Bunches of ribbon hang on the wall, stacks of fabric fill the shelves, and spools of thread line the counters of Alison Kaplan’s makers studio in Port Townsend.

With a view of the Olympic Mountains through her window, Kaplan, who started her handcrafted goods business, Kata Golda Handmade, nearly 20 years ago, stands at her workstation binding pages together.

Over and over again, her fingers dexterously thread a curved book-binding needle through the clean pages, stitching them together to create a hand-bound journal. The repetition of stitching is an act of meditation for Kaplan.

“My true love is hand stitching,” she said. “I find great comfort in doing a repetitive task. It’s a good marriage of two parts of my personality.”

Kaplan comes from a family of makers. Her business, Kata Golda Handmade, is named after her great-grandmothers, Kata and Golda. Her grandmother and her mother were the ones who taught her the ways of handcrafting, and she grew up spending time in her mom’s knitting and needlepoint shop.

“I learned how to always be making something,” she said. “I come from a lineage of busy hands. It’s been in me since I was little.”

She would also play with the paper supplies in her dad’s office, loving the look and the feel of the stacks of cards, notebooks and journals.

“You learn by example,” she said. “But there’s also a bit of rebellion in that, because I’m not a knitter like my mom was.”

Instead, Kaplan began binding books when she was in college. She strings the pages together with thread, and uses naturally dyed fabrics for the covers. On first glance, the notebooks look identical. But each pass through Kaplan’s hands, and each have their own individuality.

While bookbinding was an immediate passion, she never intended to start her own business.

When Kaplan had her daughter, she began to make felt toys for her. The toys, like the books, each had a personality of their own. Their soft, felted faces never have a wide smile on them: instead Kaplan stitches a small near-smile, creating a stuffed animal that looks sweet and a bit thoughtful.

At first, Kaplan’s friends would ask her to make toys for their own kids. Then, friends of friends would ask. And soon, she had organically grown a small business from her handmade toys.

But evolving the business into what it is today took time. Going to handcrafting trade shows in New York and reaching out to small stores and boutiques across the country, Kaplan began to grow an audience for her handmade items. Soon, she found herself in her Port Townsend studio binding hundreds of books, sewing hundreds of toys and crafting for stores like Sundance, Anthropologie, ABC Carpet & Home, and more.

“I feel fortunate,” she said. “I have an audience that appreciates handmade goods. For a small business, you need someone to take a risk and want your things. And for every success story, there’s 50 rejection stories. You can’t take those personally.”

Living in Port Townsend, Kaplan realized she was surrounded by other makers, crafters and sewers like herself. While wanting to keep her business “human-scale” Kaplan began to grow her team, finding local makers from the sewing circle she had joined to help her with hand-stitching, machine stitching, fabric dyeing, letterpress printing, and pottery.

“I have the greatest team of helpers,” she said. “I couldn’t produce so much and be successful without them. And without being open to their advice.”

Perfecting her craft over the years, Kaplan is still always looking to improve and try new things. Over the years, she has added jewelry, pottery, ribbon-making, and an array of different “do-it-yourself” kits to the list of items she sells at Kata Golda.

She is also adding teaching to the list of things she does. On May 16, she will teach a workshop on the art of bookbinding at Thuja, downtown Port Townsend from 5 to 8 p.m.

“I love Alison’s work and it fits in well with the curation at our shop,” said Lauren Engle, owner of Thuja. “Her pieces are beautiful, intentional and most that we carry also serve a functional purpose — like the stoneware cups and hand-bound journals.”

The bookbinding workshop will be the second workshop that Engle has held at her shop, with the hopes of holding more in the future.

“Part of Thuja’s goal is to foster a connection between small batch makers — many of which are PNW based — and those who purchase their goods,” she said. “It’s really lovely to host an evening for a small group to come together, slow down and learn a new craft.”

Teaching sewing and bookbinding skills is Kaplan’s way of continuing her family’s legacy of crafting.

“I’ve always been good at using my hands,” she said. “My brain translates what I want to do really clearly. But I learned how to do all these things, not because my mother taught me, but just because I was around it. I was there.”

And as her business continues to grow, expand, and change, Kaplan knows that one thing will always bring her peace and creativity: sewing.

“The perfect night for me is getting to sit down, cozy up and sew,” she said.