Why I Sew

Let's celebrate the beauty and artistry of stitching, one thread at a time. This episode features Kate Johnson, a blogger and creative genius behind YOU TOO MORE, a delightful space where she shares her love for all things cross-stitch and quirky. Join us as we unravel the threads of Kate's stitching journey, explore her creative process, and dive into the joyous cross-stitch world.

Kate is an extraordinary individual who has found her true calling in the art of stitching. With a needle in hand and a thread full of creativity, she has immersed herself in the enchanting world of cross-stitch. But how did she stumble upon this captivating craft? After years of exploring various artistic pursuits, Kate unexpectedly tripped and face-planted into the cross-stitch world. And from that moment on, she was hooked!

Prepare to be inspired, entertained, and perhaps even motivated to pick up a needle and thread yourself!

Check out our cross-stitch resources and grab some products that will have you stitching successfully from the start: https://sulky.com/makers-lounge-handwork/

Website: linktr.ee/youtoomore

Instagram: instagram.com/youtoomore/?hl=en

"Everybody has a different technique, a different style, a different way of finishing things, or how they store things like threads, how they manage their color, just a whole bunch of different things. Everybody has a different method to their madness. And I love that I like seeing that I'm constantly inspired. I'm constantly rearranging my stash of supplies to find out what works best for me."

We have the pleasure of sitting with the incredibly talented and multi-passionate artist Debbie Hodge. Debbie is the founder of Stitched Stories, a creative business that combines her love for embroidery, writing, and storytelling.

Join us as we uncover the secrets behind Debbie's unique approach to combining crafts and storytelling and how she continues to inspire and engage with her audience through Stitched Stories. Whether you're a seasoned artist or someone looking to explore new creative frontiers, this episode is packed with valuable insights and inspiring anecdotes!

[01:17] Crafting Chronicles: A Journey Through Passion and Stitching

[12:34] Artistic Adventures: Exploring Mixed Media and Embroidery Puzzles

[17:32] Embroidery Adventures: Debbie’s Tools, Techniques, and Inspirations

[24:49] Creative Explorations: From Teaching to Designing, Finding The Path in Sewing"

[28:43] From Stitches to Stories: The Intersection of Sewing, Scrapbooking, and Writing

[32:51] Crafting a Creative Renaissance: The Rise of Handmade and the Human Touch

Connect with Debbie:

Valori Wells is a professional quilter, author, fabric and pattern designer, painter and photographer. She was born into and raised surrounded by fabric from birth by her loving and creative mother. She has been designing fabrics for about twenty years, and her products can be found all over the world. She has written a total of twelve books, nine alongside her mother and three by herself. Join us as we talk about Valori’s younger self, her first exposure to sewing, the balance between professional and personal life, hand-carved blocks, building connections in the community and more.

[02.30] Younger self – Starting the conversation, Valori shares a brief bio about herself and the journey she took to decide she wanted to design fabric.

[07.42] First exposure – How Valori absorbed fabric her entire life without even realizing it

[15.11] The balance – The importance of balancing professional life and personal life

[20.57] Hand-carved blocks – Valori shares how she fell in love with block printing and the Japanese block printing tools she uses.

[28.06] Favorite tools – Valori’s favorite tools in her sewing room

[35.33] Creating Connection – We dive into how Valori and her mom started doing virtual classes during the COVID-19 period to build a community connection.

[42.17] Open-minded people – Valori explains why she thinks she has the most amazing people in the industry.

[50.00] The satisfaction – It’s not always about the destination but the journey. What you're doing at the moment brings all the bliss.

Connect with Valori

Reen Wilcoxson is the talented owner of Embroidery Garden. Reen is a passionate entrepreneur and expert in machine embroidery, specializing in captivating in-the-hoop designs. With over 20 years of experience, she has carved her niche in the sewing world, creating remarkable 3D products like bags, purses and wallets. Join us as we delve into Reen's world and explore the captivating realm of machine embroidery and beyond.

[01:03] Reen's Journey – Reen traces her transformative journey from her earliest sewing memories to her current pursuits.

[23:02] Favorite Items - Reen mentions the essential items or tools she considers indispensable in her sewing endeavors.

[28:03] Transformative Power of Sewing – We discuss how sewing has provided Reen with opportunities in her life.

[31:54] Sewing "Bucket List" Items - Reen's sewing aspirations beyond machine embroidery.

[39:54] Beyond Materials - How sewing evokes emotions of accomplishment and pride in Reen's journey.

Melissa Mora of Melly Sews is a pattern designer, author and sewing blogger. She designs fabric for Riley Blake and her "Learn to Sew" posts with easy-to-follow instructions are timeless. Listen and learn more about her journey in the sewing world.

Author of Sundressing, Melissa spent 12 years in the classroom as a high school theatre teacher before leaving to become a full time sewing writer and pattern designer. Now she claims the entire internet as her classroom.

She is also the co-editor of and contributor to the book Sew Place Like Home, a collection of stories for those who love sewing. Her fabric line, Idle Wild, launched with Riley Blake fabrics in fall 2015, and sewing patterns from her brand Blank Slate Patterns are carried in Joann stores nationwide. Melissa blogs at Melly Sews, where she gets to combine her love of sewing, teaching and writing in one creative place.

A native Texan, Melissa lives in Austin with her family.

Find Melissa:

Karie Jewell is a pattern designer and quilter. She has over 30 years of experience in quilting. She first started sewing with her mother and grandmother when she was 14 and started her own company with a friend in 2001. Listen as she shares her most precious memories of sewing, the specialty of handmade gifts, her business partner, her love language, and more.

[01.36] Karie’s background – Starting the conversation, Karie shares a brief bio about herself, her career journey, and why she loves hand quilting so much.

[08.07] EPP – Karie explains English paper piecing and how it works.

[11.03] The first memory – Karie dives into her first memory of sewing with her grandmother.

[23.03] Handmade gifts – We talk about the specialty of giving handmade gifts to someone.

[28.10] Business Partner – Karie talks about her friend with whom she started her business.

[35.06] Favorite people – We talk about Karie’s favorite people and how they helped her pursue her career. [42.02] Machine embroidery – Karie shares why she has never done machine embroidery.

[47.20] Spreading Love – At the end of today’s conversation, Karie shares how she gives love to people with everything she sews for them.

Grab Karie's "Orange Jewell-ious" Quilt Pattern: https://sulky.com/orange-jewellious-quilt-digital-pattern

Connect with Karie:

Liesl Gisbon is a pattern designer and the designer behind Oliver + S and Liesl + Co. She used to design clothing for large companies like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. She started her own business, Oliver + S, in 2008. Liesl + Co. is a line of patterns for women’s clothing that features all the details you expect from the very best independent patterns. Liesl is also the author of Oliver + S: Little Things to Sew. She chats about her career between fashion and craft, starting her own business, being a minimalist, the satisfaction of being a teacher and more.

[00.43] Liesl’s background – We start the conversation with a brief bio about Liesl, including her educational background and her career journey.

[04.15] Fashion and craft – Liesl explains why she built her career between fashion and craft.

[13.55] Own business – Liesl shares why she decided to start her own business.

[19.29] Creating something – We talk about what Liesl likes to sew if she has spare time.

[22.35] A minimalist – Liesl shares why she likes being a minimalist and her favorite tools when it comes to sewing.

[27.51] Sewing personalities – We talk about Liesl’s the two people who influenced her the most in the industry.

[35.06] Satisfaction – Liesl shares why she likes being a teacher more than a pattern designer.

Website - lieslandco.com/

                oliverands.com/

Instagram - instagram.com/lieslgibson/

Ellen March is the Director of Content for Sulky, hosting weekly videos, monthly webcasts and videocasts and developing projects and products to inspire creativity. Learn about Ellen's sewing journey and how she made a career out of doing what she loves.

Find Ellen:

Karlee Porter is an award-winning quilter and the creator of “Graffiti Quilting: A Simple Guide to Complex.” Her mission is to help new people navigate the quilting world, take opportunities, and create something special. She shares her journey in quilting, her favorite tools and books, and more.

[01.47] Memories of sewing – Starting the conversation, Karlee shares her first memories of sewing with her grandmother when she was a child.

[12.05] Learning quilt – Karlee shares her reasons behind learning to quilt.

[20.44] Graffiti quilting – We dive into how Karlee came up with the name ‘Graffiti Quilting’ for her book.

[27.50] Favorite tools – Karlee shares her favorite tools she uses for machine quilting.

[38.06] Honest fabric – Karlee shares how honestfabric.com introduces new people to the industry and makes connections between quilters and non-quilters.

[47.15] Helping other people – We talk about how Karlee always finds it interesting to help other people.

Connect with Karlee

Sue Hausmann has been sewing since her first 4-H project at the age of 10 and she has been inspired and mentored by neighbors, friends and work colleagues all her life. Her proficiency in this art resulted naturally from a lifetime of sewing for herself, and her home, her four children, and now ten grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.  Her enthusiasm for sharing the life-skill of sewing and quilting with others is her passion, and for more than 50 years her profession focused on sewing education.

Now “retired” Sue and her husband Herb occasionally present programs and share their expertise at Edutainment and Teaching and she presents programs for her local ASG and Quilt Guild. Her focus is to “give the gift of sewing” with handmade quilts, clothing and more for those she loves, teaching others to sew and creating things for herself and her home.

Before retirement Sue was Executive Vice President of Consumer Motivation for a Husqvarna Viking sewing machines and was responsible for the Education and Training programs and was part of the new product development and written material teams in Sweden. She has produced and hosted more than 600 public broadcasting programs and has 33 books to her credit including Sew Fast, Faster, Fastest, published by Rodale Press.  She was Executive Producer of the America Sews with Sue Hausmann, America Quilts creatively and Sew Young, Sew Fun Public Television series. Sue received the 2002 American Sewing Guild “Sewing Hall of Fame Award”, the 2007 “Master CSE award from the Sewing Education Alliance” and was inducted into the Sewing Machine Hall of Fame in 2012. She has taped classes for Sulky and Craftsy which are available for purchase on their web sites. She is also enjoying working with the pre-schoolers at Grace Church, Sahuarita and having more time to sew for family and to teach others to sew. Sue attributes much of her success to the encouragement and support of her husband of 62 years, Herb, and is thrilled he joins her in the mission of sharing the joy of sewing and quilting and the joy of life!

Facebook: Sue Hausmann Sewing Life