How Was It Really to Run an Independent Sewing Magazine in 2025?

This year has been truly exciting, and it feels important to pause and share some of the insights with you. Running an independent sewing magazine has never been the easiest path, and 2025 was no exception. The craft industry has seen real struggle, especially as large players like Joann’s and the Makers platform have closed down.

And yet—perhaps not even surprisingly—2025 turned out to be one of the strongest years in TAUKO’s history. Why is that?

Let’s start with the facts.

In 2025, our online sales grew by 70%, and we experienced the best-selling months we’ve ever had. For a small, independent publication, this kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident—and it certainly doesn’t happen with big marketing budgets. It happened organically, and almost entirely through our growing and deeply committed community: readers sharing their makes, designers talking about the featured patterns, and word spreading from one sewing table to another.

We’ve received so much positive feedback about staying true to our values and celebrating diversity. If we had to name a single reason for the trust we’ve earned in our community, this would be it. We are honest about what we do, and we follow our passion—not the trends.

In February 2025, we set ourselves an ambitious subscription goal: #TAUKO800. We knew that if we could reach 800 new subscribers, our finances would break even. While we didn’t fully reach that number, something equally important happened instead: we now have double the number of subscribers compared to 2024. Combined with the growth in online sales, this carried us confidently to the end of the year. It tells us we’re moving in the right direction—and gives us real confidence that reaching our long-term target is possible. Subscriptions remain the backbone of what we do, and every single one truly matters.

There were also a few milestones that still feel a little unreal.

In 2025, we sold out our first-ever issue. January became the strongest sales month in TAUKO’s history. These moments weren’t just commercially important—they were deeply emotional ones, too. They reminded us that we’re working on something that genuinely resonates within the sewing community.

This year also took us out into the world. And although these trips weren’t directly connected to sales, they meant everything to us. Meeting the people behind the screens matters. We travelled across Finland, Germany, and England, meeting our community face to face at craft events. Those conversations—often short, sometimes long, always generous—continue to shape how we think about TAUKO and why it exists.

And online, our monthly community meetings now have over 200 sign-ups. That, too, feels worth raising a glass to.

Behind the scenes, we were also building for the future. We applied for—and were granted—research and development funding, explored content licensing possibilities, learned more about international markets, and took meaningful steps towards accessibility, including releasing our first translated patterns. None of this is flashy, but all of it is essential if TAUKO is to remain independent and sustainable.

And that’s perhaps the most important part of this story.

In 2025, we stayed independent, values-led, and unapologetically niche. We didn’t try to become mainstream. We didn’t chase visibility for its own sake. Instead, we trusted our instincts—and, more importantly, you trusted us.

That trust is the reason 2025 worked.

So thank you. For reading, subscribing, sewing, sharing, and believing in what TAUKO can be. We’re heading into the next year with gratitude, quiet confidence, and a continued commitment to doing things our way.