Yarn store episode

Laurel's friend Ellen owns a yarn shop called Luv2 Knit & More. Ellen has been on our list of possible guests for a while now.

Creating Fashion with Laurel isn't a knitting show, but Laurel figured it could work if the two sat down to talk about women starting businesses.

It turns out Ellen is a scientist who has been helping cancer patients and people with autism by teaching them how to knit, so the converstation surprised us. I'd say it's one of our better episodes. I like the ones that get us out of the studio.

Shooting in a new location requires thinking on your feet. You can see I was moving cameras to better positions while the interview was in progress. This is our twenty-fifth episode.

Twenty-fourth

In the new episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel, one of Laurel's students guest stars as a model. About ten minutes in, we have an advert where Laurel announces that now three of her books are available from Barnes & Noble. A fourth book will be joining them soon.

Episode list (1–24)

Some of Laurel's YouTube subscribers have asked how they can watch the episodes in order. You could start anywhere really. Laurel teaches whatever she feels is important on the day.

Years ago, I suggested she do something for beginners, which is how we got the sewing machine episodes (13, 14, and 16). For anyone who wants to watch the episodes in the order we made them, here's how:

2020

1. Fabric Masks
2. Scarves and Hand-sewn Masks
3. The Invisible Zipper
4. Right-lapped Fly Zipper
5. Correcting Home Sewing Patterns
6. Correcting Sleeve Cap Notches

2021

7. Correcting Collar Patterns
8. Sewing a Convertible Collar
9. Inserting Bust Darting
10. PhillyCAM Anniversary Block Party

2022

11. Preparing to Fabric Shop
12. Shopping for Fabric in Philadelphia*
13. Sewing Machine Tips
    (AKA: Laurel discusses sewing machines with a specialist)
14. More Sewing Machine Tips (Part 1 and Part 2)

2023

15. Sewing Darts and Edging with Bias Binding
16. Seven Lessons and a Story: Sewing on Guage, Fabric Jams in the Race, Sewing Machine Manuals, Why Knots & Sewing Hooks, Sewing on Men's Buttons, Sewing on Women's Buttons, For the Quilters, and Aunt Hetty's Golden Thimble*
    Bonus shorts: Pattern Paper and Drafting Tools and Tips
17. Tight Cutting
18. Interviewed by Maureen Edwards for 8 Simple Steps

2024

19. Copying a Ready-Made Garment
20. Organizing Patsy's Wardrobe*
21. Teens Color Analyzed
22. (Problems with) Home-Sewing Patterns

2025

23. Introduction to Grading
    Bonus short: Saving Money on Fabrics
24. Bust Fit

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*These are my personal favorites.

Missing links: We've removed the videos with mask-making in them from YouTube. They were looking a little dated. But Episode 1 is still on our PhillyCAM page, right over here.

This list is also on Laurel's website, here.

Twenty-three skidoo

The new episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel went online yesterday. In less than twenty-four hours, it broke a thousand views and a hundred likes. It took four years and twenty-two episodes (this is number twenty-three) for Laurel's audience to find her, but they're tuning in now.

Laurel mentioned her books in the previous episode and it boosted her sales, so for this one we made an advertisement that turns up about five minutes in. I shot it in 4k (exported at 1080) and with new microphones.

I'd been using boom mics, which I've learned is a no-no indoors. Now I'm using pencil mics, two mics as usual, so the episodes will continue to be in stereo. It's a subtle thing, but Laurel's voice moves between speakers when she reaches for fabric.

100K

The latest episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel just passed a hundred thousand views. Thank you to everyone watching.

With numbers climbing on previous episodes as well, it looks like the show has found a wider audience. Laurel says she just received three book orders from New Zealand.

Sewing Techniques on B&N

Laurel's flagship textbook, Sewing Techniques from the Fashion Industry is now available here, from Barnes & Noble.

Our most recent episode, Problems with Home-Sewing Patterns continues to garner attention on YouTube. Laurel's books have been selling well as a result, so having her best-seller on B&N should be helpful, given that they'll be handling the printing and shipping.

And they've done a great job. I've seen the Barnes & Noble version and it's a beautiful hardcover book.

Now that we've figured out how to do this, we'll be gradually adding the others. As always, this and the other seven books are available from LaurelHoffmann.com.

Books and pieces

My mother has spent this past week fulfilling book orders. She has turned her basement studio, where we shoot the show, into a book manufacturing facility.

Every surface is occupied by stacks of her books and shipping materials. The nearby Staples and our local post office are receiving daily visits. It's proof of what she has said all along, "People need this information".

I still wonder if she's been discovered by someone with a large number of followers who is referring people to us, but I haven't found any evidence of it.

Looking around the internet this morning, what I have found are some random Laurel-related items. I didn't know about these two news reports:

The Glenside Local (2023)
Oreland’s Laurel Hoffmann, host of Creating Fashion with Laurel, wins award for her work at PhillyCAM

The Baltimore Times (2020)
Haute-Couture Patternmaker and designer turns her home into a face mask factory

That second one is how the show got started in the first place. She was making masks and I made a video about it for the PhillyCAM channel. More from those days in this old post.

I did know about these two articles she wrote, but I didn't know they were online:

zavesti.com (2022-ish)
Laurel Hoffmann Explains Why Sewing Can Be A Top Career Choice For You Today

Threads (2018)
All About Sewing Industry Seam Allowances

I'm proud of all the positive attention she's been receiving lately, but what I'm seeing is my mother busier than ever. With no signs of sales letting up, the plan is to put the books on Barnes & Noble.

It's been in the works for a while, but hit a snag somewhere. I'm going to see if I can get that fixed. Hopefully, the day is coming when we can refer Laurel's fans to B&N and free up the basement.

---

Update (five minutes later): It turns out I did know about The Baltimore Times article. In 2020. Well, that's what blogs are for.

Episode 22

The latest episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel is now online. Since it posted on Monday, it's quickly become our most-viewed episode. It's also receiving a lot of kind comments.

Whenever the number of views on a video spikes like this, I figure someone must have embedded it on a high traffic site.

I'd switch that thumbnail image (YouTube picked it automatically) with something design-y, but I don't want to jinx anything until the number of views levels off. Who knows, maybe the big X in the corner is helping.

1K on YouTube

The Laurel Hoffmann YouTube channel reached a thousand subscribers this week. It's been four years since we started posting episodes of Creating Fashion with Laurel. Thank you to everyone who is watching. I know from the comments that Laurel has a lot of great fans.

I'm currently editing the next two episodes, which were shot on the same day. Episode 22 will have its YouTube premiere around the start of November.

In this one Laurel talks about all the problems she finds in store-bought home sewing patterns. She has tried talking directly to the companies that produce them, but they don't respond to her. So now she's going to share her findings on the show.

Episode list (1–21)

Creating Fashion with Laurel so far:

2020

1. Fabric Masks
2. Scarves and Hand-sewn Masks
3. The Invisible Zipper
4. Right-lapped Fly Zipper
5. Correcting Home Sewing Patterns
6. Correcting Sleeve Cap Notches

2021

7. Correcting Collar Patterns
8. Sewing a Convertible Collar
9. Inserting Bust Darting
10. PhillyCAM Anniversary Block Party

2022

11. Preparing to Fabric Shop
12. Shopping for Fabric in Philadelphia*
13. Sewing Machine Tips
    (AKA: Laurel discusses sewing machines with a specialist)
14. More Sewing Machine Tips (Part 1 and Part 2)

2023

15. Sewing Darts and Edging with Bias Binding
16. Seven Lessons and a Story: Sewing on Guage, Fabric Jams in the Race, Sewing Machine Manuals, Why Knots & Sewing Hooks, Sewing on Men's Buttons, Sewing on Women's Buttons, For the Quilters, and Aunt Hetty's Golden Thimble* (bonus shorts: Pattern Paper and Drafting Tools and Tips)
17. Tight Cutting
18. Interviewed by Maureen Edwards for 8 Simple Steps

2024

19. Copying a Ready-Made Garment
20. Organizing Patsy's Wardrobe*
21. Teens Color Analyzed

---

*These are my personal favorites.

Missing links: We've removed the videos with mask-making in them from YouTube. They were looking a little dated. But Episode 1 is still on our PhillyCAM page, right over here.

The classroom episode

The twenty-first episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel was shot at the main branch of the Philadelphia Library.

Ariel Taylor, Youth Media Manager for PhillyCAM, recommended Laurel to the Murrell Dobbins High School to talk at their Senior Seminar event, held in rooms throughout the building.

So now, after twenty episodes of teaching to the camera, we get to see what it looks like when Laurel teaches a class.

Patsy's place

Here it is, the twentieth half-hour episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel. Now we'll always be able to say we made at least twenty of them (we've already shot number twenty-one).

My favorites are the ones with guest stars. It's good to have someone in there to validate what Laurel is saying. My mother's friend Patsy sent her an email asking if she'd help clean out her wardrobe, which was threatening to take over her house.

My mother responded that she'd be happy to, then asked if it would be okay if her son came along and made an episode out of it. Patsy agreed, but warned that it couldn't be done in a day.

What followed was a full day of two friends joking around while sorting through piles of clothing. Editing it was a dream, the day was so well-planned: 1. Confirm Patsy's color palette, 2. Sort clothes, 3. Lunch, 4. Take inventory, 5. Donate clothes to charity.

Patsy has been gracious about the production of this episode. I think viewers with wardrobe challenges will enjoy this one, not only for the information shared, but also for Patsy's humor throughout.

---

Patsy is columnist Patricia McLaughlin who writes articles like this one.

Instagram campaign

Over on Laurel's Instagram feed, I've started a campaign to draw more attention to her books and YouTube channel.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Laurel Hoffmann (@laurelhoffmann4015)

It took some trial-and-error, but now that the layout is arranged to work for both posts and reels, all I have to do is pop videos into the template. I already have several ready to go, most of which are deleted scenes from previous episodes.

Number 19

The nineteenth episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel is now online. In this one Laurel shows how you can copy a garment without taking it apart.

If you haven't seen the video of the ceremony when we won the hometown media award, I stuck it at the end of this episode. It's in the last two minutes.

Fashion at PhillyCAM

This Saturday at noon, my mother will be teaching a free fashion workshop at the PhillyCAM Media Center in Center City, Philadelphia.

Click here to register.

The flyer above was designed by Ariel Taylor, PhillyCAM's Youth Media Manager.

Laurel was really impressed with the PhillyCAM staff at the Hometown Media Awards in June. They started talking, found they had goals in common, and now PhillyCAM has a go-to sewing teacher.

From PhillyCAM's November Newsletter:

Fabric Roses: DIY Fashion Workshop
Saturday, November 11 @ PhillyCAM
12:00 - 4:00 PM

We are excited to offer this unique (non-media) workshop with PhillyCAM Producer Laurel Hoffmann!

She will bring some of the basic skills from her award-winning series Creating Fashion with Laurel to PhillyCAM to help members of all ages design a unique fabric rose just in time for the holidays!

We will make roses out of fabric. It’s all handwork, eliminating the need for machinery. The results are stunning. Then, safely pin the finished flowers into a jacket, coat, or outer garment. We will provide all materials, as well as some snacks and warm beverages!

Skills learned: marking and cutting fabric on the bias, hand stitching, and gathering.

Ep 18: Interview

Why Are You an Entrepreneur host Maureen Edwards was kind enough to send us the file of her interview with Laurel.

I've turned it into the next episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel so we can air it on PhillyCAM. Episode 18 will air Wednesday mornings in December and January.

Something about the connection goofed up the audio, so I've added a note at the beginning stating that we feel the interview is still worth sharing due to the value of the content.

I'm now looking for more shows that would have her on as a guest.

Thank you!

This morning the Laurel Hoffmann YouTube channel reached 500 subscribers. Thank you to everyone who has been watching the show.

My mother's fans write comments on our videos. Some are her former students; some study the videos by watching them repeatedly. Our most viewed video is approaching six thousand views and 200 likes.

The Maureen Edwards interview will air on the PhillyCAM channel in December and January. We'll be shooting our nineteenth episode this weekend.

We've been making videos and posting them on YouTube for three and a half years now and one of the things that keeps us going is knowing people like them. Thank you!

The seventeenth

Episode 17 of Creating Fashion with Laurel is now online. In this one, Laurel has barely enough fabric to make a pair of shorts for her trip to New York.

You can see the two boom microphones we use in the top corners of the video. I've figured out that the audio quality is vastly improved just by moving the microphones closer to the host.

There's one on each side, not only to record in stereo, but also because my mother moves around a lot while she's teaching.

We tried using a lavalier mic once and found that, while it's good for voice recording, it's far too sensitive to noise (sewing machines, heavy metal rulers landing on the table, cutting with large scissors, etc.).

I've learned from previous drafting table episodes that Laurel will occasionally bump, hit, and drop large objects on the table, jostling the camera. I've since figured out how to suspend the camera above the table.

Laurel's complete performance was an hour-and-a-half. She frequently does asides offering advice, so I took them out to cut the episode down to a half-hour and turned them into these two shorter videos.

These were going to be the start of Episode 18, but we've just received permission from Maureen Edwards, host of Why Are You An Entrepreneur, to air her interview with Laurel on PhillyCAM.

So now the interview will be the eighteenth episode and the shorts above will give us a head start on the nineteenth.

Episode list (1–17)

PhillyCAM will be airing our seventeenth episode on Wednesday mornings in October and November.

Creating Fashion with Laurel so far:

2020

1. Fabric Masks
2. Scarves and Hand-sewn Masks
3. The Invisible Zipper
4. Right-lapped Fly Zipper
5. Correcting Home Sewing Patterns
6. Correcting Sleeve Cap Notches

2021

7. Correcting Collar Patterns
8. Sewing a Convertible Collar
9. Inserting Bust Darting
10. PhillyCAM Anniversary Block Party

2022

11. Preparing to Fabric Shop
12. Shopping for Fabric in Philadelphia*
13. Sewing Machine Tips
    (AKA: Laurel discusses sewing machines with a specialist)
14. More Sewing Machine Tips (Part 1 and Part 2)

2023

15. Sewing Darts and Edging with Bias Binding
16. Seven Lessons and a Story: Sewing on Guage, Fabric Jams in the Race, Sewing Machine Manuals, Why Knots & Sewing Hooks, Sewing on Men's Buttons, Sewing on Women's Buttons, For the Quilters, and Aunt Hetty's Golden Thimble*
17. Tight Cutting

Plus two new shorts: Pattern Paper and Drafting Tools and Tips

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*I'm particularly proud of Episode 12 and the Aunt Hetty short in Episode 16. The short was well received at the Route 22 Filmworks Film Festival (see this post).

Missing links: We've removed the videos with mask-making in them from YouTube. They were looking a little dated. But Episode 1 is still on our PhillyCAM page, right over here.

Route 22 fest

My mother and I had a great time at the very first Route 22 Filmworks Film Festival. It's a cozy all-day event held at The Ice House, a building designed for ice storage turned performing arts center.

We watched short films by the Route 22 group and other local filmmakers. I went in thinking our documentary, Aunt Hetty's Golden Thimble, would be an outlier in a festival of scripted movies made with actors.

To my surprise, ours was one of three docs with a real person telling a true story. And one of them, Jerry Roe's Antonio's Journey, was also about sewing!

On stage with the Route 22 founders (left), filmmakers Paul Robinson and Sashia Dumont (center), me, Laurel, and Jerry Roe (right). Photo by audience member Ann Knerr.

Aunt Hetty's Golden Thimble was well received with the audience applauding over the end credits, which was nice. I'd asked the Route 22 group beforehand if it was okay to bring the star of Aunt Hetty on stage with me to field any fashion questions.

Thank goodness I did, because with both Laurel and Jerry on stage, a discussion of fashion history in Philadelphia broke out, a subject Laurel was happy to talk about. The audience were clearly enjoying themselves, which made being on stage the highlight of the afternoon.

The Creating Fashion with Laurel team at the Route 22 Film Festival.

I've updated the Stage page of this site, renaming it the Festivals page. Now it's an album of photos from my appearances at festivals.