Meet The Panto Shop

This month I interviewed three Longarm League members to discuss the challenges and rewards of starting a new business together - The Panto Shop! I loved getting to talk with them about their journey from individual League members, to being in a Business Buddy group, to now creating and starting their new business. While the full discussion replay is available for League members, we invited them to share a little about themselves and their businesses with all of you.

My guests were Shelly Moore (Ma Tante Quilts), Katie Hanson (Modern Textiles), and Kaitlyn Howell (Knot and Thread Design). While they each run their own longarm quilting businesses, they joined together to create and found The Panto Shop - a new website for purchasing digital pantographs. They specialize in offering fresh and modern pantographs on a clean and easy to navigate website.

After knowing these ladies for years and watching their individual businesses grow, it's been a joy to see them work together on this new venture and I've loved seeing the success and positive feedback they've had since opening a couple months ago. Let me introduce you to them!

Shelly Moore, Owner of Ma Tante Quilting and Founder + Head of Communications of The Panto Shop

Located: Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada
In business: 4 years
Machine and software: Gammill Classic Plus with IntelliQuilter software
In the Longarm League: Since Day 1! Was that in 2019?

Where to find Shelly
Website: https://matantequilting.com/
Instagram: @matantequilting

Tell us a little about your quilting business and the services you provide at Ma Tante Quilting.
I run a mostly-mail-in longarming business in the small town of Minnedosa Manitoba. I love to help my clients pair modern quilting designs with their quilts (whether they're the most recent Lo and Behold Stitchery pattern, or a traditional design).

What is your favorite notion for longarm quilting?
I'm in LOVE with my SewTites Magnums loading system. You literally could not PAY me to use pins or Red Snappers!

Favorite snack while working or sewing?
I mostly run off caffeine in the form of chai lattes.

Katie Hanson, Owner of Modern Textiles and Founder + Head of Operations of The Panto Shop

Located: Alexandria, MN, USA
In business: 3 years
Machine and software: Gammill Classic Plus with IntelliQuilter software
In the Longarm League: Late 2019 or early 2020? I can't remember the open enrollment time, but it was before I had my machine in March of 2020.

Where to find Katie
Website: https://modern-textiles.com/
Instagram: @moderntextiles

Tell us a little about your quilting business and the services you provide at Modern Textiles.
Once delivering goods out of our brick and mortar shop in downtown Fargo, North Dakota - we are now an online retailer offering our original modern sewing patterns and edge to edge quilting services.

What is your favorite notion for longarm quilting?
The Chom Chom roller for removing threads.

Favorite snack while working or sewing?
Pretzels or Skittles/Gummy Bears.

Kaitlyn Howell, Owner of Knot and Thread Design and Founder + Head of Marketing of The Panto Shop

Located: Orem, Utah, USA
In business: 7 years
Machine and software: Two Gammill Statler Stitchers with Creative Studio
In the Longarm League: 3 years? The best ever!!

Where to find Kaitlyn
Website: https://knotandthreaddesign.com/
Instagram: @knotandthread

Tell us a little about your quilting business and the services you provide at Knot and Thread Design.
I have had my longarm business for 7 years! I have loved it. We offer binding services as well as 90'' wide minky backing and five options of batting. I am also a pattern designer writing quilting and bag patterns. We love to quilt up fabric for bags for customers as well.

What is your favorite notion for longarm quilting?
We have lots! We use yardsticks, Harbor Freight magnets to secure our tops when we float them. Love our Ryobi inflator gun. Magnet hooks to store our little snips on our machine.

Favorite snack while working or sewing?
Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears!

We thought it would be fun to ask our guests to give you a peek behind-the-scenes at The Panto Shop and share some advice for others wondering about going into business with a partner or group.

 
Photo by Katie Hanson. Pantograph is Twist Tie by Katie Hanson.

Q: What's your role at The Panto Shop?

• Shelly: "I'm the Head of Communications, which means that I spend a lot of time:
  - reaching out to potential new designers
  - coordinating timelines with our existing designers
  - sharing best practices, and
  - creating endless graphics and handouts to convey this information"
• Katie: "Head of Operations. I take care of the backend details like onboarding new designers and getting designs loaded onto the website."
• Kaitlyn: "I am the Head of Marketing, which covers social media and email marketing."

Q: Do you have any advice for someone going into business with others?

• Shelly: "I think that open communication will be the key to success in any business (whether you're working with friends, family, or coworkers). We wanted to be REALLY sure that we protected our friendships as we started this venture, so we do frequent check-ins to make sure that everyone is happy with their roles and responsibilities."
• Katie: "You really need to weigh the possible outcomes of going into partnership - the good and bad. We (as in humans) tend to be so optimistic of things going the distance and everything being easy breezy. I think our first real conversation about this endeavor is how our friendship could implode or how this could be the greatest endeavor for all of us. I think having a extremely frank conversation of what we wanted from this business, what we are willing to put into it, as well as what are our personal boundaries. I hate to say take the rose colored glasses off, but you really have to decide if the risk of losing your friendship is worth the business.
  
  I think it also helped that we have witnessed each other's hard work, diligence, perseverance in our individual businesses that we knew the true colors of each other and that it was going to work out just fine."
• Kaitlyn: "I feel so grateful to have such incredible women to be in business with. We had the privledge of knowing each others' work ethic and skills way before we decided on this venture. We have been in a business group for a couple years now that really helped us know and understand each others' skills. I think the biggest advice would be to plan, plan, plan. Share roles, divide responsibilities, check in with each other regularly. Give yourself a space to talk about needs, and vision!"

Photo by Kaitlyn Howell. Pantograph is Baptist Sunrise by Katie Hanson.

Q: Could you tell us about a business "win" or surprise you've had with The Panto Shop?

• Shelly: "We were shocked and surprised when Karlee Porter approached US about listing her designs on our site not 24 hrs after we had launched. Karlee was always going to be a bucket-list designer for us, and we were all delighted when she reached out."
• Katie: "The warm reception was incredible. I don't know how many people reached out just saying thank you or that this site was long overdue. That's from both customers and from designers! I knew we would be welcomed with open arms, but the outpouring of love was beyond what I could've expected!"
• Kaitlyn: "I have LOVED doing the emails for the Panto Shop! I am not a regular emailer for my own Knot and Thread business, so sending a weekly email was a bit daunting at the beginning, but I've loved highlighting the new products in the shop, and learned so many new skills. (Like Canva, what!! How did I never know the resource this is!)"

Q: Any "blooper" or "outtake" moments as you've worked on the new business?

• Shelly: "There have definitely been moments where one of us is scrolling the website and see something that is completely wrong. Like two panto listings next to each other with exactly the same images. Whoops! Luckily any mistakes like those are easy to fix, but it does show that humans are very capable of making errors (especially when dealing with 500 pantos at once)."
• Katie: "As operations I had this rosey idea that everything would go so smoothly in the onboarding process. Since our original designers we have streamlined a ton of the onboarding process that I think has been less of a headache for not only designers but ourselves at The Panto Shop."

Photo by Katie Hanson. Pantograph is Diamond Bolt by Katie Hanson.

Q: What are a few pantographs available on your site that you've been loving / eyeing lately?

• Shelly: "I'm DYING at all the new Halloween pantos our designers have been creating. We asked them if they had any spooky / fall motifs, and BOY did they come through! It makes me a) want to sew a ghoulish quilt ASAP, and b) admire them so much. The TALENT! "
• Katie: "Oh lawdy! It is so hard for me not to save everything to my wish list! I personally go through each design and digitize them, make images, stitch out videos - so I stay logged out of my account through that whole process, so I don't go broke! I've got to say though these Halloween designs that have come out have been absolutely adorable."
• Kaitlyn: "Citrus Sun Clam and Ghost Party"

Q: What are you excited about looking ahead?

• Shelly: "Kaitlyn has been using the word "rhythm" a lot lately, and I think she's hit the nail on the head. The launch of The Panto Shop was a flurry of long hours, late nights, and immense pressure, and now we're all looking forward to working our Panto Shop responsibilities into our daily lives (rather than having them take over our lives). I know I'm excited about finding the rhythm with this new and exciting business."
• Katie: "For me, it's finding a groove and a pace of creating all the files required to list them on our site. I'd love to pick up my pace when I get to be a bit quicker at the process, but for now it's all a matter of how much time is in the day! I truly believe this could be a game changer for the industry as well as for me personally."
• Kaitlyn: "Building the community of Designers and Quilters to share in the joy of quilting!!"

 
Photo by Kaitlyn Howell. Pantograph is Flower Webs by Melissa Kelley.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know about The Panto Shop and its founders. If you haven't had a chance to visit their website, we highly recommend spending a few minutes checking out their design offerings. You can also keep up with them on Instagram @thepantoshop, and join their newsletter here. Interested in selling your designs on The Panto Shop website? You can fill out the request form here.

If you'd like to watch the replay of my discussion with them, or check out our other lessons, we'd love to have you join us in the League! You can learn more here.

Thanks so much for talking with me this month ladies, and best of luck in your new venture!