Quilting on the Side

Andi Stanfield and Tori McElwain

Building a Quilting Empire: Meet Carolina Moore

OCT 6, 202659 MIN

Description

Send us Fan Mail Andi sits down with Carolina Moore — pattern designer, notion inventor, author, and newly minted YouTube Silver Button recipient — for a wide-ranging conversation about what it really takes to build a sustainable quilting business over time. Carolina shares the story behind her ever-expanding product universe (including her brand-new laser cutting venture, Clear Cut Quilts), why she's stepping back from guild lectures, and how an MBA and a lot of spreadsheets helped her make smart, scary business leaps. She also breaks down the math of pattern sales in a way that's genuinely useful for beginners. Tori joins at the end to share her biggest takeaways from the episode. In this episode, Andi mentions a Revenue Planner. Click here to download it from this episode's Patreon Post.  Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction  01:15 – Carolina's business overview: patterns, notions, books & YouTube 03:30 – Adventures with Quilt Advent calendars  04:30 – Announcing Clear Cut Quilts: a print-on-demand template service 8:00 – Carolina's origin story: from Quilt in a Day at age 12 to quilt shop marketing 16:55 - How patterns and notions work together in Carolina's product ecosystem 20:48 Advice for beginning pattern designers: start slow, build a line, find your super fans 25:00 – Why Carolina stopped doing guild lectures (and why that's okay) 29:05 – Hitting 100K subscribers on YouTube 33:00 – Transitioning from side hustle to full-time business 38:11 – The math of pattern sales: revenue vs. profit explained simply 42:50 – Rapid fire questions 52:02 – Tori & Andi's biggest takeaways from the episode Find Carolina at: On Instagram @craftmoore Her website alwaysexpectmoore.com On YouTube @CarolinaMoore Support the show If you want more support with your quilting business, make sure to hit follow.