As we begin our conversation we learn about Michael’s early years and his realization that, for him, quilting isn’t about following a prescribed pattern, but rather about envisioning unlimited possibilities—the same possibilities he sees in life.

Having received his degree in photojournalism from Emerson University, Michael started using photography as reference materials for his creations and later moved onto figurative works, which led him to create quilts that were quite different from the mainstream. In Michael’s words, “Photography taught me how to see the world.”  (3:45-5:20)

Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence are two artists Michael identifies with aesthetically. It was their abstract depictions of African American life that inspired him to continue to create abstracts of his daily life. He talks about how portraying everyday mundane scenes in an abstract way can capture the feeling and beauty of the moment. 

Michael goes on to explains how the freedom of not saying no guides him in his life and his art.  He doesn’t want his creations to be stalled by questioning whether he should do x or y or z. Instead, he wants to go with the flow of the moment. Looking down the road, he wants to be able to look back and say, “Wow, I tried it all, I did it all.” (7:20 -8:34)

Everything in his life up to this moment has impacted him in some way and he takes that into every part of his quilting.  That includes all the pieces of fabric fans send to him for his art. According to Michael, “Each fabric I get, I can think of the person who gave it to me and how without that fabric the work wouldn’t have come together.” 

One of Michael’s favorite techniques is meandering quilting, where the stitching never overlaps. As he quilts, he thinks about the word meandering and how it applies to traveling and exploring with no pre-determined destination. He quilts in broad “brush strokes, with the fabric being the paint and the stitching the paintbrush that creates very fine detail work. He calls it painting with fabric and thread, which for him is a meditative and therapeutic process. 

As he approaches his first solo gallery show, Michael still can’t wrap his head around the fact that he can make a living off his art and fully support himself doing what he loves. “I can’t lie,” he says, “it’s super fun.” (13:53-14:32) As he started preparing for his upcoming show, he stepped back and thought about how being a working artist living in NYC was something that was beyond his wildest dreams. Each piece in his new show will speak to the theme of wildest dreams. 

At the precipice of his career, Michael knows that his love of quilting will always be with him. He’s also ready to expand his art practice into other mediums. Like Picasso, he wants to excel in them all. His goal is to create a show that represents all different disciplines, and that feels like there are fifteen artists represented when in reality, it all him. We’ve no doubt he’ll accomplish it. If you want to be inspired, you won’t want to miss this podcast.

To learn more about Michael or to reach out to him personally, simply stop by  michaelcthorpe.com

Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today’s and all of our Guests. 

Corin’s love of sewing began as a teenager when she enrolled in her high school’s fashion textiles program. It was here that she learned how to drape, draft and sew on an industrial machine. Knowing she wanted to be a fashion designer, Corin received a BA in Fashion Design at Norfolk State University. Unable to find work in the industry when she went to New York, where she went on to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology for Fashion Styling. 

Corin’s first internship was with the trade publication DNR, where she was afforded the opportunity to actually do work an assistant stylist would do. It was through this internship that she got her first freelance styling job for a trade show. Although sewing always came naturally for Corin, and she excelled at it, she used to say she hated sewing. Once she discovered tailoring, however, she realized it wasn’t sewing she hated, but the type of sewing she had been doing.  

“What I do love is tailoring. It’s fast. It challenges my brain. I do it. I’m done with it, and then I can move onto something else. [8:12 – 10:10]. The joy comes in not knowing what challenge each tailoring assignment will present. Corin shares that when she’s tailoring on set for a Broadway show, she feels like she’s walking into something new every day.  She likes not knowing what kind of fabric she’ll be working with or what type of tailoring she’ll be doing. Once she discovered the thrill of tailoring and re-constructing garments, she knew she’d found her niche. 

Her story of how she originally got into Broadway and TV is fascinating; how she managed to get into the wardrobe union, and then tour with the acclaimed Alvin Ailey Dance Company. After 9 years of touring domestically and internationally with Alvin Ailey, she was ready to be home. (13:50 16:34) After returning to New York, she started stitching and dressing on Broadway, and then became an on-set tailor. Because she excelled at what she did, she continued to be referred for jobs. She was on an e-commerce job when a stylist asked her to take her place working with a celebrity performer.  Then that stylist referred her. And then another. And another. “That’s how it works,” says Corin, “whether it’s Broadway or TV on on-set tailoring, it’s showing up and being the best person you can be. (19:05 -20:18). 

Speaking of celebrity, Corin’s story about some unexpected on-set tailoring for Maria Carey’s Christmas show. “All I Want for Christmas,” is not to be missed. Armed only with two safety pins, she was able to fix an outfit malfunction, and do a little free-styling with Mariah. You can hear the delightful and amusing story on the podcast (29:13-33:55), and then watch the actual event on Instagram. 

Styling for Broadway isn’t the only thing Corin excels at. Her passion for dressing women from all walks of life is evident as she talks about the Style Haven experience: an online store,  brick and mortar fashion and accessory boutique, and a 24-ft. traveling boutique truck that provides women with an immersive styling experience.  How does she successfully juggle being a swing dresser on Broadway, taking on tailoring gigs, and running a successful retail operation? Planning. Lots of planning.  

You can learn more about Corin on Instagram @Stylehaven, shopstylehaven.com, or by emailing her at  [email protected]

Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today’s and all of our Guests. 

During a casual conversation, Margaret shares that on a Saturday morning in 2005, she happened upon an article that was the genesis of The Sewing Machine Project. The article, written by a BBC reporter, was about three women returning to their village in Southeast Asia after the Tsunami of 2004.  When asked what they hoped to find when they returned to her village, one woman’s answer really struck her. She simply said, “My sewing machine.”  

As Margaret recounts this story, she shares her realization that while she could survive without her sewing machine, this woman, and many others like her, could not. She read the story again and again.  Realizing the inequity of things, she decided to collect sewing machines to give to those less fortunate.  And so begins her journey of mending lives through sewing. (2:21-5:00)

When Katrina hit New Orleans, Margaret and her team of volunteers shifted their focus from Sri Lanka to the Gulf. In March of 2006, she headed to New Orleans with a van full of sewing machines.  And it just kept growing from there. While other people questioned if the effort would work, she never doubted it.  According to Margaret, “There was always just some voice in me that said, just keep going.  It’ll work.  And it did.”  

A perfect example of this is when Margaret was wondering how she was going to get five machines that were similar and in good working order to take to a woman and husband team who were creating a community center in New Orleans. Unable to find a solution, she stepped away from the warehouse of the store where she worked. When she came back about three hours later, five identical machines, all in perfect working order, were lined just inside the customer door – which was odd because nobody ever left machines there. She found out that a local teacher had donated them. It was one of those moments when she knew she was doing the right thing.  (8:15-12:42)

Margaret’s passion for sewing and her belief that it can give people the space they need to plan forward is undeniable.   “When I sew,” she says, “it’s almost like I’m entering a room and the piece I want to create is hovering in that room and I can walk around it and figure out how to create it by looking at the dimensions.” From there she asks herself what steps she needs to take to create the piece; what she needs to do first, second and third. By passing along the opportunity for people to learn to sew, Margaret believes she is also helping them to learn how to free their minds so they can problem-solve, one step at a time. She talks about working with women in shelters who have experienced extreme trauma, and how they live in a fight or flight world. Sewing gives them the opportunity to relearn what they have to do first, second, third to get to where they need to be. By learning how to construct a garment, they regain the ability to plan forward. (15:15-17:55)    

The Sewing Machine Project has been growing and evolving for 16 years.  The organization helps groups locally, nationally and internationally. Locally, the organization partners with community leaders in Madison, Wisconsin to create classrooms, secure grant funding for teachers, and provide machines for classes. At the end of each class, students are gifted the machines they learned on.  All that’s asked in return is that they pay it forward. Some sew flannel caps and donate them, others share their machines, or teach a friend to sew. 

A few years ago, the organization also started a mending site, where people can come and get things mended for free. It was so successful, a second site was opened, and then a third.  And now, the mending program has taken off nationally.  A primary tenant of The Sewing Machine Project is paying it forward, and groups are always asked how they intend to use the machines to help others in the community.   While it has physically handed out 3200 machines, Margaret knows they’ve influenced many more lives because of the little ripples that go out from each machine they give.  (21:00-27:38).  Looking forward, Margaret intends to expand the outreach of her non-profit organization and is currently writing a book about the Sewing Machine Project. 

Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today’s and all of our Guests. 

Although Craig’s love of sewing began in his 8th grade Home Economics class, it came to the forefront when, a few years ago, he and his girlfriend broke up and the only thing he was left with was his sewing machine. It was then that he taught himself to make pillows, describing it as a newly found lost hobby.  Although it took him years to realize it, Craig has an inherent drive to create.  Not only does it help him decompress, it helps him stay true to himself. According to him, “When I sit at my machine, the rest of the world goes away. The fact that I have a finished product at the end, justifies that I’m not wasting my time. Sewing opened the lid to a whole new world.” (3:00 – 3:55)  

As the conversation with Craig unfolds, you soon realize that he is a man who lives life on his terms, who is not influenced by naysayers and bullies, and who can accomplish whatever he sets his mind to.   Not only did he ignore the cajoling from fellow cast members about his love of sewing, he ultimately had the last laugh when his company Sewing Down South was featured on Home Shopping Network, and he secured a partnership with Thomasville Furniture to create a series of seasonal pillows.  

Craig was bullied and teased a lot as a kid, and he attributes his loving, supportive home environment as the reason he was able to overlook the bullying and to self-validate. That loving foundation has informed one of his primary missions in life, which is anti-bullying. He uses his success as a platform to encourage others to pursue their passions, and to not let anyone dissuade them from doing what they love. (8:38-11:22)  He realizes that not everyone had the healthy influence he did growing up, and he wants to be that influence for others now.  

Another one of Craig’s passions is the Pillow Party. It began as a desire to get pillows into area boutiques and to make personal appearances at their stores.  First there was a launch party for a store that was reopening in Camden, South Carolina, and from there, the Pillow Party Tour was born.  They find stores that are a little outside main cities, and have catered events, complete with tons of pillows, special merchandise, live music, and hundreds of guests.  

These events give Craig the opportunity to share his personal journey, and for others to share theirs. “What I started to find is that way more people, way more males especially, sew than you think. Way more kids sew than you think.” He learned that it’s just something people don’t talk about—whether it’s the high school quarterback who came to one of his first events and revealed that he’d been sewing for a long time, or the slew of other guys that come to the parties with wives or partners or alone and share their passion for sewing.   The Pillow Parties are a way for Craig to reach these people and give them voice, which helps put an end to gender stereotypes and outdated rules.  (16:00 -18:32)

His company, Sewing Down South started with five simple lines based on his time in the Bahamas.  It has since grown into multiple lines, available on the Sewing Down South online store.  On May 1st, Sewing Down South will open its flagship retail store in Charleston, South Carolina.  The store, like the Pillow Parties, will provide an outlet for people to share their stories, their love of sewing, and to build community.  

There is so much to Craig’s story—from his many entrepreneurial adventures to the Pillows and Beer and Pillow Talk podcasts, to his soon-to-be-released memoirs. When the publisher first approached him about the possibility, Craig didn’t think he had enough stuff to share.  Turns out he did.

There are so many inspiring and insightful and engaging moments in this podcast with Craig, you won’t want to miss a single minute of it.  You can connect with Craig at either of his Instagram sites: @caconover or @Sewingdownsouth. 

Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today’s and all of our Guests. 

A mother of three and grandmother of four, Jinny starts this casual conversation by talking about how her love of family runs deep. Whether it’s her own family stories that remind her of her roots, biblical stories that help ground her in her faith,  or stories of quilters that affirm her creativity, the common thread that runs through all of her families is the power of shared stories. When woven together, these stories create a new fabric of life.

Jinny’s mom taught her to sew on an old Singer treadle sewing machine. What began out of necessity became a passionate calling. She shares her memories of learning how to sew and quilt, and how her art evolved over time.  She talks about how each machine has its own song that it sings, its own tenor that tells you when something is going right and when it isn’t.  Every stitch has its own story. (3:38-4:29)

Like many quilters, Jinny finds comfort and warmth in the quilting community. Although she moves frequently, the quilting community keeps her connected.  She says, “When you go into a quilting shop with something you’ve created, it always sparks a connection.”  

For her, this connection runs deep. When she was diagnosed with cancer in 1995, she went from running a family and working full time to being on a journey of healing.  When she shared that she had cancer with her watercolor quilting group, she started receiving cards from women sharing their own healing journeys. Often, the cards also contained scraps of fabric that were part of their personal stories.  Ginny took those scraps and created a quilt about her own journey with cancer.  When she shared the finished quilt with her husband, he asked if she had intentionally made a cross in the center of it. She had not.  The fact that it organically happened affirmed Ginny’s belief that quilting creates its own kind of spiritual connection.  The quilt was also a reminder of the support Jinny received from each of her families, especially the quilters.  You can see this wonderful quilt in the book With Sacred Threads: Quilting and the Spiritual Life by Susan Towner-Larson and Barbara Brewer Davis. (6:00 – 8:46)  

Jinny shares her love of quilting, all forms of quilting.  From water color quilting where you paint with fabric by piecing together fabrics of different hues and shades, to bright modern quilts, to historical quilts that echo the history of the colonial era. Being in a quilting group that creates revolutionary quilts is particularly rewarding for her.  She talks about the beauty of creating quilts from scraps of other women’s stories to create a new story. There is, as she explains quite eloquently, something warm and beautiful about telling stories with fabric. (8:55-11:17) 

As quilting groups have been pulled apart due to Covid, Jinny believes that looking back and remembering history is a way to look forward. As an example, she cites how people on the plains were separated, and yet they continued to create and piece quilts to stay warm. She encourages quilters who are feeling isolated to join a Zoom quilting group, to use the art of quilting as a way to stay connected while reaching out and helping those in need, whether it’s people in hospitals, or those living in shelters. Jinny deeply believes that quilting can help us express ourselves and share stories that uplift one another in a deep and meaningful way.  

Be sure to tune into Jinny’s podcast to learn more about telling stories through quilting. If you’d like to reach out to Jinny to share your journey or learn more about hers, feel free to email her at [email protected]

Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today’s and all of our Guests. 

Julane began sewing in middle school and loved it. “A hobby that got out of control.” is how she describes her passion for sewing in this insightful podcast.  It began when she was doing community theater; budgets were limited, so she sewed her own costumes as a hobby. Then she began to collect costumes. Before long, word of her talent spread, and she was sought out to create costumes for school theatrical productions. She then took over a theatrical costume company, while still working full time.  15 years ago Julane began doing costuming full time. Her company, All Dressed Up Costumes in Batavia Illinois, was 3,500 sq ft when she bought it. Now it’s over 10,000 sq ft.

As Julane shares the process of costuming for an entire production, you hear the passion in her voice. “Inspiration,” she says, “can come from a lot of different sources.” But one thing we learn that the story is always the star. Before you start envisioning costumes, you have to immerse yourself in the play and familiarize yourself with place and mood, and motive and time period. After that, you dive into the characters: their temperament, their motives, their relationships. (4:20-7:46)

After she’s thoroughly familiarized with a play, she gets together with the production team, and everyone bounces ideas off each other. The director’s feedback is especially important. If there are fairies in the piece and the director says he/she wants them to reflect a darker natural feeling, you may use the earth, and bark and leaves of the trees as inspiration.  If the fairies need to be magical, glitter may be added to create a more ephemeral feel. The biggest challenge in working as a costume designer on a big production is, as you might imagine, communication. 

Because she loves things that are pretty, she said her favorite things to create are elaborate French Restoration ball gowns. She describes the process of creating a luxurious Regency ballgown for a client who needed a gown for a formal ball. They shopped for the plush fabric and embellishments together, and she compared the completed product to something out of Bridgeton, saying, “We don’t wear those gowns now.  I wish we wore those gowns now. I think I was born in the wrong century.” (14:38   -16:35)

When people tell Julane they can’t sew, she tells them that It’s not them, it’s the equipment.  When discussing the importance of a quality sewing machine, she uses the analogy of a carpenter, saying that if they have the right hammer, the right wrench, and the right set of drills, they get their job done well and get it done efficiently. But with the wrong equipment, they struggle. Her advice is to invest in the best machine you can. She describes in fascinating detail what other tools and equipment one needs to create costumes. (28:22- 34:32) 

If you’re an aspiring sewist, interested in creating costumes, or just want to get a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the wonderful world of costuming, you won’t want to miss this podcast. 

You can connect with Julane by calling 630-879-5130 or emailing [email protected] You can also follow her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pg/alldressedupcostumes/about/ ) and Instagram. (https://www.instagram.com/alldresseduphfx/?hl=en)

Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today’s and all of our Guests. 

This casual conversation with Amanda Murphy takes us on an inspired-filled journey, from her humble beginnings as an aspiring tween sewist to a professional graphic designer to the twist and turns that led her to the career she loves and excels at today. 

Although her parents weren’t in creative fields, Amanda considers them to be her greatest influencers as they were always supportive of her creative endeavors, and they instilled in her the belief that she could do and be whatever she wanted.  It was her parents who time and time again encouraged her to dive into her passions and see where the journey took her. To this day, Amanda’s mother continues to show her unwavering support. 

Amanda’s love of fabric and working with her hands goes back to when she was in elementary school. It all began with what Amanda refers to as, “an atrocious pink lace dress” she made for her mother; although her mother saw the imperfections in the dress she never let on.  Much to Amanda’s amazement, her mother actually wore the dress.  Years later, when she brought the subject up in conversation, her mother admitted that she had only worn it once.  Laughing, Amanda continues with her story, “But she faked it. She seemed pleased with it at the time. That’s what I mean about parents being important influencers.” (5:27-6:20)

After she had kids herself, Amanda took a few years off from her industrial and graphic design career. During that time she created a book of designs and sent them to a fabric company on a whim.  As it turns out, the company loved them and her career in quilting began. She didn’t realize, until years later, how influential her original career in graphic design had been until she started applying those skills when working on her website or drawing patterns. 

In our conversation, Amanda shares that for her, the experience of creating is far more important than the end product. It’s about the joy of making and creating. (7:25-8:10) She says the fact that her career allows her to do a broad range of things keeps her job interesting.  Whether she’s buying fabric, writing patterns, sewing, acting in the capacity of a BERNINA Expert or Quilting and Longarm Spokesperson or teaching, Amanda’s heart and mind are consistently engaged.

Amanda loves helping others stretch their boundaries, and to try new things that take them out of their comfort zone. (9:22-9:50) She shares how exciting it is when students try something they saw her do and didn’t think they could do, and then they accomplish it. She talks about her love of teaching and how it informs her design by helping her to think in a different way. She also reveals that when she began teaching, it was way out of her comfort zone, but now it is one of her greatest sources of inspiration. Another example of Amanda stepping outside of her comfort zone is when she created an exquisite all-gold quilt for Bernina’s 125th anniversary. Her 35-plus year journey in this profession, is rich in discovery and accomplishments.

Her explanations and explorations of free motion and ruler work quilting and going from handwork to machine are both fascinating and enlightening. Amanda describes in detail how free motion and ruler work are the yin and yang of quilting, and how they work together to bring life to a piece. (11:08-15:15) As much as she loves the amazing things computerized quilting systems allow her to do, Amanda still loves the imperfection and look of hand touch.  

During our time together Amanda talks about the importance of community and of having mentors and people to bounce ideas off and who you trust for feedback, because sometimes people can see things in you that you can’t see yourself, (19:45-23:48). Her descriptions of the creative process during this podcast are poetry in motion; a poetry these words can’t do justice to. Be sure to tune in and listen to this amazing artisan as she shares her journey with us.   

You can learn more about Amanda at blog.amandamurhpydesign.com (https://blog.amandamurphydesign.com).  You can also check out her Facebook group, Quilting With Amanda Murphy (https://www.facebook.com/groups/free.motion.quilting.idea.book/ ), her Pinterest page (https://www.pinterest.com/amdfabrics/amanda-murphy-design-quilts/), and numerous YouTube videos.

Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today’s and all of our Guests. 

This episode explores Bisa Butler’s fascinating journey, which began with her getting a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting at Howard University. Realizing painting was not her passion, she went on to Montclair University to pursue a Master's in Teaching. It was there, while making a quilt in her first-ever fibers class, that she had an artistic epiphany;  she realized she could do what she loved, express her creativity in a way that moved her deeply, and tell the countless untold stories of African Americans.

Each pivotal step in her journey is described in fascinating detail. She talks about learning to sew from her grandmother; a black woman, and wife of an Emissary, who found herself transported to Morocco. She and her husband had to attend many formal events, and since they couldn’t afford to buy the refined clothing one was required to wear, her grandmother would pore through fashion magazines and create replicas of designer outfits. The scraps of fibers and fabrics from those outfits can be seen in Bisa’s portraits of her grandmother and grandfather. She explains how using little bits of their lives helped inform her work.  

Butler describes her work as “excavating the soul, where her own spirit has a conversation with someone who has long passed. The process begins with a portrait.  By gazing into the eyes of her subject and really looking at the lines, creases, scars, and the expression in their eyes, she can ‘hear’ their unspoken story.  She spoke of the improvisational nature of private quilts and their ability to tell the personal experiences of her people (21:20 – 24:21).  

As she details her journey through galleries and museums, Butler recounts the bias that was shown towards artists who use cloth in their art. But through all the rejections and dismissals, she kept at it, slow and steady, until her work was exhibited at the Seraleli Gallery in New York.  From that moment, her work began getting accepted at more galleries and museums.  

Her latest fiber and fabric creation, The Storm, the Whirlwind, and the Earthquake features a life-sized representation of abolitionist and social reformer Fredrick Douglass whose magnetic gaze pulled her in. This piece is a powerful example of how Butler’s painterly textiles convey a sense of shared humanity. It is currently on exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art.    

Her textile creations are also being exhibited in the European Painting Gallery Space at the Art Institute of Chicago through September 6, 2021.  This is the first time a living artist has been showcased in this space. Her work is also featured in Dress Up, Speak Up: Regalia and Resistance at the 21C Museum Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today’s and all of our Guests.