Sew old, sew new: UK alumnae stitch success with multimillion-dollar needlepoint empire

See Krista LeRay on the TODAY show here.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 3, 2025) — During the bleakest hours of the COVID-19 pandemic, when most folks were quarantined at home, begrudgingly baking sourdough, bingeing “Tiger King” or giving themselves exquisitely bad haircuts, Krista LeRay (née Robertson), a 2013 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Communication and Information, was cuddled up with her one-eyed cat in her cozy New York City apartment, launching a multimillion-dollar business enterprise — one that would capitalize on an emerging trend and disrupt an entire industry.

Needlework like cross-stitch, embroidery, crochet and crewel have been around for millennia, with their popularity waxing and waning like the phases of the moon. In the late 2010s, needlepoint — perhaps the most intricate and refined of the needle arts — began to reemerge from a decades-long hibernation, thanks largely to social media. In a viral moment that piqued the curiosity of Swifties and Sheerios alike, trendsetter Taylor Swift famously gifted Ed Sheeran with a Drake-themed needlepoint in the MTV documentary “9 Days and Nights of Ed Sheeran,” making it a must-try craft. Other influencers and content creators jumped on the bandwagon as well.

LeRay, a popular fashion and lifestyle blogger with a substantial following, was keen on needlepointing long before she saw the sensation blowing up the feeds on her phone. Her grandmother had taught her the basics “on a plastic canvas with wool yarn” when she was younger, and her interest blossomed after she enrolled at the University of Kentucky.

The then-marketing major from Chicago (by way of California and Texas) arrived on campus and was intrigued by the ubiquitous “hobby belts” — the highly customized belts worn by her classmates that graphically showcased their interests or achievements through needlepoint.

“I remember seeing these UK belts, and I was like, ‘What is this?’” LeRay remembers. “It was such a popular thing, and I was trying to really embrace the Southern culture, so I was like, ‘Oh, I want to make myself a needlepoint belt!’”

She was hooked.

Even before the pandemic, LeRay had considerable difficulties locating canvases that appealed to her modern millennial sensibilities.

“I wasn’t really able to find cute stuff,” LeRay explains matter-of-factly. “I remember going to a needlepoint store and thinking, It’s all kind of outdated — there was nothing that spoke to me. So, when COVID hit, I had more time on my hands, and I decided just to create my own stuff.”

Out of necessity came opportunity, and LeRay ran with the idea, officially founding her own business, Penny Linn Designs, in September 2020. She says the company’s ethos is based on what she wanted as a consumer — designs “by a stitcher, for a stitcher.”

“I create young, fun, relatable canvases,” LeRay says. “Where a traditional stitcher may be stitching flowers and birds, I’m stitching pop culture and sayings — funny stuff, cheeky things.”

LeRay’s designs run the gamut from bubblegum pink ribbons and bows to bawdy words and expressions that could make a nana blush. There are even odes to her beloved alma mater in her online store.

“I think it’d be illegal for us not to have Kentucky stuff,” the rabid Wildcat fan jokes.

After all, the business is run by not one, but two, UK alumnae.

Amanda Caldwell — who earned a bachelor’s degree in merchandising, apparel and textiles in 2011 and a master’s in consumer behavior in 2013 from the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment — is the company’s vice president of operations.

“She helps with the day-to-day business and manages all of our employees,” LeRay elaborates. “We’re like a tag team. I’m responsible for making the final decisions, and she’s my right-hand woman, doing everything side by side with me.”

A stitch in time

The duo came together in the most serendipitous of ways.

“Amanda and I met through a guy I was dating in college,” LeRay laughs. “She was in his friend circle. She worked at Eye of the Needle, one of the needlepoint stores in Lexington. Amanda and I were the only two in our group that needlepointed, and we became really good friends. We always say that ‘We left the guy, and we stayed together.’”

But, after getting their degrees, the fresh-faced graduates eventually went their separate ways. Caldwell made her mark in managerial positions in the fashion, retail and hospitality industries at companies like Lilly Pulitzer and Dylan’s Candy Bar; LeRay moved to the Big Apple and worked for Major League Baseball as a social media strategist while growing her own brand through her Covering the Bases blog.lor’s

The blog — started as a hobby while attending UK with the alliterative name Seriously Southern Shopaholic — proved lucrative, allowing LeRay to monetize her daily routine for her 100,000 daily readers. Through sponsorships, her income from the blog quickly eclipsed what she earned in baseball.

When cutbacks led to layoffs, LeRay walked away from the MLB at the end of 2018 with extensive, high-profile social media experience as well as a husband, Andrew, a former coworker and now the director of brand marketing for the National Women’s Soccer League.

The abrupt professional setback failed to rattle LeRay — instead, she channeled her energy into her personal endeavors: getting married, moving 30 minutes outside of NYC to a Connecticut suburb and building her brand.

“I actually had a lot more time, so I took 2019 to dedicate to my blog, and I was like, ‘This is going to be my retirement plan. I’m going to do this through motherhood and all this stuff,’” LeRay laughs.

Then came lockdown.

The right place at the worst time

“Blogging kind of shifted because you weren’t going out, you weren’t really wearing stuff,” LeRay vividly recalls of the initial months of isolation. “You had to be really sensitive about what you were promoting because the world was crumbling around you.”

With daily life upended, needlepoint became more than just a hobby. For many, including LeRay, it offered a creative refuge from the constant barrage of grim headlines and an opportunity to connect, through Zoom calls and online communities, with others in a world suddenly defined by distance.

LeRay is very forthcoming about her ADHD diagnosis and says that needlepoint helps ease the anxiety often associated with being neurodivergent. During the lockdowns, she found that needlepoint’s calming, repetitive motions were especially helpful in managing pandemic-related stress — a solution supported by research.

“Activities like needlepoint help with anxiety by keeping us grounded in the present,” explains Shannon Sauer-Zavala, an associate professor of psychology in the UK College of Arts and Sciences and an expert in anxiety intervention. “Anxiety tends to pull your thoughts into the future (“what if….”), and having a clear, tangible anchor to the present moment—like focusing on what our hands are doing — can redirect our attention away from worry.”

LeRay’s passion quickly shifted from blogging to her needlework entrepreneurship. Penny Linn Designs — named as a tribute to her grandmother — was a hit almost from the start, enjoying wildly impressive year-over-year growth and, even more importantly to LeRay, making needlepoint more accessible to a new generation.

“The age demographic has gotten a lot younger,” says LeRay of the customers who visit her online store, pennylinn.com. “Then, last year, needlepoint just blew up on TikTok. We actually attribute much of our rapid growth to it going viral in 2024. We saw a shift from Gen X and older millennials to younger millennials and Gen Z.”

While traditional needlepoint shops may attract generational stitchers, LeRay notes that her online customer base primarily consists of women aged 25 to 34, with the 18-to-25 demographic expanding exponentially.

As Penny Linn grew, LeRay recognized she needed input from someone with a merchandising and retail background. That’s where Caldwell rejoined their story.

“I reached out to her, and I was, like, ‘Hey, I’m trying to price this bag, and I have no idea — what should I charge?’” says LeRay. “We were texting, and it was like we’d picked right back up where we’d left off.

Caldwell offered her old friend all the help she could from Chicago, where she worked as a Product Development Manager for Stonewall Kitchen while also launching her own brand, AC Needlepoint Designs under the Penny Linn line. Caldwell joined the Penny Linn team as the first full-time hire.

Caldwell was eager to work together, so the Nicholasville, Kentucky, native and her fiancé, Jonathan Cosgrove, packed up and moved 800 miles from the Windy City to the Constitution State in 2023.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Caldwell enthuses. “There’s so many charming towns in New England, we love it. I mean, we’re on the beach! It’s kind of like Lexington—it’s a working-class town—and it’s just a good place to be.”

Unraveling the patriarchy

Together, LeRay and Caldwell are a formidable pair. Both take pride in their contributions to the needlepoint renaissance, for the company’s success and for helming a women-owned company.

“When we started, my only goal was to one day make $1 million in a calendar year, and we did that in our third year,” beams LeRay. “It’s really cool to run a female-founded business doing $1 million a year. If you look at the statistics, only about 3% of women entrepreneurs have businesses that make more than a million annually, so this is special and unique.”

Reflecting on the differences between running her own business and her previous experience in the MLB, LeRay quips, “I also like the fact that this is a very woman-dominated industry because there’s honestly not a lot of rich old guys telling me I can’t do this.”

Spotlighting their workforce of 20 full- and part-time employees, all of whom are women, Caldwell echoes LeRay’s sentiments and says, “I love the fact that we’re building something — I’m building something with my best friend — that’s a unique situation. We all build each other up. We’re building a community here. The fact that it’s a profitable business is just the icing on the cake.”

As the business grows, the duo remains committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive space for all needlepoint enthusiasts — newcomers and seasoned stitchers alike.

Despite Penny Linn facing resistance from others in the crafting industry who feel that the youthful approach to needlepoint is altering the tradition of the craft, LeRay remains undeterred.

“I’ve kind of flipped it all on its head, which has been really fun for me,” LeRay states. “I’m not doing it to put them off — I’m doing it to grow the industry.”

“At the end of the day, it’s always about the customer,” Caldwell adds. “Yes, it’s women-owned, but we hope to have more men involved in the industry. We’re taking our time, being diligent with what we’re bringing to market, and trying to think about the user experience. We’re going to show that women can do anything.”

One of LeRay’s core missions is to break down the high barriers to entry, making needlepoint more affordable. She explains that, compared to other needlework like cross-stitch, the essential elements of needlepoint are largely handmade, which traditionally adds to the overall costs.

LeRay cites one of her favorite suppliers — Silk & Ivory, based in Cold Springs, Kentucky — to illustrate why needlepoint materials come at a premium. Their thread, sourced from Europe, arrives in large balls before being meticulously hand-wound, tagged and shipped by local women in the community.

“It’s not a big machinery process,” she explains. “At every step of the way, needlepoint is all very meticulously hand-done by small businesses, usually those women-owned.

Some traditionalists see Penny Linn’s modern approach as a disruption, but LeRay sees it as an evolution. By blending fresh designs with time-honored craftsmanship, she hopes to expand the reach of needlepoint without losing the artistry that makes it special.

“My overall philosophy, or goal, is that I want to make needlepoint available for the masses,” explains LeRay. “I want needlepoint to be in Target. I want needlepoint to be accessible. I want anyone wanting to pick up a new hobby — I want them to think of needlepoint first.”

Not only does Penny Linn offer canvases at a competitive price, but their most popular items — their exclusive self-finishing, interchangeable, magnetic acrylic trays — are up to 80% less than comparable items found elsewhere.

“We got a patent on it in November last year, so that’s really cool, too,” LeRay nonchalantly says, as if reshaping an entire industry was just another item on her to-do list.

The duo’s efforts have been attracting attention. “The Today Show” cohost Dylan Dreyer recently visited the Penny Linn showroom to explore the vibrant energy their creations have infused into the craft. LeRay says the publicity helps not only her business but her traditionalist competitors’ as well.

“Things like ‘The Today Show’ will always bring in tens of thousands more people to the industry,” she explains. “It’s good for everyone.”

The segment will air on March 3 during “The Today Show’s third hour on NBC-TV. Watch here.

Tying it all together

As Penny Linn enters its fifth year of business, the burgeoning empire is expanding with the opening of its first brick-and-mortar shop in the idyllic coastal village of Rowayton, Connecticut.

Caldwell sees the store as more than just a retail space — it’s an opportunity to deepen the sense of community Penny Linn has fostered online. She’s especially excited about creating an inviting environment where newcomers and seasoned stitchers feel welcome.

“It’s going to be really fun for people to have a space where they can come in and hopefully feel like they can ask any question and not be looked at funny and, you know, just be treated with kindness. Our focus is to make sure people have a great time.”

Although her priorities have shifted from blogging, and she is relishing the privacy that comes from not feeling like she has to post every aspect of her personal life, LeRay says that her social media experience and career as an influencer have played a substantial role in Penny Linn’s success.

“I’m treating it almost like a startup, you know?” says LeRay, who switched her major from marketing to communication at the end of her freshman year because she was drawn to the field’s more expansive and creative nature. “I’m thinking about the customer and how I shop. I’m on Instagram. I’m on TikTok.”

She also credits UK for helping shape how she connects with Penny Linn’s community. Lessons from an interpersonal communication course continue to influence how she engages with customers, staff and followers, helping her build authentic relationships and effectively communicate her brand’s vision.

“I remember applying those lessons to my daily life, being able to take what I learned from those communication classes and apply it to blogging, apply it to Penny Linn,” LeRay says. “I can effectively communicate exactly what I want and market myself in a particular way to market the business. I think it’s important because I’m the face of Penny Linn, and it’s about that connection, that one-on-one connection where the customer believes in me, and I’m talking to them directly in the broader scope.”

LeRay points out that while she may not have attended business school, she is confident in her ability to lead the needlepoint industry.

“I always say that we’re building the plane as we fly it. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m learning along the way, and I know what I’m doing is right because it’s obviously working,” LeRay reasons, pointing to her company’s balance sheets and phenomenal online growth as evidence. “The sky’s the limit for what we can achieve!”