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May 14, 2012

Blog Tour: Evy Hawkins at “A Bit of Stitch”

May 14, 2012 By 1 Comment
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Pansy from the "Spring Blooms" collection

Evy Hawkins is the brains and braun behind A Bit of Stitch.  Those of you who come to Zede’s Sewing Studio in Columbia, MO know that we love Evy and we love her designs!  We use them for demonstrations and classes all the time, and our customers have fallen in love just like us!

Below is an interview that I think will be interesting to anyone who has every stitched out Evy’s designs.  If you’ve never heard of Evy or “A Bit of Stitch”, check out her website and her designs- they are gorgeous!

How long have you been stitching?  What techniques first got you interested in stitching?My first memory of sewing was actually losing a hand-sewing needle on my mother’s bed! I don’t know how old I was, but I was old enough to know that it was a bad thing! It was a long time before my mother let me have needles again so I made due with aluminum foil, paper, tape and glue. As you can imagine, my dolls had very “temporary” outfits.

What is your educational background?  You have such a command of color and design, did you achieve it formally or through pursuing your hobbies? I was taught to sew by my Irish auntie, actually my great aunt. She spent part of every year with us and patiently taught me to make things for my dolls. We did all our sewing by hand at that time. We did have an old treadle and I have no idea why we didn’t use it as it did work. I think it was probably because my auntie thought that hand sewing was a master art and that I needed to learn that first. And she was right! We got a little Singer Dressmaker when I was in high school. By that time I had taken Home Economics and learned to use a sewing machine. 

How did you get interested in machine embroidery?  Well, I like to say that I was educated “by the seat of my pants” as far as sewing went. There’s nothing like making a mistake – you do it and then you say, “Ah-ha! Won’t do that again!” I did have the privilege of knowing lovely folks who shared their valuable skills and time with me while I was still a teenager. Besides my auntie I was privileged to have a home economics teacher who allowed me to spend my lunch hours in her room learning how to drape and draft patterns. I also had wonderful art teachers, one who had attended Parson’s School of Design and he gave me his old textbooks when I graduated. The last year in high school I managed to work my schedule so that it included three art periods and my teachers gave me free rein to do whatever took my fancy. It was awesome! I made my first dress for someone else while I was in high school and I wasn’t very long out of college (with a secretarial degree) that I found myself with more dressmaking work than I could handle. One thing led to another and eventually I ended up working as a designer for a tiny woman’s wear company. It was there that I was introduced to machine embroidery. That was before home machine embroidery. It was so incredible watching my artwork come to life in stitches! I learned what “manual punching” was and that’s how I digitize my designs still today. I guess I’d have to say that I started designing embroidery about 18 years ago, but it wasn’t until around 2004 that I introduced my A Bit of Stitch embroidery design line. 

The "Isabella" lace collection

What is your favorite machine to stitch on?  My favorite machines are Baby Locks. They are extremely user friendly and as a family run business, you can’t beat their customer service! Also, they make really cool machines like their new Sashiko and the Embellisher! I like Baby Lock’s Palette software too. My studio is filled with my “babies” and they all get along very nicely!

What is the most exciting project you worked on in 2011/2012? Baby Lock’s Sashiko machine has introduced me to a whole new world, so that is what I have been most fascinated with this past year. Right now I’ve discovered just how very fun it is to combine machine embroidery techniques with Sashiko techniques! As you probably can tell, I really love art to wear, but recently I have taken an interest in quilts. We’ll see what this year brings! Right now I am working on a dimensional Sashiko quilt, which incorporates machine embroidery techniques, and a Sashiko quilted and machine embroidered voile and tulle wedding dress. The dress is just for fun, just to see what it evolves into. That’s the biggest excitement in my studio right now!

Do you do anything else in your spare time besides sew? Is there life besides sewing? Ha! Well, actually one does have to eat and sleep but I have discovered that I can get by on a little of those. When actually forced not to work I like to read. Science fiction is my new favorite, which is strange for me, but I find I like the imagination in it and I especially like it when authors describe wardrobes of “out of this world quite literally” clothing! I have been known to watch movies with the sound off just so I could concentrate on the costumes, which drives my family crazy. There never will be enough time to do everything that is in my head, so I guess you could say that I never really have any spare time! That’s either really sad or a blessing!

Thank you, Evy!

You can find a wide selection of “A Bit of Stitch” embroidery designs at Zede’s Sewing Studio!

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tour, Classes at Zede's, Ideas, Patterns
Apr 14, 2012

Blog Tour: Anna at Six White Horses

April 14, 2012 By 2 Comments
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I’m always pleased to find some new blogger on the interwebs- especially through Pinterest!

I found this picture on Pinterest and immediately thought “Oh, that’s a quilt that I can stand!”…in fact that may have been the caption I chose.

Anna’s instructions for the Improv Chevrons are excellent, in my opinion.  She doesn’t approach this project like a super traditional quilter- she does it her own way.  What’s even better, they are clear and easy to follow.  I couldn’t wait to find out more about this fun and creative designer.  So, I asked for an interview- and I got one!  Enjoy!

How long have you been stitching?  What got you interested in sewing?   I’ve been doing something stitchy forever, it seems!  I started with small projects and cross-stitching under the expert guidance of my grandmother when I was very young, and my mother also encouraged my crafty side. I started quilting about two years ago when one of my friends had his first child. I remembered that my favorite item growing up was a quilt that one of my mom’s friends made for her, and I thought I’d give it a try and got hooked.

Who do you make things for?   I make things for friends, family, and strangers! Oh, and myself.  Everyone deserves treats.

When did you start blogging?    I started in January!  I’m new!  I’ve been very active in Flickr’s sewing and quilting community for much longer, and figured it was time to record my work and ideas in a more formal way.

What is the most exciting thing that has happened to you since you started blogging?     I’m just so excited that people are visiting!

When did you start making your own patterns?  Where do you get your inspiration?     I think I’ve always made my own patterns, in a sense.  Quilting can be very individual, and I’ve always taken formal patterns as jumping-off points, using them to learn techniques more than to execute complete projects.

I’m usually inspired by day-to-day visuals: buildings on my commute, a stack of colorful cereal bowls, a pillow at Anthropologie.  Quilt-wise, I’m inspired by the countless quilters sharing their work on Flickr and Pinterest.  There’s so much talent out there and many people are willing to share their ideas and knowledge. As I’ve developed my own designs, I’ve recently started “giving back” to this community by sharing tutorials on my blog.

Who is another blogger you admire?    Oh, I can’t just pick one!  I love Anna Maria Horner for her design sense and insightful tone, Film in the Fridge for quilt inspiration and design, Oh, Fransson for beautiful ideas and crystal-clear tutorials, and Joy the Baker for her delightful voice (and recipes!).

What is one thing in your sewing kit that you can’t live without?   I’m really attached to my embroidery scissors. So attached that I get mini panic-attacks when I misplace them!

What’s one material you use that is hard to find?   Well, in New York City, high-quality quilting cotton is actually kind of hard to find! There’s no Joann’s or other big crafting stores, and very few (maybe 2?) quilting shops with a pretty limited selection. (I do most of materials shopping online…)

What’s the “weirdest” thing you’ve made?    Hm, this pillow back is pretty weird.  Who knew bugs could be so pretty?  Despite being a bit off-beat, I really love this print!

Thank you, Anna!  We are so pleased to have met you!
Filed Under: Blog Tour, DIY, Ideas, Quilting, Random Thoughts
Mar 15, 2012

Congratulations to Our Friend, Sharon Boggons!

March 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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Sharon has been nominated to the 2012 Golden Quilter Awards as “Best Teacher”.  We’d like to congratulate her!

We interviewed Sharon last month on the blog, and she told us about her work with crazy quilts.  Sharon has developed a really great sewing community through her blogs, classes and online groups.  If you’re interested in handwork or crazy quilting, make sure to go over to the Pin Tangle blog ASAP.

Detached Chain Stitch. Sharon Boggons

If you’ve taken class with Sharon, make sure to vote for her here!  

Once again, congratulations Sharon!

Filed Under: Blog Tour, Quilting, Random Thoughts
Mar 14, 2012

Blog Tour: Georgie Melot

March 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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As our local sewing community knows, we love Georgie Melot’s book “Ready, Set, Serge”.  We use it in a continuing education class called Serge Ahead.

You can only imagine my surprise and excitement when I found Georgie’s blog.  I proceeded to contact her about doing an interview and found that she is a lovely, gracious person who accepted my request readily.

This post is a continuation of our Blog Tour series- something we do to help you can discover new bloggers and new ideas!

Here’s Georgie!

How long have you been stitching?- I have been sewing as long as I can remember. I used all the scraps of fabric I could find to make clothes for my Barbie dolls. At the time, I thought I had the best dressed Barbie in the world. Everyday she could wear a new outfit made especially for her! Now my grown-up memory sees that poor Barbie as a bit of a bag lady, but it was the beginning of my sewing world. I was probably about 7 or 8 when my mom let me sew on her sewing machine. What a joy! I wasn’t big enough for me feet to touch the floor, so Mom would put a large pan under the machine for me to put my feet on and allow me to get that machine going.
What got you interested in sewing?- My mom made most of my clothes when I was a small child and it always fascinated me that a plain piece of material could be made into something so pretty.  My mom sewed because it was economical at the time but she really didn’t enjoy it at all and was more than willing to pass that chore over to me once I showed an interest and the aptitude to learn. It seems that as my skills developed Mom lost any bit of knowledge that she ever had at sewing. I have teased her that with her lack of sewing skills, I was probably embarrassed to wear what she made for me so I was forced to learn to sew. But the truth is that I was just fascinated by watching her create something that I could wear. I still have a snippit of embroidered trim that was added to one of the outfits she made for me. I thought it was the most beautiful trim in the world and have kept that treasured 6″ piece of trim for decades. It always brings a smile to my face when I run across it in my sewing supplies.
When did you start making your own patterns?- My first sewing for my Barbie dolls was without patterns and I would just wrap the fabric this way and that and cut it where it looked like it needed to be cut. I didn’t think of it as pattern making at the time but it was the beginning of confidence in my ability to modify patterns to suit me. Later I had a wonderful home economics teacher in high school who pulled out abilities I hadn’t even considered. My sophomore year in high school I wanted to make a baby quilt for a cousin who was expecting. I had finished all the required sewing for class and found an appliqued quilt pattern that I thought was adorable. Mrs. Lewis told me that I could make that quilt but only if I made it without the pattern. She wanted me to make up my own pattern, and I have to say mine turned out just as cute as the one in the pattern book. That experience really unleashed my creativity and allowed me to attempt making any item that I visioned.
What made you decide to write a book on serging?- Prior to writing the book, I had been an educator for Baby Lock. I loved being able to share my love of sewing with wonderful people in the Baby Lock dealerships but all good things must come to an end and I had resigned my position with Baby Lock. I was not sure what God had planned for me but I knew he would show me what he had planned when the time was right. Anyway, I was on my last road trip for Baby Lock and was teaching a serger demonstration at Nancy’s Notions in Beaver Dam, WI. In my serger demo I generally would make a few simple projects, some of which are in the book. After the demonstration one of the ladies came up to me and asked if I could write a book full of easy serger projects. It seems one of the acquisition editors for F & W Publications was in my serger demonstration. So the book was not actually my idea but was a challenge that I accepted enthusiastically! I had taught many serger classes over the years and had been frustrated with projects that didn’t allow the students to get comfortable with their serger. Many serger projects put so many techniques in a single project, in order to highlight this wonderful machine, that someone new to serging can be overwhelmed before the class was over. I envisioned Ready, Set, Serge to be a book that would allow someone new to serging to find success and not frustration with their serging projects.
What brand of sergers do you work with and why?- My first serger was a White serger, I still have it but rarely use it. I do make sure it stays in good working order but most of the time I serge using one of my two Baby Lock sergers. I purchased the Baby Lock serger because of the jet-air threading but I fell in love with it because of the automatic tension. Those 2 features are probably 99% of the problems you will have with your serger and with my Baby Lock serging issue are a thing of the past. In fact when I was writing the book, I forced myself to spend a couple months serging on my White serger to re-familiarize myself with threading and tension issues. It wasn’t fun but it was very informative!
What was it like to work with “Sewing With Nancy” host Nancy Zieman?- Nancy is just a phenomenal person to work with, as is her whole staff. They are so organized and prepared that it is really easy to tape the show. For me the hardest part was not getting too wordy, which wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows me. My opportunity to be on “Sewing With Nancy” was such a blessing. My youngest son is in the Air Force and he had received orders to be deployed to Kuwait. As any mother I would be, I was a bit apprehensive and we all worried I would fall apart when I had to say goodbye to my baby. A few weeks before Mitt was deployed, Nancy called and she had an unexpected taping date,and wanted to know if I would be able to come in and such and such date. The way the dates fell, I flew to Beaver Dam the day after I told my baby goodbye. I was just too excited to fall apart! I love how God works some of those things out. 
What is your favorite technique to teach?- I enjoy all the wonderful techniques we can do with the serger but honestly my favorite part of teaching serging is helping people become comfortable with their serger. I want serger owners to get those sergers out of the closet and start using them! If you only used your serger for seams, you will love never having to finish another seam. That being said, I love to make the zippered cosmetic bag in serger classes. That demonstration has such a ‘wow’ factor and it gets everyone excited. And who couldn’t use a little zippered bag?
Curious about Georgie’s work?  Visit her blog and check out her posts, classes, and of course her book!
Happy Sewing!
Filed Under: Blog Tour, Classes at Zede's, Clothes & Garment Sewing, DIY, Ideas, Sewing Books
Feb 17, 2012

Blog Tour: Sharon Boggons

February 17, 2012 By 4 Comments
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I’ve recently gotten a lot of compliments on our blog, and I just want to say “Thank You!” to everyone reading.  This blog wouldn’t be here without you.

When formatting and choosing topics for our blog, I often look to other blogs for inspiration.  And I have to say, I’ve been a little disappointed in what I get in my Google search for “Sewing Blogs”.  I figured that maybe a few of you have run up against the same problem.

So, I’ve got a little present for all of you- links to other awesome blogs!  As I find other well-written, informative, creative blogs, I’ll link to them here.  These blogs will mostly be about sewing.  And, just to be clear, a lot of these bloggers are much more experienced in the blogging world than we are- so we hope to learn as we go along as well!

Our first stop on the blog tour is Sharon Boggons’ blog, Pin Tangle.  Sharon is from Australia!  Read more about her here.

I was first introduced to her blog by Jane, who teaches her at ZSS.  Jane has been stitching along with Sharon for about a year, following her Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) program and other stitch challenges.

I’m honored to have her on the blog!  To get to know her better, I did an interview via e-mail, check it out below:

How long have you been stitching?  Which techniques got you interesting in sewing first? 

One of my earliest memories is sitting on the back verandah of my house with embroidery in my hands. It was before I went to school so it was before I was 5 years old which means thatit is over 50 years since I am 56 “

Who do you make things for?

“Friends, Family and now mainly as teaching samples so indirectly they are for my students.”

Why did you start blogging?  What did you do before you started blogging? 

“I was teaching in our local art school (University Level) across 2 departments textiles and new media. I taught textile design and web design when I noticed blogs becoming more popular in the digital media area. I first noticed them around in about 2002 but it took me until January 2004 before I started my own. I was curious about the genre. There were very few textile related blogs then. In fact that is the subject of my first post “Where are all the Textile blogs?”“

What’s the most exciting thing that has happened since you started blogging?

“I started teaching online which has enabled me to work from home and spend more time in my studio. It has changed my life from that angle. I delivered a series of workshops in Connecticut at the Crazy Quilt Adventure in America 2011.”

What is your favorite medium?  Do you prefer threads to beads, etc.?  

“I do both hand embroidery and crazy quilting so that is very difficult to answer. The medium of textiles – particularly surface embellishment really attracts me.”

What’s your best advice to a new stitcher?

 ”Just do it and share what you learn. Don’t be fearful, the days of too many rules for hand embroidery are over. Take pleasure in developing the skill.”

What’s your best advice to a seasoned stitcher?

“Do it more, share what you know and take pleasure in your skill but also carry on learning new stuff too!”

What’s one material that you use a lot that is hard to find?

“I don’t use hard to find material. Much of what I use I have on hand or have scavenged from secondhand shops.”

Which tool in your sewing kit would you never live without?

“A needle!”

Some great things you’ll find on Sharon’s blog are: Online Classes and Stitch Challenges

Thank you Sharon!  I can’t wait to see what you come out with next!

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tour, Classes at Zede's, DIY, Ideas, Quilting, Random Thoughts, Tips