We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sophia Greene. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sophia below.
Sophia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?
As the owner and sole operator of Sophie’s Stitching, I manage every aspect of the business, including social media. While I officially launched my website in August 2024, my business is still very much in its early stages. Balancing this with my full-time teaching job means that progress often moves at a slower pace.
I genuinely enjoy creating content and curating looks for social media, but I rarely have the time to dedicate to it fully. Most of my focus is on communicating with customers and fulfilling orders, leaving little room for building a strong social media strategy. Despite this, social media has been the driving force behind my business’s growth. Without it, Sophie’s Stitching wouldn’t be where it is today, and I fully understand its importance.
One of my goals this year is to carve out more time to strengthen my social media presence. I want to build on the momentum it has created and continue to grow Sophie’s Stitching into the business I know it can become.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Sophie Greene, and I am the owner of Sophie’s Stitching, a custom embroidery online store. What began as a personal hobby—creating custom clothing designs for friends and family—has since blossomed into a thriving side hustle. Initially, I focused on hand embroidery, crafting a few unique pieces here and there. However, I quickly became fascinated by the possibilities of machine embroidery and decided to invest in my first embroidery machine.
After spending a few months mastering the process and creating for fun, everything changed when I designed a T-shirt for Philadelphia sports fans and shared it on social media. The response was overwhelming, and what started as a pastime rapidly grew into the business I now cherish.
Today, Sophie’s Stitching offers a variety of custom creations, including clothing, totes, scarves, cocktail napkins, headbands, baby apparel, and pillowcases. My business reflects my love for fashion and personalized embroidery, helping each customer discover designs that perfectly suit their style.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
A few months ago, I invested in a multi-needle embroidery machine, expecting it to be a game-changer for my business and help me complete orders more efficiently. I spent weeks researching, reading reviews, and preparing for the transition, confident I was ready to make the leap. When I finally made my purchase, I was thrilled and full of excitement.
What I didn’t anticipate was how challenging the learning curve would be. Despite all my preparation, I quickly realized I was in over my head. Every time I thought I had it figured out, a new problem would arise, requiring me to troubleshoot all over again. I dove into every resource I could find—watching YouTube tutorials and TikToks, joining help groups, rereading the manual repeatedly, and, unfortunately, ruining plenty of fabric along the way.
The pressure of balancing a full load of orders only added to the frustration. After a full day of teaching, I would come home to work on orders using my old machine and then spend hours trying to understand and master the new one. It was exhausting and overwhelming. It took weeks of trial, error, and persistence to finally get the hang of it, but the process taught me so much about resilience and problem-solving.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Honesty about my shortcomings and the unwavering support of a truly amazing customer base have been instrumental in building my reputation. Sophie’s Stitching is still in its early stages, and my goals for the business are ambitious. But I couldn’t be prouder of how far it has come, and I owe so much of that growth to the incredible women of Philadelphia.
When I first posted in a Philadelphia women’s Facebook group about a few sports-themed T-shirts I had made, I was only expecting a handful of responses. The next morning, when I sat down at my desk and checked my phone, I was stunned to find hundreds of messages. I remember showing my friend and coworker in the copy room, and we just scrolled through the messages in disbelief and excitement.
That night, the real chaos began. I found myself juggling hundreds of messages on Facebook and Instagram, placing massive orders for shirts in various sizes and colors, and using a very amateur spreadsheet to manage it all. My evenings and weekends quickly became dedicated to stitching. To be honest, I was not prepared for that kind of demand, and my process was far from streamlined.
I made plenty of mistakes in those early days—orders took longer than expected, I occasionally mixed up sizes or colors, and a few times I even sent packages to the wrong addresses. Yet, despite these missteps, the women who placed those early orders showed me nothing but patience, kindness, and encouragement.
Their grace and supportive words gave me the confidence to turn Sophie’s Stitching from a hobby into a passion. It’s because of them that I’ve been able to grow and dream bigger for this business. For that, and for their belief in me, I am endlessly grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sophiesstitching.com
- Instagram: sophiesstitching
Image Credits
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