We were lucky to catch up with Mary Leon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mary thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I crochet stuffed animals (aka amigurumi). I started back in April 2022 to try and de-stress from my corporate job as a computer scientist working for a major bank. I kept seeing these Instagram reels / TikToks of crocheters making giant food plushies and I became inspired! A few years before, I had tried one of those bookstore crochet kits and I absolutely hated it. The yarn was way too small and too poor quality (it frayed so easily). I tried and tried but it just didn’t work out for me.

But then, in 2022, I tried again. This time with larger plush yarn I had lying around from a pandemic finger knitted blanket that I never finished. I scoured the internet for YouTube tutorials and found one for a “beginner / easy” sea turtle. I learned so many lessons that day, including patience. I roughly remembered the slip knot from that crochet book years before, but largely nothing else about the craft. I remember being so frustrated. Patience and curse words is usually how I describe that day to people. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone that day as my husband also decided to try it with me. We both sat there for hours just trying to figure out how to do a basic single crochet. I still have that sea turtle propped up in my living room to remind me that anything is possible and practice makes improvement.

For the business side of it all, I got started after I made the decision to take some time off from my FinTech job. I officially left at the end of May 2022 and started my business in June 2022. I’ve learned so many things from this job. I had people skills before from working at the return desk at Kohl’s for 2 years as my first job, but I was largely out of practice. I also had to learn tons of new administrative skills that, to this day, I’m still working on perfecting. Social media, marketing, and the accounting of it all were the hardest aspects. On top of those, I also decided to try different mediums of selling to people. In October 2022, I participated in a monthly pop-up market and I remember being so nervous for it- frantically doing as much research and prep as I could. Thankfully, I did well and have been doing at least one market a month for most months since. It’s become a major way for me to reach people and I’m so glad I took the jump to try it.

To answer your questions more directly:

Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process?
There was no real way for me to speed up learning crochet. I actually learned it quicker than I expected and my quality improved dramatically the more I did it. Business-wise, I think I’ve also done decent to take calculated risks in a way that makes me learn new skills and improve my business reach while also considering the potential negative affects if something doesn’t go well.

What skills do you think were most essential?
For crochet- patience and the ability to count. You may think counting is easy and that you are superb at it as an adult, but crocheting will humble you so quick. For business, I think my desire to try new things has done wonders for me. Etsy sales were low, so I tried markets. Markets take a lot of work, so I applied for a brick and mortar and now have my items in a store. I tried new things and wasn’t afraid to ask for clarification or feedback. I’ve even followed up and have asked to be considered as an alternate for certain things I was denied for- and it worked. I was offered the things I was originally denied. As long as you’re polite, push for what you want.

What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
Purely time for me. I was 23 when I started my business, I had only had one customer service job, a TA job, and a corporate job before. I was not thoroughly experienced in the “adulting” world.

Mary, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Mary Leon and I’m a fiber artist (fancy term for crocheter) based out of Tampa, FL. I’ve been crocheting since April 2022 and I’ve had my business since June 2022. I started crocheting as a way to destress from my 9 to 5 in the FinTech corporate world. Previously I was a computer scientist working for a major bank. After deciding to leave my corporate job and take a few months off, I took the leap to try making a crochet business. I primarily make stuffed animals aka amigurumi but I also make keychains, ornaments, and the occasional hat. I enjoy doing what I’m doing for the joy it brings others. I put so much time and effort into every single plushie and it truly means the world to me to see someone’s jaw drop in excitement when they spot my table from across the room. For the average person, I make plushies to make you smile such as my triceratops and mini mushrooms. For the fellow maker, I am also building my repertoire of patterns for you to make your own plushie and I paint my own safety eyes! I currently have four available patterns: a gingerbread man, reindeer, plague doctor raven, and a small tulip pot. I also have a safety eye collection based on birth month gemstones.

I want to stress that I would not be able to do what I do if it weren’t for the support I get from my local community. Pop-up events are currently the bulk of my income I am so thankful for the love I get locally! I create a display of plushies and keychains that aim to bring people joy. And if you’re the person saying “I’m 30+, I don’t need a stuffed animal” or “If only I had a kid to buy something for.” Think again!! I always say that there are no age limits on plushies! Everyone deserves some joy, and I’m happy that I can bring that with my art.

To find my art, I sell my items on Etsy, at in-person events in the Tampa area, and also in-person at the Maker and Merchant Tampa in the Citrus Park Mall!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In April 2023, I decided I wanted to apply to be in a brick and mortar store in the mall. It’s called the Maker and Merchant and they have over 100 small businesses alone at their Tampa location. I applied on the very first day applications opened and awaited impatiently until it was decision day. On decision day, in early June 2023, I received notice that they didn’t have any space in the store for me at the time. I was crushed. I put so much heart and soul and mental effort into planning what it would be like to get in and have my stuff in a store, but they had said no. I called my husband and I was super emotional about it. He recommended that I wait a few days to calm down, but to then respond to their email asking for feedback. I was not very patient, so I skipped the first half of his suggestion and emailed them immediately asking for feedback on my application. I needed to know if it was me or if they just didn’t have any space in the store for me. Then, an hour later, I got the reply that they were originally hesitant to include me because they hadn’t had anyone with items like mine in their store before. I had applied for a non-kids section because I didn’t want to be branded as a toy store. However, in the time between my feedback email and their reply, they had a spot open up in the kids section of their store and they offered it to me. I was absolutely over the moon and took the spot immediately. I was hesitant still about the kids section, but I was confident I’d make it work.

I moved my plushies into their store later that month and I’ve been a vendor there ever since! It’s been an incredible experience to have my stuff that I made with my own hands for sale in a mall. The store is open regular mall hours and their staff manages restocking my table and communication with me as needed, it’s been fantastic.

I firmly believe that I would have never gotten this opportunity if I hadn’t picked myself up and asked for feedback. I originally didn’t want to even reply to their email. I was sad and mad at them and myself for all the wrong reasons. It’s a very human response. But I stopped, took a deep breath, and asked for clarification. And it worked. I’ve had similar situations to happen since where asking for feedback at a denial or asking to be an alternate if someone backs out has worked in my favor. Don’t burn the bridge because you’re upset- see where you can add support to use it later.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I would love it if society propped up handmade goods more. This idea of buying the cheapest possible thing on Temu or Amazon is killing small businesses. I understand that the economy is not super great right now, but please have decorum when at a small business market or at a vendor’s booth! Please don’t pick up an item, look at the price tag, and audibly say “wow $40 for that?” it’s handmade! I spent my time and energy to hand craft this item, if it’s not for you, all good! Just please be nicer about it!

I also want to stress that people shop ethically. There has been a huge increase in crochet artists lately and that’s fantastic! In the wake of that, there are also people buying crochet goods from Temu or Aliexpress at a dollar or two and selling them for the full handmade price. They are still handmade, crochet cannot be replicated by a machine with the current technology available, but that person who made it is not getting paid adequately for their work. The more people buy of these Temu flowers and keychains, the more it encourages people to dropship them. How to spot it: if someone has a lot of the same things and they’re all exactly the same stitching. Usually it’s with smaller yarn. If they have social media, they won’t post the creating process, just the finished product. And finally, if you can google image search a photo of the product and Temu or similar results come up- ding ding ding!

As all around advice to support small artists, consider buying things that you would buy for yourself or others at small businesses. Local is great! Other artists you see online are also great! The artist world is currently struggling. Right now, people are not buying a ton of non-essentials. Art is not usually an essential. Giant corporations will be able to survive the hard times, but small artists may not.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://outsidetheknot.com
• Instagram: @outsidetheknot
• Other: Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/OutsideTheKnot
  TikTok @outsidetheknot (it’s there but its a bit neglected)

Image Credits

All photos taken by me – Mary Leon