We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Karen Catt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Karen below.
Alright, Karen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?
Knowing what I know now, I would definitely invest a larger amount of money in equipment. When you are starting out small as a part time side hustle, you are never sure how well your business will take off. If we had just invested around $10,000 more, we could have larger machines with more features. These features would allow us to expand our line to offer more products. I have missed out on some opportunities that could have helped our growth with equipment that would handle more volume.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Our journey started in fall of 2023 with a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. While browsing some quilt shops with my husband and sister in law, she introduced us to all that is quilting and a long arm quilting machine. The more shops we browsed, the more interested I became. We returned home and to reality, but the quilting idea never left my mind. I discussed the possibility with my husband and if we could afford to start this business. I approached my sister in law with the idea as she is the one with the years of quilting experience. She was excited at the idea, as she was looking for a way to quilt her own creations. After much thought, we purchased our long arm quilting machine. I taught myself edge to edge quilting through You Tube videos from experienced quilters and machine manufacturer website and then we were ready to roll. We later added embroidery capabilities as our customers were looking for ways to customize their quilts with names, dates, etc. We create custom quilts, t shirt quilts, and we quilt for other quilters looking for a way to finish their own projects. Our t shirt quilts are unmatched quality with attention to detail and taking the extra steps to make sure our quilts last for generations. I have made several business contacts on social media and have been fortunate enough to work on business logowear in recent months. If there is one thing that we want people to know about us is that each item is crafted with precision and care as if we are creating a lasting memory for one of our own family.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Every quilt we create and/or quilt for another person is a precious memory for them. Some of the quilters have spent weeks finishing their masterpiece. Sometimes machines malfunction or material isn’t the quality that it should be, considering we only buy quilters fabric. We worked on a quilt over the summer that had small runs in the fabric that were not noticeable until I finished the first row and started to make sure all the stitching was correct. The pattern that I quilted with was very detailed. The quilt shop said digital fabric was the culprit. The only thing to do was take out the stitches one by one from a 10′ x 52″ row. I became very discouraged and was sick at the fact that this person entrusted us with their special memory shirts and it was what I thought was ruined. Instead of crawling into a hole and giving up, I set up a table and starting pulling out the stitches. Once that was done, my sister in law reconstructed the quilt for me and helped work with the shirts to make certain the holes where the old stitches were, could not be seen. We put on a new border with new fabric and then re-quilted it. It really turned out super cool and we were proud of it and the customer loved it! When you are ready to throw in the towel because business throws you some challenges, rely on the strength of your talent and the talent of those around you to get you through it.
How did you build your audience on social media?
We started out on social media posting every time we worked on anything. Making videos whenever possible and posting those as well. I started following other small businesses and suddenly became part of a community. We commented and shared each others posts and I ended up purchasing a few items from other businesses and we began to message each other. Through those ladies that I followed, I learned tips and tricks on building internet presence on social media and they helped me every step of the way. I now try to help other new businesses that I see starting out on social media and share their business with others as an encouragement to follow. Social media sometimes gets tagged as a brutal place. I have found nothing but love and support from the group of ladies we call our business besties. Find people with like mindsets and businesses on social media and the support will follow. Until a recent hacking of my account, where I had to start over, I had gone from 24 to 2000 followers in about 9 months. Post every day if you can. If you cannot post, make sure you are relevant by sharing others posts. Getting your name out in front of people each day definitely helps.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://3cstitching.com
- Instagram: 3c_stitching
- Facebook: 3cstitching
