This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Krista LeRay, founder and CEO of Penny Linn Designs. It has been edited for length and clarity.
My first needlepoint project was in college. I moved from the Chicago suburbs to the University of Kentucky for college and remember feeling struck by how preppy everything was. Everyone had these needlepoint belts that they would wear. I wanted to immerse myself in the culture, so I decided to try needlepoint.
A local needlepoint store showed me how to do the basic continental stitch, and that was that. I stitched in college but then didn’t think about it for a while, until my then-boyfriend (now husband) started talking about a needlepoint belt, and I said I could make him one.
Then I stitched a ringbearer pillow for our wedding in 2019, and really fell back in love with the hobby. But I couldn’t find the things I wanted to stitch in stores. It all felt older to me, so when the pandemic hit in 2020, and I had extra time on my hands, I started painting my own canvases. Since then, I’ve grown Penny Linn Designs to over 10 million in sales.
I didn’t set out to start a needlepoint business
I worked for Major League Baseball after graduating from college in 2013, but also ran a successful blog on the side. Eventually, I started making more money from my blog than at my corporate job, and I began blogging full-time.
I shared the canvas I painted with my followers. It was the green Ralph’s Coffee cup. My followers started asking me if I could paint a canvas for them to stitch, and that’s what led me down the path to starting Penny Linn.
Things just sort of snowballed. By 2022, I was making as much as I was making from my blog, making needlepoint canvases. When I had my first son that year, I had been blogging for 10 years and had sort of hit my max with sharing my life online. It felt like a natural progression to turn my full attention to Penny Linn.
My 24-hour rule helps me navigate online criticism and make my business better
Throughout my blogging experience, I dealt with a lot of negative comments and cattiness. It helped me build a thick skin, something that is definitely needed when running a business.
I have a 24-hour rule about dealing with criticism. I try not to read things about myself online, but if I do, I always ask whether the comment is valid. If it’s not, I can push the critique aside.
If it is, I give myself 24 hours to be upset about it. After that, I either move on or decide to make a change.
I stick to things I feel confident about, and am not afraid to rely on others for help
I only want to invest in things I’m good at and feel confident in. It’s tough, but you have to decide what you’re standing firm on when you grow a business. For me, that means that Penny Linn doesn’t offer finishing services for our needlepoint projects.
I don’t want to provide a product that isn’t up to my standards, and right now I don’t believe we’re good enough to get there. That makes some people mad, but I know it’s right for us.
One of the other things I do is hire people who are smarter than me for my team. I know I don’t know everything, so I look to others to help guide me on things like accounting and legal issues.
I design needlepoint canvases I’d want to stitch
I always say that Penny Linn is for a stitcher by a stitcher. I’m the stitcher that I’m talking about. Everything we sell is something I’d want to make. For now, that means mainly smaller canvases.
A lot of people coming to Penny Linn are needlepoint beginners, so the projects are easier to manage and less expensive than larger projects like Christmas stockings. As our customers continue to grow with us, we’ll start offering bigger projects.
Needlepoint is a popular hobby now, and I definitely worry about whether its popularity will continue. But I always remind myself that things like embroidery and needlepoint have been around since the dawn of time. Once you’re a needlepointer, you’re one for life. I think people will always come back to it, and we’ll continue to evolve.
