Who Are You?

Instead of posting the book review I'd had planned for today - I decided to take a few minutes to tell you about my sewing background and what I have planned for this site - and also to invite you all to share too. This site is only a couple of weeks old and already a few hundred people have signed up. A few hundred! That's a lot of people who want to learn to sew and/or embroider and I find myself with a lot of questions about you all. I thought about putting together a survey (many thanks to all of you who helped me decide which chicken pattern to offer!) but that seemed kind of impersonal for something like this. For centuries, sewing has been as much about community as it has been about making. And I thought you all would like a chance to get to know each other too. So let me get the ball rolling. . .

I'm a self-taught sewer. My family had a very DIY attitude and I learned early how to use power tools, build walls, knock them down, lay tile, hang wallpaper, chop wood, etc. But I never learned how to sew. My mom sewed, but she sewed on an antique treadle machine that scared the heck out of me. I wasn't the most coordinated kid and the notion of controlling the needle with my feet(!) while my hands guided the fabric was just too much for me. I never asked to learn how to use it. In Jr. High home ec was mostly about cooking and I already knew how to do that, so I took shop instead.

Fast forward to graduate school. I was studying German (and starting to realize that I was completely uninterested in being a German professor for the rest of my life) and for some reason I went out and bought a sewing machine. I made a tablecloth - the worst tablecloth that has ever been sewn. I'm not exaggerating. I didn't prewash the fabric so all my seams puckered the first time I washed it. There was a big seam running right down the middle of the table. For some reason I had it hanging down to the floor all the way around. I used one of the "fancy" stitches to sew the hem - and I used it with a really thick and twisty kind of thread (I had no idea there were different kinds of thread!) so it was a lumpy, snarly mess. Truly - it was the worst tablecloth in the history of tablecloths. :-)

But I got better. This was before the internet, so I learned by reading books and watching sewing shows on TV. And experimenting. And making a LOT of mistakes. And becoming friends with my seam ripper.

That was twenty years ago. When my daughter was born I starting sewing even more, and when she turned four I started teaching her. Now I teach sewing and quilting to adults and kids - and I love it. I love designing patterns especially for beginners. And I love that the internet allows me to teach a much wider range of people than I can teach in person in my tiny part of the world. I've got some big plans for this site. I'd love to do some mini-workshops - a series of projects where I record video instructions for every step of the project. Maybe one to outfit your sewing room - where I teach you to recover your ironing board in pretty fabric, make a pincushion or two, a sewing machine cover, a little sewing kit for handwork. Or an Easter workshop where we make a stuffed bunny, a fabric basket, a bonnet, some Easter games, etc. Or some summer camp workshops for kids, where we learn to make our own toys, dress our dolls, or dress ourselves. I'd like to get into some quilting. Easy quilts that are fun to make. And of course - some more embroidery. I didn't tell you about my first embroidery project. I got a crewel kit for Christmas one year. I think I was eight. I sat all evening in front of the fire, stitching away at it and watching a cute mushroom and turtle take shape in my lap. And then I stood up to go to bed and realized I had stitched the whole thing to the front of my nightgown. I got better at that too. :-)

So please introduce yourselves! Are you a kid or a grown-up? Are you sewing for yourself? Your child? Your grandchildren? Are you interested in sewing or embroidery or both? Other crafts? What would you like to see more of? Are you interested in workshops? Kits? Right now I've been building lessons toward being able to make stuffed animals. What else are you most interested in learning? Toys? Accessories? Clothing? Home decor? Baby stuff? I'd love to make this site as useful as possible to all of you - so tell me what you most want to learn.

Pleased to meet you!