Replic: the blog

In this interview Taylor Krz shares how a creative outlet from her corporate job quickly turned into a passion then blossomed into a thriving quilt patterns business, Toad & Sew. She opens up about the realities of entrepreneurship, from imposter syndrome to the freedom of building a life on her own terms. Beyond quilt patterns, she is now pouring her infectious energy into quilting merch and a lively Discord-based quilt book club with hundreds of members.

What prompted you to start a business?

I always say I was meant to be an entrepreneur. This isn’t my first business. I’m kind of stubborn; I like to work for myself, and I’ve always known that. It was just the stars aligning to get me where I am right now. I love the freedom that comes with working for yourself and not having to report to someone. Creatively doing what I want to do. It’s not easy, but I love it.

When I started this, I didn’t go in with the intention of making money or turning it into a business. I found my passion with quilting. Then I released one pattern. And it kind of blew up. It was the perfect time, when Covid had everyone at home, and it did really well. That gave me my first hint that I could make money from it. I never thought, “I’m going to become a pattern designer and make so much money.” But I needed a way to be creative outside my corporate job. I don’t want to say my corporate job was soul-sucking—that sounds horrible—but it was.

I needed something to use my hands. I was staring at a computer eight hours a day. Which is funny because now that I’m running my own business, I am back to staring at a computer eight hours a day again, but at least I love what I’m doing. I worked full-time at my corporate job while running my business for the first two or three years, and then I quit and made it my full-time gig.

Where is the name coming from?

The name is based on my dog, Toad. We rescued our dog on the side of the street in Houston, Texas, and he’s been with us ever since. There’s a company called Toad & Co. I thought that was so cute. The name just came to me one day, and I never looked back. It stuck right away.

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of running a business?

As I get bigger, one of my least favorite parts is managing people, asking for help, or delegating. I struggle with feeling like a manager. I’m working on that. Another challenge is keeping on schedule. I’m my own boss; no one tells me what to do or fires me if I don’t hit a deadline. It’s easy to push things back a week and think, “What’s the worst that’s going to happen?” That’s also something I struggle with.

But on the flip side, if I want to take a whole week off for Thanksgiving, I can. If I want to start work at 10 every day, that’s fine. I love the flexibility. I get to try so many cool ideas. If I’m not creatively inspired by one thing, I can channel that energy into something else. There are so many different facets of running a business. On days I am not feeling creative, I do admin work or layout design or work on my website. There’s always something to do.

And it’s just cool to run your own business. It feels empowering.

I used to be more of a workaholic when I first went full-time because I wasn’t making enough, and I had taken a big salary cut. Now I understand work-life balance more. Some weeks are 60-hour weeks, but other weeks I’ll work 20 hours. I don’t really track my time. I just do what needs to be done.

Any favorite fabric stores?

My local fabric shop is Wyldwood Creative, Tawnee Kinnebrew’s shop (read interview here). I love the store. They have lots of modern, fun prints and it’s just a fun shop.

I also like Full Moon Fabric Co, run by a longtime friend. She has every solid you could imagine. Every AGF color, every Kona color. And she organizes her walls in a rainbow gradient. I’m always so impressed.

I also work with Lamb and Loom a lot. I’ve been working with her since my first pattern. She kits every single one of my releases. Those three shops are my main go-tos.

Any other pattern designers you admire?

I went through a phase of imposter syndrome and comparing myself a lot. I did a big deconstruction of my Instagram and stopped following almost everyone except my tried-and-true favorites.

Suzy Quilts is one of the reasons I got into quilting. She’s one of the major players in the industry and built such an awesome business that I definitely look up to.

Then Came June: I admire her vulnerability, her color style, and her ability to play with fabric.

I also really like The Blanket Statement. She’s in Canada and makes bold, fun patterns. And Pen + Paper: I love everything she does even though it’s not my typical quilting style. I find her patterns and her branding so satisfying.

Any advice for people considering opening a pattern brand?

The industry has changed a lot in the past five years. In the beginning, you relied on big releases. That’s changed. Releases don’t feel as monumental anymore. It’s more gradual. I think that has a lot to do with Instagram’s algorithm and how social media has changed.

My advice: not every release is going to feel successful right away, and that’s fine. You have to commit to the long haul. The longer you do it, the more visibility you get, the more patterns you release, the more success you’ll see. It’s not an overnight thing.

It’s also not a huge money maker when you consider the time it takes to write a pattern. It takes three full months. It’s “high effort, low price point” and it will take time to break even. But anyone can be a pattern designer if you’re passionate and willing to learn. There’s not a huge upfront investment, mostly time. The real investment is paying for tech editors, which I highly recommend.

I would also suggest focusing on good photography and good layout design. You want your quilt pattern to shine.

What are you most looking forward to?

I’m starting to branch out into things outside of quilt patterns: more merch, things that appeal to quilters or crafters but aren’t necessarily patterns. I just released greeting cards, feature designs, stickers… and I have so many ideas.

With the economy the way it is, four patterns a year makes it hard to make ends meet, and thinking about releasing more is tough because of how high-effort patterns are. So I’m excited to branch out creatively. I am still releasing patterns and running my membership, but also exploring other types of products. At heart, I identify most as an artist. I wanted to be an illustrator before this, and I want to get back to some of those roots and bring illustration into my quilting world.

Any other questions I forgot to ask but you wanted to talk about?

My membership: I run a quilty book club that opens four times a year. Each quarter we do a mystery quilt sew-along. We vote on a book the first week, and each week members get another part of the pattern while we read the book together. In the last week, we do a show-and-tell and discuss the book. It all takes place on Discord. We have 300–400 members. It’s very lively. And it’s great for people who want to get off social media but still want community. We talk about lots of things, not just quilting and books: TV shows, trashy shows, everything.

I felt like Instagram used to be a place where I had friends and conversations, and now it feels like talking into a void. I think a lot of people feel that way. So I wanted to bring that sense of community back. And a lot of introverts joined. Quilting and reading are introverted hobbies, but that doesn’t mean you don’t want to talk about them. The Discord is perfect because it’s online, low-pressure. We have Zoom calls every other week for those who want. People can take what they want from it.