We recently connected with Stacey Hursen and have shared our conversation below.

Stacey, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Like many others, I started needlepointing in 2020 as a good stay-at-home hobby. It instantly became my favorite craft! I quickly stitched many canvases and started an Instagram account, @stitchingwithstacey, to connect with the needlepoint community and share what I had stitched. However, often I would think of a design I wanted to stitch and not be able to find any existing canvases of that item. It was this that inspired me to try my hand at painting canvases. I saw an opening in the needlepoint market for younger, more modern designs. And, in 2021, I launched Stitching with Stacey Needlepoint Designs.

Stacey, 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?

Hi, I’m Stacey! I am a needlepoint designer and owner of Stitching with Stacey Needlepoint Designs. I live in Midtown NYC and have a 9-5 job in structural engineering. Since I was young, I have been surrounded by all types of fiber art crafts. My mom, who is an avid knitter, crocheter, and needlepointer, helped me learn all types of crafting skills while growing up. She helped inspire me to launch my business. In 2020, I began to really get into needlepointing and soon started painting my own canvas designs in 2021. I decided to start painting my own canvases when I couldn’t find what I was looking for in existing designs.

While I don’t have any formal art background, my familiarity with needlepoint canvases helped me learn how to paint them. Each canvas I sell is hand painted and stitch painted – meaning every canvas intersection has a precise dot of paint corresponding to a stitch. Stitchers follow the design of the hand-painted canvas as they stitch. Hand painted canvases are time consuming and a work of art, even before being stitched! After the canvases are stitched, the canvases can be finished into a variety of things – ornaments, bags, pillows, etc. Some fun finishes my canvases have been stitched into include the back of a jean jacket and a sunglass case.

My canvases are inspired by the objects and places I love. They are both classic and fun for the modern stitcher.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started my Instagram – @stitchingwithstacey – before I even started to design canvases. At first it was just a place where I could post needlepoints I was stitching and share with other stitchers. It was a great way to meet people and connect with the needlepoint community. About a year after starting the account, I announced I would be launching my own line of needlepoint designs. I already had a following at this point. Since then, I’ve continued to build my audience on social media by consistently posting, developing a colorful photo aesthetic for the brand, using needlepoint specific hashtags, and sharing my designs on my story.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I sell my needlepoint designs through my own ecommerce site. I chose this over a selling platform, such as Etsy, because I wanted to establish my own brand and design a site that reflected my designs. It required a higher initial time investment than using a selling platform. But I prefer the independence and control. Also, it requires some management/maintenance and yearly costs for maintaining the domain. Overall, I really like the flexibility of having my own site and using it to grow my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stitchingwithstacey.com
• Instagram: @stitchingwithstacey