5 Questions with Patricia Hoskins of Crafty Planet

Written on October 21, 2009 at 10:26 am, by Team DIY

Good luck trying to leave Crafty Planet.

Once you’re inside, you don’t really want to go anywhere. Let’s begin with the latest Amy Butler fabrics. And entire walls of designer yarns. The campy-cool Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns. A well-edited selection of knitting, DIY, and crafts books. Tons of fun notions, embellishments, and hip sewing stuff. An entire back area for workshops, classes, and impromptu crafting. The shop itself is situated in Minneapolis’ hip Northeast neighborhood, with a vintage clothing store next door.

The store’s owner, Patricia Hoskins, is another reason to visit. She’s a one-woman wealth of crafty and creative knowledge. When we stopped by the shop, she had a brand-new baby nestled into a sling (constructed from super-cute fabric, of course), while she sorted mail, tracked sales, and paid invoices.

Not only does the new mom manage operations at Crafty Planet, work a separate day job, and organize the No Coast Craft-o-Rama, she is also co-author of a new book, out today. One-Yard Wonders: 101 Fabulous Fabric Projects is a nice, fat book packed with home décor, fashion, accessory, and other projects you can sew up using a yard or less of fabric.

Trish took a few moments to chat with Team DIY about her shop, her book, and what’s on the horizon.

Do It Yourself: When and why did you launch the store? How has it grown and changed?
Patricia Hoskins: We opened the store in October 2003 after some solid planning and prep. Our main motivation was to provide a warm, welcoming, fun place for new crafters to learn and to find those fabrics and supplies that were cool and hard to find locally. Emphasis being on the welcoming and friendly atmosphere; when I was learning to sew and knit myself, I would often find myself intimidated and overwhelmed in the specialty yarn and fabric shops, afraid to ask a stupid question.

Originally we envisioned carrying a little bit of everything crafty — cool stamps, papers, and more, plus consignment handmade goods, in addition to fabrics and yarns and other needlecrafts. Soon we realized we would do better to focus a bit more, so we stuck primarily to needlecrafts. We do still carry kids’ craft kits in a variety of areas, along with a few handmade consignment lines, but those are minimal.

As far as how we’ve changed, we started on a shoestring, so we now carry far more fabrics and yarns, and we’re much deeper in basic notions and supplies, as well.

DIY: What types of classes do you teach? What do you love about teaching?
PH: I’ve taught knitting, crochet, embroidery, and sewing — mostly beginning classes. I enjoy seeing people learn a new skill and gain that confidence in themselves. So many people say, “I’m not crafty at all!” or “I’m sure I will suck at this,” then they concoct awesome crafty goodness! I guess there’s a certain kind of crafty/creative “spark” that I enjoy seeing getting fired up for the first time.

DIY: Congratulations on the new book! How did you come up with 101 sewing projects? That’s a lot!
PH: One-Yard Wonders is a collaboration not just between Rebecca Yaker, my co-author, and me, but about 70 contributors as well. 101 is a lot of projects! We mostly solicited contributors through blogs, craft forums like Craftster, word-of-mouth, and Crafty Planet newsletters. We had so many great submissions we actually didn’t have room for them all. Rebecca and I contributed several projects of our own, of course. Some things we were already making anyway, or had been thinking of trying to make — then we just had to figure out how to do it with just one yard of fabric.

DIY: Who and what inspires you?

PH: I am a very big fan of retro and vintage design in everything from crafts and textiles, to architecture and furniture, and more. I particularly love the midcentury modern aesthetic, but not just mid-century; I appreciate design from a variety of eras and cultures. Also, our customers inspire me every day! Seeing what they’re putting together for colors and patterns and seeing their finished projects — this all gives me great inspiration.
DIY: What’s on the horizon for you and Crafty Planet?
PH: I’m working on a book called Crafty Planet Goes Green, which will feature sewing, knitting, and other needlecraft-y projects using all recycled materials. Of course I hope Rebecca and I can continue developing a One Yard Wonders series in the vein of the One-Skein Wonders series, though that’s all TBD.

On a personal note, my husband and I just had a baby in September, so a big part of everything in my life will be just figuring out how to juggle all my varying commitments! In addition to the shop and my writing endeavors, I also work more than 30 hours a week as a business librarian, so time management is top of my agenda right now.

Visit Crafty Planet’s online store here. Or stop by the real deal! Crafty Planet is located at 2833 Johnson St. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

Pick up a copy of One-Yard Wonders: 101 Fabulous Fabric Projects here. Or find it at your local crafts shop!

2 Responses to “5 Questions with Patricia Hoskins of Crafty Planet”

1. October 21, 2009 at 12:27 pm, by City Chic - Jamie

   Wow, I didn’t realize Trish worked a 30 hour job outside of the shop! She must be Wonder Woman to keep up with everything. I love Crafty Planet and am super excited for the new book. Congrats on the new baby!

2. November 24, 2009 at 8:41 am, by Team DIY Blog | Make It Monday: Picnic-tastic Placemats

   [...] Wonders: 101 Sewing Projects. We interviewed Patricia Hoskins, one of the book’s editors, a couple of weeks ago. Today’s project comes from Patricia’s co-editor, Rebecca Yaker. She designed it with [...]