Episode 46: Quilt with Miss Kate
5/19/202643 min
Episode 46 of The Sewcial Hour is all about quilts, community, and building a business that feels like hanging out with your best quilting friends. This week, Bethany and Audra sit down with Kate Hay — the owner of Quilt with Miss Kate — to talk about growing up in the quilt world, working behind the scenes in the fabric industry, and creating an online quilt shop that makes quilters feel truly seen.
Kate shares what it was like growing up in her mom’s quilt shop, Patchwork Plus, before spending years as a sales rep for Moda Fabrics and eventually taking the leap to launch her own modern online quilt shop in 2024. From curating quilt kits and fabric bundles to documenting the entire journey online, Kate gives us an honest look at what really goes into running a quilt business in today’s sewing world.
We also dive into:
🧵 How quilt shops decide what fabric collections to carry
🧵 What quilters never see happening behind the scenes
🧵 Why community matters more than ever in quilting
🧵 The misconceptions people have about owning a quilt shop
🧵 Beginner quilting mistakes and favorite quilting tools
🧵 Trivia championships, escape rooms, and quilt naps
Plus, Kate teaches this week’s Spool School segment all about how quilt shops actually buy fabric — and why supporting your favorite small quilt shop matters more than you think.
And of course, there’s plenty of laughter along the way, including our “absolutely not” fabrics, rapid-fire favorites, and this week’s “You Love to See It” moments.
Follow Kate online:
✨ Quilt with Miss Kate Website
✨ Instagram @quiltwithmisskate
✨ TikTok @quiltwithmisskate
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New episodes of The Sewcial Hour Podcast drop every Tuesday on all major podcast platforms, with video episodes available on YouTube. Next week: The Myth of “Advanced” Sewing — let’s talk about sewing labels and who gets to decide what makes someone “advanced.”
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBethany· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Social Hour podcast, a podcast for sewists by sewists. I'm your host, Bethany.
Audra· Host0:17
And I'm your host, Audra, and today we have the incredible Kate Hay with us, who is the owner of Quilt with Miss Kate. You've seen her all over Instagram. You've seen her everywhere. Her personality is infectious and beautiful, and we are so excited to have her with us today. Kate, thank you so much for joining us.
Kate Hay· Guest0:37
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to be here and talk quilty things.
Audra· Host0:40
Talk quilty things.
Bethany· Host0:41
[laughs] Yes. I feel like, uh, we need to start with saying, like, "Hey, quilt bestie."
Kate Hay· Guest0:45
Hey, quilt besties. I'm so excited to talk about quilty things.
Bethany· Host0:48
Oh, yes.
Kate Hay· Guest0:49
[laughs] It's funny, now, basically never, but occasionally I'll be walking downtown and somebody will be like, "Hey, quilt bestie!" [laughs] And I'm like, "Hello."
Audra· Host0:59
I love it. I love it.
Bethany· Host1:00
You're everywhere.
Audra· Host1:01
I love it. It's true. It's your brand, and I love it. So we're gonna jump in and talk, 'cause I, I love all that you're doing, and you have so much that you're doing that I don't even think I fully understand everything that you have going on.
Kate Hay· Guest1:11
Same.
Audra· Host1:11
So we'd love to share all of that.
Bethany· Host1:13
[laughs] Same.
Audra· Host1:13
I love it. She says same.
Bethany· Host1:14
[laughs] We wanna start out with an icebreaker question- Yep ... to get things going, and Audra put a tough one in here for us today. So I was looking at the notes last night and I was like, "Ooh." So if you don't have an answer, that's okay. But if you are listening and you have