For the final project in 3rd grade Simon’s teacher gave the class an open-ended project. Choose a topic, research it, and present what you find to the class. (Kudos to teachers who trust kids to tackle something like this.) We spent a weekend considering topics – rocketry? the Apollo 13 mission? sheep shearing? Then a…
A Pillow for Roxanne
Our eldest daughter, Roxanne, is getting ready to begin middle school in the fall. She asked if over the summer we could redo her bedroom to make it more grown up. Down came the alphabet poster. Up in the attic went many of the old stuffed animals. She chose aqua and gray as a new…
The Pattern That Changed My Life: Blair Stocker
I’m excited to be continuing a blog post series I began last summer. Each week throughout the summer months we’ll hear from a designer about a pattern or book that caused them to head in a new direction and helped form their career. It’s the pattern that changed their life. Picking up from where we…
Repairing a Beloved Stuffed Animal
I received this email from Jessie over the weekend and asked her if I might share it with you: I was wondering if you had any tips for making a patch where there was an injury to the lovie. This is Singer. She is 34 years old. She was injured in an incident involving a…
Sewing News from Around the Web This Week
Missouri Star Quilt Company was named the National Small Business of the Year by President Obama today. What an incredible honor. The rural one-stoplight downtown of Hamilton, Missouri was full of vacant buildings when the Doan family bought an abandoned antique shop in 2012 to start a fabric store. Today, Hamilton is a tourist destination…
New Simplicity Patterns is Available: #1131
I’m so excited to show you my new Simplicity pattern – #1131. This is a selection of under the sea softies. I haven’t seen the inside yet, but they asked permission to use my step-by-step photos and instructions for this one (which is the first time they’ve made this request). Perhaps it looks different from…
On Becoming a Freelance Writer
I had a terrible high school education. Despite getting straight A’s at an award-winning high school in a wealthy suburb of Washington D.C., my classes weren’t rigorous and I didn’t develop a lot of basic skills. The school was large and there was a lot of cheating. I was well-behaved. I turned in all of…
Crafty Subscriptions for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is May 10. That’s just two weeks away! Over the past year or so I’ve become a big fan of subscription boxes as gifts. I received a subscription to BirchBox for the holidays which was lovely and for my birthday last summer I got a gift certificate for StitchFix, which I love! A…
A Visit to Spoonflower
We spent spring break visiting my sister, Rachel, and her family in Durham, North Carolina. Spoonflower is headquartered there and I got in touch with the marketing team a few weeks before my trip to see if I might come for a visit. We scheduled a podcast interview with co-founder Stephen Fraser and they invited…
3 Softie Makers You Should Know About
Softies were my route into sewing and they remain at the core of my interest in thread and fabric. I don’t think I’ll ever be a quilter or a garment sewer or a bag maker. When I see a pile of fabric and a sewing machine all I want to do is make a little…
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