About Us
Hello!
We're Jessica and Jamie – sisters, best friends, and the creators of SewTites® Magnetic Sewing Pins and our other magnetic notions.
Jamie (the one on the left and the younger one, in case you were wondering) is a lover of all things modern fabric, quilting, and sewing.
After watching our mom, Amy, sew many Halloween costumes, Christmas PJs, and quilts as a child, Jamie started sewing when she made a king-size (!) log cabin quilt for her now-hubby over a decade ago. She was hooked.
One day in early 2017, while working on a bag, she decided to use magnets to "pin" the leather pocket in place while piecing.
She called up Jessica and told her about the simple and functional idea.
Jessica, who is a career marketer and graphic designer, replied "That has to be a problem other people have – we should market it!"
The idea went by the wayside, however, for about a year while we were working on another business called Culcita (which we've since shut down to focus on SewTites).
But then... we needed a giveaway for our QuiltCon 2018 booth. We decided this was the perfect opportunity to test market the concept. So, we came up with the SewTites name, had some prototypes made up, and handed them out.
Turns out, the response was overwhelming – just about everyone thought they were ingenious and amazing!
So, we had our first production run whipped up, put up a website, started posting about them on social media, and sent some to our subscribers.
Within a few months, distributors got wind of SewTites and started calling.
Today, SewTites are distributed in the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe – and we ship globally from our home base in Billings, Montana as well.
We're extremely grateful for those who have embraced this new way of pinning, given us ideas for uses we hadn't even thought of (Kitty Wilkin, we're looking at you!), spawned ideas for new models, collaborated with us (hello, Tula Pink!), and shared SewTites with their business associates and quilty friends. We wouldn't be on this incredible journey without you, so thank you!
Our mission at SewTites is to empower our employees, customers, and stakeholders to "Live Magnetically" – as fully and intentionally as possible.
As a part of that mission, we donate 5% of annual profits to FCCLA, an organization that teaches teens life skills, including sewing, on their path to adulthood.
Here's to easier pinning and living magnetically!
XO,
Jessica & Jamie
P.S. If you're Canadian 🇨🇦 , Jamie recently purchased a quilt shop in Calgary called Out of Hand Quilting. Check her out online, on Facebook or Instagram, or visit her treasure trove of a shop when you're in the area. Yes, they carry SewTites!
Meet Our Team
JamieJamie Trinier, one of our founding sisters, was an oil and gas engineer for most of her career. In April 2021, she made her lifelong dream of owning a quilt shop come true when she purchased a Calgary, Alberta quilt and fabric shop, Out of Hand Quilting. A newly-minted dual citizen, Jamie lives in Calgary with her husband Brent, and their two boys and crazy dog. |
JessicaJessica is the other founding sister of SewTites. A career marketer and graphic designer, she's helped businesses brand and market themselves for over two decades. Jessica designs and develops our new products and strategizes and manages the day-to-day operations at SewTites. She lives in Billings, Montana with her two children, Ellis and Leo. |
AshleeAshlee is our Customer Happiness Manager. She's the gal who answers your emails, ships your SewTites and solves a lot of problems for all of us! Before SewTites, she ran a daycare and owned and operated an ice cream truck. Ashlee lives outside of Billings, Montana with her husband Mike, three kids, two cats, dozens of chickens, several pigs, an alpaca, a goat, and a pug. |
TaraTara is our Marketing Coordinator - she’s who you’re talking to on social media, in the comments and DMs, on the blog and in the newsletter. Tara has taught marketing for over a decade, to makers and artists online and around the world. She started quilting in 2009 and loves English Paper Piecing. In 2020, she became an overnight mom to 4 kids under 4 years old via foster care and adoption. The adoptions all finalized in August of 2022! Tara lives in Johnson City, Tennessee with her garden, her husband, Jay, their four kids and their dogs, Raylan and Lucy. |
Melissa Melissa is our Tradeshow Manager. She organizes the many moving parts of selling at a tradeshow, including staffing, shipping, flights, hotels and so much more. She brings a wealth of experience from across the quilting industry to the SewTites team. From managing education at the American Quilter's Society to running a quilt shop in Iowa, she's spent years helping quilters develop their skills and find joy in creating. Her quilting journey began in junior high when she and her mom worked together on a special project – making a quilt for the Ronald McDonald House in Orange County, CA. They made it a part of her earning her Girl Scout Silver Award. Since then, she's developed a love for machine piecing and is always eager to explore new patterns and techniques. Melissa can be found in West Central Illinois, surrounded by cornfields, with her husband Chris and their two dogs, Roscoe and Daisy, and some really epic vegetable gardens. |