How I’m thoughtfully expanding my product lines to keep customers engaged with Tamara Darragh

Welcome to the second season of our podcast.  Help- I started a business, now what?  At the beginning, there are so many decisions to make and so many things to do.  It can feel like everyone else has their business figured out. It’s also really easy to compare your brand new starter business to others that are well established. In this podcast, we will talk about all those hairy first big steps that come with starting a business.  For this episode, we’ve brought on Tamara Darragh from Remi Vali Studio.

Check out the show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or read the transcript below. We’ve even included timestamps in case you want to zero in on one part of the show.

Episode Transcription

00:02.48

Amber Christian

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Now What Show. I’m your host, Amber Christian, and today I have Tamara from Remi Vail Studio, and we’re gonna be talking about all kinds of things in the world of quilting. But first, before we get into introducing her, I want to share a quick message from our season sponsor goimagine. We’re so grateful to have them sponsoring this season of the podcast. So Goimagine is focused on building the maker community through a handmade marketplace maker business education, custom websites, and a social app designed for artists called Maker Circle. The goimagine community includes thousands of handmade business owners throughout the United States, and they are passionate about growing a handmade platform that’s dedicated to quality handmade items while focusing on social good that’s helping children in need. Go ahead and check them out at GoImagine.com.

00:56.12

Amber Christian

And now without further ado, I would like to introduce Tamara from Remi Vail Studios. And I’m so excited because she’s my first guest from Minnesota this season. And so we’re recording this this way, not in person, because well, that’s the tech I have. But Tamara, welcome to the show. And thank you so much for joining us.

01:16.86

Tamara

Thanks so much for having me. I’m so happy to be here. I wish actually we were together in the same place. That would have been so fun.

01:24.36

Amber Christian

We might have to do that in a future episode. I’ll have to figure out how to do that in the future, because that will totally be fun.

01:26.69

Tamara

Yeah. That would be very fun.

01:33.02

Amber Christian

Oh, all right. So how about you introduce yourself to our audience and tell us a little bit more about Remi Vail Studio.

01:39.05

Tamara

Sure. So I’m Tamara, as Amber said, I live in Minnesota and I own a creative business called Remi Vail Studio and I write and sell quilt and bag patterns. And then a few times a year I’ll have a shop drop where I have handmade items, mostly bags, but there will be quilts and other quilted goods and little bits and bobs that I’ve made throughout the year. And then I’m currently working on some online education surrounding how to naturally dye fabric with things from nature.

02:14.96

Amber Christian

Okay, so now let’s break them down because that’s three really distinctive parts of your business.

Now, what’s interesting to me though, is how you’re weaving them together. So it sounds like you do your shop drop just a couple of times a year, i.e. you keep it contained in that.

02:34.77

Tamara

Yeah.

02:36.87

Amber Christian

And then do you do your pattern design throughout the year? Or how does that all kind of work?

02:42.80

Tamara

Yeah, so the pattern design is happening all the time. And so as soon as I’m done with a pattern, then I will test it and then release it.

And so that just varies honestly on how much time I have throughout the year. And so there’s no specific timeline, my hope is to release four patterns a year, but It could be more, it could be less coming up in the future. Yeah, so no specific timeline on the patterns. They take a little, it depends on the complexity of them. Bags tend to take longer to write.

03:25.06

Amber Christian

So talk about that a little bit. Why do your bag patterns, do you think, take a little bit longer to write?

03:31.66

Tamara

They are harder to make diagrams for, honestly.

03:36.57

Amber Christian

okay

03:36.65

Tamara

And because you’re thinking through them three dimensionally as you’re writing, and most of the people that I’m writing patterns for work in two dimensions, right? So when you’re making a quilt, It’s sort of three dimensional, but it’s flat when you’re making a bag. It’s this three dimensional item. And so you have to kind of just shift your brain around the way that you’re writing. So I would say most of my audience are quilt makers that want to make bags.

04:08.67

Amber Christian

Oh, so you, and how did you figure that out? Tell me Okay, talk about that a little bit more. I was like, wait a second. So you have figured out as you’re releasing these patterns that your quilt makers that want to make bags are mostly who’s showing up for your business.

04:21.33

Tamara

Well, I would just say my audience is really there. I know that they’re mostly into quilting. They just are from our interactions and that’s how I kind of built the what I built the business on.

And because I make a lot of bags and put them on Instagram. People were interested in like, I love these bags, but I’m really scared about making a bag because I’m used to making a quilt.

04:56.28

Tamara

So there’s zippers and hardware and all of those things. So when I’m writing my bag pattern. I know that it’s ah going to be a lot of quilt makers who don’t have all of the bag making skills, necessarily.

05:11.97

Amber Christian

Okay.

05:12.15

Tamara

So it is just teaching someone to sort of think three dimensionally, but also creating diagrams that are three dimensional or that look sort of three dimensional. And yeah, they just take longer. There’s just more little pieces, even though you would think a quilt would be a lot of little pieces, but you’re mostly writing those as like a block. So anyway.

05:37.30

Amber Christian

Right, right. So for you, it’s really a combination of your crossing areas of craft. It strikes me, right?

05:45.29

Tamara

Yeah.

05:47.43

Amber Christian

Bag making versus quilt making and then kind of harmonizing the two and bringing them together.

05:52.26

Tamara

Yeah.

05:52.27

Amber Christian

And so whenever you start crossing into other areas of craft, you have to be really thoughtful about – how do you explain it to an audience?

And so it’s interesting for you to say, okay, well, in a quilt making world, it’s a little bit different. And so now I have to actually do the three-dimensional design.

And so teach people how to think in that three-dimensional way that might just not be used to it. You know, it’s just, it’s just, you know, new neural pathways, right?

06:20.87

Tamara

Totally. And it’s different materials a lot of times.

You know, no one’s putting a zipper into a quilt or metal hardware, right?

06:25.20

Amber Christian

At least not normally.

06:32.32

Tamara

People want to make quilted bags.

06:35.39

Amber Christian

Yeah, interesting.

06:36.66

Tamara

So they’re intrigued.

06:38.80

Amber Christian

Yeah, well, I suppose, you know, if you’re a quilt maker, I mean, all of us in craft, you want to change it up once in a while.

Again, I want to make the same thing forever, over and over and over again. That just gets boring um at some point.

06:48.90

Tamara

Yeah.

06:51.07

Amber Christian

So now, when it comes to designing some of these patterns, can you walk through more about designing a pattern for a quilt market? Because I assume you started with quilt pattern design.

07:02.62

Tamara

Yeah.

07:03.44

Amber Christian

And then shifted into quilt bag design, can you share a little bit more about how the design process for those patterns is different? Because I imagine it is, it’s probably maybe longer for the bags. So talk me through a little bit more about regular quilt pattern design versus quilted bag pattern design.

07:25.82

Tamara

Okay, so um my designs for quilt sort of like the inspiration for it. Is that what you want to know about?

07:35.31

Amber Christian

How do the mechanics work differently? Especially, you know, of, or are they the same? It’s like, oh, why don’t I just go about it in the exact same way? It feels like maybe the testing process is a little different. Maybe the length of time it takes to kind of get through all of it is maybe a little different.

07:54.50

Tamara

I would say it’s mostly the thinking about it, like the thinking about the construction, because obviously that’s what’s different. Because even though there are some additional materials that you have to use, you’re still using ah you’re still using fabric. You still need some kind of interfacing, like a batting right that you would use for a quilt.

08:12.28

Amber Christian

Uh-huh.

08:16:90

Tamara

And sometimes you can use the same batting for a bag if you wanted to.

So it’s mostly just the construction and thinking about, yeah, mostly that three-dimensional thing that’s got a hole in it in the middle. And how do you create a diagram and the words that make sense? Because some people learn and and will make items from the words, and some people will make items from the pictures.

08:54.63

Amber Christian

Ah.

08:54.66

Tamara

And it’s not often that you have people that like, um they’ll do some crossover, but there’s usually a dominant way of creating for someone when they’re reading a pattern.

So I think it’s harder to, it’s just harder to create the words and the diagrams for the bag.

09:18.93

Amber Christian

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I know that makes sense.

09:21.11

Tamara

Well, it does speak longer.

09:22.91

Amber Christian

Yeah, absolutely. So now in your testing process, that’s an interesting differentiation, right- That you see that some people will actually make it from the picture.

09:29.94

Tamara

Mm-hmm.

09:33.07

Amber Christian

Some people will make it from the instructions.

09:36.08

Tamara

Yeah.

09:36.28

Amber Christian

And rarely do people do both.

09:39.12

Tamara

Yeah.

09:39.90

Amber Christian

Kind of one one or the other. Does that affect how you think about pattern testing?

09:45.38

Tamara

Yes. So I really want to find testers who um sort of live in both of those camps. Right.

09:55.49

Amber Christian

Mm hmm.

09:55.55

Tamara

And so I know I have testers that I continue to use. And I know by the feedback that they give me if they’re like an image creator or a word creator. And it’s great. I also want people who are more beginners and people who are more advanced because I get so many great details from them, but they’re completely different. So they’ll pick up on very different things and always have invaluable feedback in terms of how to make it easier for the person that’s creating.

10:37.43

Amber Christian

So as you started to kind of build out your pattern testers, did you, how did you find people?

Did you just, you know, yeah, elaborate on that.

10:45.24

Tamara

Great question.

10:48.56

Amber Christian

So someone was going to design and build up like a pattern business.

What was your, was it a research process? Did you just let people self submit?

Tell us more about how it works. How do you find pattern testers?

11:01.77

Tamara

Well, I had done a lot of pattern testing for other quilt designers.

11:06.30

Amber Christian

So you did it yourself.

11:08.26

Tamara

So that was super helpful, right? Because then you had this like inside sort of info on what the process was. And then it’s been a little bit of a journey. So with one of my patterns, I just put a call out to and on Instagram, just a post and said, I need testers. And I just had a little form for them to fill out. And then I literally went through each of their

profiles on Instagram to see like what is their aesthetic look like? Do you know, is this what their profile mainly contains our quilts? Um, are they, yeah, like what kind of materials are they using? Are they engaging? Like there was this whole, you know, you know how, Maybe you don’t. Maybe you don’t do this. But I am very intuitive about some things where I’ll just go like look at someone or meet someone. And I’ll be like, yep, nope.

I know this is going to work for this situation or no, it’s definitely not. like So it’s a little bit of that, but I used that and I had a lot of testers that were available from that.

12:25.30

Amber Christian

Mm hmm.

12:32.46

Tamara

People want to make things and they’re so happy to have a free pattern and to create community around what they love to do.

12:36.16

Amber Christian

Yeah.

12:45.23

Tamara

I think that’s a lot of why people, that’s what I wanted to test.

12:48.00

Amber Christian

Mm hmm.

12:48.40

Tamara

It created this whole community of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise met.

12:53.67

Amber Christian

And do you find that the same people test all the patterns? Is it a mix of people? Do you feel like it’s helped you really develop and build your following more? Can you speak a little bit more to how building that community of testers is kind of influencing how the business develops around when you bring patterns to market, et cetera?

13:15.80

Tamara

Yeah, so, um, it’s like, it expands your reach in all directions right because each of those people are then posting, and then you’re reaching more people that you wouldn’t have reached previously. So it’s like, It’s like, yeah, it’s just putting out like a web that you wouldn’t have been able to create or I wouldn’t have been able to create myself with all of these other people’s communities, like all these new like Venn diagrams, right?

13:49.10

Amber Christian

Okay.

13:49.24

Tamara

That are just like now all crossing and connecting and, you know, sort of like enhancing the engagement of this one thing. So, um, So it’s really fun because you do just meet all kinds of new people and all kinds of people become familiar with your work then that you wouldn’t have otherwise. So what I do with my testers is. Um, they usually have about a month to test the quilt or the bag.

14:20.05

Tamara

And then we, ah we have like an Instagram chat group. And so throughout the month, then we’re chatting.

14:24.29

Amber Christian

Ah!

14:26.62

Tamara

And if things are coming up in the patterns that they’re having trouble with, then they can put in the chat, like, Hey, did you see this in the pattern? Or did anybody else have a problem with this? Or, Hey, have you thought about doing this thing differently that might be a more efficient use of fabric or You know technically different or anyway, so that’s how that works and then they’re posting all month their process of making and then It’s a private group yeah, but they’re also posting you know on their profile the process of making and But yes, that the group is private.

And it just creates this really cool community that’s supporting one another. you know And then you just stay friends with those but those people. And um then you just sort of figure out over time, like this worked out really well to have this person test for me. So you just sort of keep them in your… you know, your little tester group. And then each time I have a pattern that I release, I send out a message to my bigger tester group. And they may or may not be able to help, which is totally fine.

15:38.74

Amber Christian

Yep. Yep. Cause everybody has life. And so sometimes it works.

15:41.18

Tamara

Yeah, everything has a life, right? And Quilts take, it’s not like a few minutes.

15:42.99

Amber Christian

Yeah.

A little more than five minutes.

15:49.63

Tamara

Yeah, right. But it’ll take them like a month to make it, you know?

15:55.00

Amber Christian

Yeah. Yeah. I like that interesting blend of, I create a private testing community to help me kind of work through any kinks in my pattern. Do you also find- Do people answer each other’s questions or do they always wait for you to answer?

16:08.19

Tamara

Oh no, they’re talking with each other.

It is, in fact, it’s mostly them talking.

16:12.58

Amber Christian

That sounds like a pretty ideal situation.

16:17.25

Tamara

It’s great.

16:17.44

Amber Christian

It was a tester. So you kind of, you build up a group, you let them talk amongst themselves, but then you can also see if there’s any, sorry, to quote upon patterns in the problems or the things that that you need to.

16:25.45

Tamara

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

16:30.20

Amber Christian

maybe change or clarify or update um in your patterns can come out of what you learn from that group.

16:32.43

Tamara

Yeah.

16:37.37

Amber Christian

Meanwhile, they’re just generating buzz for your pattern because they’re publicly posting about it and sharing that.

16:40.69

Tamara

Yeah, totally.

16:45.15

Amber Christian

And then I would imagine tagging each other and other things too, because they’re in that little community um testing.

16:48.47

Tamara

Yeah.

16:51.85

Amber Christian

So it creates a really nice, yeah, it also sounds like it’s a nice way to organically go about the process.

16:53.05

Tamara

Yeah, it’s fantastic. Yeah.

17:00.82

Amber Christian

As opposed to being like, okay, I’m going to make my pattern and release it and like do paid advertising or other things that it’s a nice way to organically build community and, and the connections between people.

17:14.38

Tamara

It really is fun. Yeah, and then they’re so sweet They send me you know like a little they’ll take the PDF that they get and mark it up for me and send it back to me at the end and then I can make all my updates and decide what I want to do or not do to edit the pattern and Yeah, and then there’s always

17:30.62

Amber Christian

Mm hmm. Perfect.

17:35.25

Tamara

I always then promote them, so then I’ll take whatever they made. They send me pictures, and then I’ll post them over the next few weeks.

17:41.48

Amber Christian

Mm hmm. Super fun. Well, I’ll have to have you on a Yeah, in a future episode, we’ll talk about that.

17:45.07

Tamara

Yeah, it’s really fun.

17:48.49

Amber Christian

We’ll nerd out about all the dying and all that stuff.

17:50.87

Tamara

OK.

17:52.44

Amber Christian

Is that a topic after my own heart with that?

17:52.55

Tamara

Sounds good.

17:57.20

Tamara

You can spend a long time talking about the dying base.

18:05.47

Amber Christian

This has been great. And it was really fun to dive into community around the quilt world. And I think you’re my first quilt guest.

18:15.04

Tamara

Really? Oh my goodness.

18:17.50

Amber Christian

So I think so. Pretty sure. Pretty sure.

18:20.66

Tamara

That’s amazing.

18:20.75

Amber Christian

So that that also makes it fun. Yeah.

18:23.04

Tamara

Yeah, that is fun. There is such a growing community of modern young quilters.

18:32.50

Amber Christian

Mm hmm. Absolutely. Absolutely. Super fun.

18:35.10

Tamara

Yeah.

18:36.30

Amber Christian

Well, thank you so much again for joining us now.

18:38.00

Tamara

That’s nice.

18:39.22

Amber Christian

How are people going to find you if they want to follow up and learn more about Remy Vale? How can they find you?

18:43.83

Tamara

They can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest. There’s not much on YouTube yet, but I’m there. And all of that is Remy Vale Studio, R-E-M-I-V-A-I-L Studio. And then my website is the same, RemyValeStudio.com.

19:02.50

Amber Christian

All right, wonderful.

19:03.42

Tamara

Yeah.

19:03.46

Amber Christian

So thank you so much for joining us. And again, a special thank you to goimagine, who is our season sponsor. um Make sure to check them out as well at GoImagine.com. Thanks everyone, and we’ll see you next time.

19:14.40

Tamara

Thanks, Amber.

We hope you enjoyed this episode!