WHERE ARE YOU: I’m in Petaluma, CA. It’s about 45 minutes North of San Francisco in the Sonoma Wine Country. It’s where American Graffiti and Peggy Sue Got Maried were filmed and while it has a small town Americana vibe it’s quite sophisticated and progressive. Although I’ve only been in Petaluma 2 1/2 years I’ve been in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1995.

COMPANY NAME: Queen Puff Puff & Stitchcraft

WEBSITE: www.queenpuffpuff.com & www.stitchcraftonline.com

BLOG: http://stitchcraftonline.com/blog/

CRAFT TOOL YOU CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT: sharp fabric scissors

FINISH THE SENTENCE: When I am not sewing purses I am…… usually cruising the web. Live Journal, Bloglines, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter…. ahhh. such a time sucker! I also love thrift shopping and vintage hunting.

How and when did you decide to make the transition from working in the garment industry to making your own handbags?

Owning my own business has always been my dream. My dad started several businesses and I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. But I wanted to learn as much as I could while being paid. So I worked in a bunch of different garmento jobs like designer, merchandiser, freelance artist, sales & production assistant, etc. and absorbed as much as I could. I started making bags because they are quick, don’t need to come in different sizes and don’t take much fabric. I gave them all away as gifts and people seemed to like them and suggested I sell them. In late 2003/early 2004 I was going through a rough time between getting divorced and my dad passing away. It seemed like the time to make a change and I needed something just for me. Life is too short to work a job that doesn’t make you happy, you know? So I shared a booth at the first Fashion Co-Op in SF with Susan Beal and sold my stuff for the first time. We were crammed into a 4′ x 5″ space and it was chaotic and scary and wonderful. That first taste of success hooked me and I’ve been doing this ever since!

Tell me about the SF Seamsters.

The Seamsters are a collective of women owned businesses that is made up of me, Jennifer Pellecchia of Hambone & Jennicakes and Deborah Maciel of Chic Cosas. We all do sewing and fabric based businesses so we can go in together on fabric & supply purchases. We also share booth spaces at shows and do group advertising & promotion. So press coverage for one is press for all. It’s also nice to have other people to brainstorm and commiserate with.

You recently started Stitch Craft which is your own teaching studio.
How is going? What kind of classes can people take there?

It’s going really well! I have been teaching sewing classes since 2004 when I started freelance teaching at Stitch Lounge in SF and at Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley. But when I moved to Petaluma I realized that there weren’t any sewing studios in the entire North Bay that reached out to a younger and hipper audience. So I started StitchCraft. We have all sorts of classes from super beginning pillow & totebag classes to more advanced things like draping and patterndrafting as well as special events like Halloween costume workshops. Some of the most popular classes have been the A-Line Skirt class and the Summer Blouse class. We also sell tons of fabric and trims (new & vintage) as well as independent patterns like Titus, Betsy Ross, Oliver + S and Sublime Stitching.

People sell their goodies in different ways. Would you say most of your sales are internet based, wholesale orders or do you sell like hot cakes at craft shows?

It depends on the time of year. Wholesale tends to be busy from February to April and then summer craft shows are June/July. Then you have the next round of wholesale from August to September and now you are in the thick of holiday craft shows and website sales. I also do a bit of consignment. I pretty much pursue all sales avenues and try to have as many revenue streams as possible.

I’m sure you have been asked this as many times as I have, but where did the name Queen Puff Puff come from?

Ha! My very good friend Roxanne of Cheetah Velour fame found these vintage knitting magazines from the early 60s. All these horrid sweaters had names like the Easy Enid, Rod’s Ski and the Queen Puff Puff. The actual sweater was awful with the giant crochet puff balls hanging off of it but the model had this awesome dark beehive and winged out eyeliner and all my friends said “That’s you!” So it became my nickname, my Live Journal name and then the name of my company. Everyone calls me QPP for short.

While snooping around Gurl.com I came across an interview with Megan that I thought you might find interesting.

WHERE ARE YOUR DIGS: Austin, Texas

COMPANY NAME: Kailo Chic

WEBSITE: www.kailochic.com

TOOL YOU CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT: My sewing machine

FINISH THE SENTENCE: When I am not sewing my heart out I am… doing one of the many other tasks that go along with running your own business.

Kailo Chic offers wristlets, clutches, wallets, totes and more in a wide variety of fun and bold patterns. That is a lot of sewing! I myself can’t get past the ironing part of sewing so I stick with jewelry. What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a seamstress. Do you do all your own sewing?

Yes I still do all my own sewing believe it or not. That is why as it stands right now, pretty much everything to do with sewing is my least favorite part. I am currently headed for burnout-Ville. Luckily my husband has started to help me with the ironing part of sewing, so that is a plus! Hopefully soon I will be able to start farming out some of my sewing so that I am not stuck making everything myself. I have just had trouble letting go

Kailo Chic started with purses but has recently branched into jewelry, T-shirts, belts and more. Why the decision to expand the line? Are you customers loving all the new additions as much as I am?

My decision to expand my line always lies in me getting tired of making the same things over and over. I keep branching out as a way to give myself a new creative outlet. I still enjoy handbags, but after three years of making the same bags over and over, I need to find new things that I enjoy making.

You have a fantabulous new line of laptop bags. How did you get hooked up with Pacific Design?

Well, they actually found my stuff in a local shop, Parts and Labour (Ironically, it is also the first store that I ever sold my stuff in and where I got my start). They had just started to work with Chloe Dao and big retailers were showing a lot of interest in more fashionable mobile tech cases, so they decided to look for a local designer to partner with as well. They found me and the rest is history!

You had a release party for your lap top bags with Project Runway winner Chloe Dao here in Austin, whoa exciting. Staples and Office Max are carrying your line now. How has your experience been thus far working with another company on a bag like you have with Pacific Design? When you are used to being your own boss and making all your own executive decisions it can be a big change.

Well, the experience was quite a learning one. During the course of working with Pacific Design I learned how to draw up professional sketches of bags for factories to sample, how big box retailers view fashion (p.s. they are scared of too much color and bold prints and they definitely don’t like change that much), and how big companies selling to big box stores have to work at least a year in advance in order to get products into the stores. Luckily in my case with Pacific Design I did have final word on the product designs and which prints of mine we should move forward with. It really wasn’t a difficult transition and it was nice to be able to say to them, I think we should do such and such and they knew how to go about getting it done.

A woman after my own heart you are a lady that knows the importance of good marketing and editorial coverage. Kailo Chic has been featured in Daily Candy, New York Magazine, Bust and many more. What piece of press brought more visitors to your website and orders into your inbox than all the others? I have found that not all press coverage is created equal. I have had features in small Indie Magazines that sent orders through the roof and product in huge publications that felt like nothing more than a blip on my bank account.

The best piece of press I have received by far for online orders was a mention of a pair of my earrings in the Seventeen Magazine Holiday Gift Guide last year. The response was amazing I think from that one mention alone I got 300-400 orders! The best mention I received for gaining new wholesale accounts was in a trade magazine (Beauty Launchpad) for beauty shop and salon owners which brought me close to 10 new wholesale accounts and the largest wholesale order I have received so far. Since I currently do all my own PR, here is hoping that I have time to keep up with it and hopefully get some more good mentions this holiday season!

Zip on over to Decor8 to get the full scoop.

Check out Rob’s blog Murketing to read the interview with Tina and learn about how watching The Story of Stuff changed her whole business model, her upcoming book Little Green Dresses and her experience on TV.