A Look Back
			A N N   H E S S E   G O S C H
			Take a peek at the publication     from the founders' perspective.
			Intro Birth of a Business The First Issue Letting Go Moving On

Intro

Twenty years ago media mogul Ted Turner founded the all-news network, CNN, in Atlanta. At the same time, two thirty-something working mothers in Seattle launched a newspaper that would evolve into a centerpiece of sewing journalism in the next century. They named it simply "Sew News." Two decades later, founders Laura Rehrmann and Robin Siegl remain in Seattle, are still close friends and continue to work in the professions that brought them together.

Birth of a Business

In the early 1970s Siegl operated her own business as a graphic designer in a downtown Seattle office when Rehrmann, a copywriter in the medical field, moved to an office next door. They discovered they worked well together when collaborating on projects for the same clients. Their friendship only grew when they learned they were both expecting daughters in 1975.

Laura Rehrmann

"We never thought directly of going into business together," Siegl says, "but we actively looked for clients who needed our collective skills." But the duo didn't have a lot of clients, so Siegl also sewed projects--pillow shams, curtains, bed skirts, duvet covers--for a friend's interior design clients. "Look at us! There's more to life than this!" Rehrmann recalls blurting out to her colleague. "She was right," says Siegl. And with that, they devised a new business together. "We've never dillydallied around about anything we've done together--vacations, dinner parties, businesses," Siegl says. "Without saying too much, we've always been able to recognize ideas that we felt in our gut would work. That was part of the fun. It was fast."

Robin Siegl

With their complementary skills of writing and graphic design, a publication seemed the natural choice. "We had two ideas--horses or sewing. Robin vetoed the horse idea because of near-death experiences with horses at a camp. She had no appreciation for how beautiful they really are," teases Rehrmann, "but has softened her stance a little." So a sewing publication it was. The only significant publications for sewing in 1980 were the limited- focus pattern company magazines. The novice publishers from Seattle decided they could provide an independent voice for fashion-sewers. Rehrmann says, "We wanted to change the perception that the only reason you would sew your own clothes was that you were too poor or too misshapen to buy ready-to-wear."

The First Issue

Rehrmann and Siegl both credit the early mentoring they found in the late Arthur Imparato, a sewing industry veteran and publisher of the then thriving trade paper "Fabric News." "Arthur really took us under his wing," they say. It was Imparato who chose the name for the fledgling newspaper, and it's a name that has stood the test of time. Rehrmann and Siegl each put $1,000 toward start-up costs and contracted with "The Weekly," a Seattle newspaper, for printing. But printing was only one piece of the publication puzzle. There were ads to sell and stories to write and layout. The budding publishers got a boost from Imparato. "He gave us entrée to people in the industry," says Rehrmann, who had taken on the task of ad sales as well as editor. "And those contacts led to our selling national ads, so we were on our way." Indeed, a glance through that first issue is a nostalgic trip past bygone sewing products such as Qiana® nylon, Easy-Shaper interfacing and 1980's fashion patterns. Perhaps the biggest challenge, the partners agree, was distribution. "We could put together a publication," recalls Rehrmann, "but we didn't know anything about distribution and subscriptions." Now the pair can scarcely remember what all they did to get their newspaper into the hands of readers. "It was months of back and forth," recalls Siegl, "because the business developed while the first issue was being born." Sew News debuted on newsstands as a bimonthly newspaper with the November/December 1980 issue. Over the next three years Rehrmann and Siegl learned a great deal about distribution and subscriptions as they grew Sew News' circulation to 50,000. At the same time, their young daughters were growing and "publishing" a newspaper of their own, as Siegl describes: "Laura's daughter, Alexis, and my daughter, Bianca, were 5 or 6 when they played 'Sew News' at our office. Alexis would sit and carefully write stories, just like her mom. She also telephoned make-believe advertisers. It was really funny to hear because she got her mother's inflection just right. Bianca traced pictures from pattern books. Then the two girls pasted them together, making page layouts for their 'newspaper.' It was darling." Siegl emphasizes that having her daughter at the office with her was an important side benefit. "I wanted Bianca to hear those conversations and know the intricacies of business and learn how problems are solved and decisions are made." Three years into Sew News, the daughters would observe their mothers make the decision to sell their publishing venture. "The business was ready to take the next big step," they say, "but we weren't." They felt the only way to increase circulation was to broaden the focus beyond traditional fashion sewing. But with five people working for them at the time, they decided they weren't the ones to take that step.

Letting Go

Asked if they were sorry to contemplate selling, Rehrmann and Siegl said their goal from the beginning was to develop a good business that someone would want to buy. "That was a measure of success for us," says Rehrmann, "to create something that might be salable." Sew News, the business, was advertised for sale in the Wall Street Journal for just three days and received 50 responses. One was from Jerry Constantino of PJS Publications Inc. in Peoria, IL. "Jerry liked our paper's lively voice," says Rehrmann. "We clicked with him immediately." Six weeks later the deal was done. Note: PJS Publications has since been acquired by Primedia Inc. With the sale complete, Rehrmann and Siegl looked back with pride (as they still do) that they "did the job we set out to do for the consumer." They agree it's been gratifying to see Sew News' success grow. "PJS made a smart choice to go toward more mass appeal," says Rehrmann. "It was the only way to increase circulation."

Moving On

With the enhanced experience they gained from having taken a publication from start-up to national circulation, Rehrmann and Siegl each returned to free-lancing in their previous lines of work--writing and graphic design. Siegl now specializes in mail-order catalog design. In 1988 Rehrmann pursued fund-raising, combining her writing skills with the sales experience she gained at Sew News. Today she is vice president of development for the Group Health/Kaiser Permanente Community Foundation.

10th Anniversary Issue

Rehrmann and Siegl remain enthusiastic about fashion sewing and Siegl continues to sew most of her own clothes. They lament the seeming decline of emphasis on the fashion aspect of sewing. "It's disappointing to see so many specialty fabric stores going out one by one," said Rehrmann. Then again, people were bemoaning the demise of sewing in 1980, when two entrepreneurs from Seattle decided to start an unlikely business--a newspaper aimed at fashion sewers. That Sew News continues to thrive as a glossy, monthly magazine more than 20 years later says something about the enduring appeal of do-it-yourself creativity. As a New York Times headline trumpeted about sewing just three years ago: "30 Million Women Can't Be Wrong." In November, 1998 Primedia (formerly PJS Publications) moved Sew News from Peoria to Golden, Colorado to join Quilter's Newsletter, Quiltmaker and McCall's Quilting magazines, creating what the staff jokingly refers to as the "Sewing Mecca of the Rockies." Linda Griepentrog, editor since 1985, continues to take readers on annual Sew'N'Go tours to various world locales in search of fabrics, bargains and a behind-the-scene looks at the sewing industry. Seeing a need to address the machine embroidery market, the Sew News staff launched Creative Machine Embroidery magazine in 2001, and it continues to thrive far beyond expectations. Who knows what will be next for America's favorite sewing magazine?

Ann Hesse Gosch, a writer for Sew News since 1987, was working as promotions coordinator for a Seattle fabric store in 1980 when Laura Rehrmann walked in soliciting ads for the fledgling Sew News.

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