I'm Sari Mittnick, and this is Seamwork Radio, where we tell stories about the surprising

ways that sewing impacts our lives.

Welcome to this week's episode of Seamwork Radio. So this month, we're doing a special

series of episodes that are all about the theme of small business. And today we're talking to

Arlene Hillier, and she's the director of operations for birch fabrics. If you're not familiar

already, Birch Fabrics is a company that was created to provide sew us and quilters

with environmentally sustainable cotton fabrics. They source 100% organic cotton fabrics, and they

use low-impact dyes to create really beautiful fabrics that you can use in almost any project,

whether it's a quilt, a bag, or a garment. And in this episode, you're going to learn how Birch got started, what it means

when a fabric is labeled organic, why you should consider organic cottons, and how they design and

produce their fabrics at Birch. As the director of operations, Arlene is immersed in so many

aspects of this business, and she's going to give you a lot to think about when it comes

to purchasing organic cotton fabrics in the future. So let's get started. Hi, Arlene. I'm so happy

to have you with us today. Thanks so much for having me, Sarah. I appreciate it. Yeah. So why don't

you introduce herself and tell us a bit about birch fabrics? So I've been working for Birch since just about the

beginning. I guess my fancy title would be I'm the director of operations. However, the title I

prefer to use is wear of many hats because I feel like that's more accurate. You know,

Birch kind of got started back around.

I think 2010 was when we, you know, launched her first collection, maybe 2009.

And it just, there wasn't a lot of organic in the market.

And at the time, Cynthia had, you know, two really young boys.

And she was really interested in, like like sewing her own clothing for them and

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