Made & Marketed: A substack publication

There’s a storytelling principle called the rule of three. Three examples make a pattern. Three jokes land a punchline. Three plot points make an arc feel complete.

As it turns out, my life for the

Before Kathryn and John R. Taylor married, John was listed as still living with his parents. I say “still”, because he was 24 at the time. He had completed his education through year three of high

This is a Finishing the Story episode. And this one is personal in a way that most of them aren’t.

I inherited a drawing. I’ve inherited a few drawings, though. This one was just a sketch study,

Detroit, Michigan. 1929. She was eighteen, pregnant, and living under someone else’s roof when this story picked her up last. Iola, Kathryn, and Judy shared

Portland, Oregon. 1922. By the time Iola Blair Bates files for divorce, she had been in a strained relationship for a decade — the same amount of time that she had been a legal voter in the state of

Picture it: Wayne County, Michigan. It’s May 24th. The year is 1899. Sarah Jane Cooper Bates is forty-four years old, and she’s just walked into the courthouse and filed for divorce.

The record

The Jacket

When I look at this photograph of my grandparents from 1953, my eyes go straight to her jacket.

It’s beautifully tailored, framing her with a clean,

It’s a memory that just hasn’t escaped me in nearly 20 years: the exact moment that I discovered my tools had limits. For me, it was a moment arrived with a sickening, plastic crunch.

I was hunched

With our 250th Independence Day coming up this weekend, my mind has been wandering more and more to the likeness of old dirt roads, limestone bridges, and early pioneer farmsteads around Cumberland

I will say, though, that some of the challenges in sewing can also appear in crafting a marketing strategy. The solution is always the same, though: slow. down. And with that little nugget of advice,