tina Seamonster at Hello Craft. Her blog is an awesome resource, but her podcasts are what really stand out for me. They’re made by other crafters who call in and make a recording about their crafting lives. I love these little windows into why other people make things and absolutely plan to record my own once I figure out what I want to say. Click here for details on how you can contribute your own story of why you make things. I can’t wait to hear it!