Meet the Teachers at Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Cleveland

Cleveland, OH

Meet the Teachers

 

We take the time to search out the best in the industry, introducing you to exceptional designers, best-selling authors, creative thinkers and visionaries. Taking classes at Original Sewing & Quilt Expo adds to a memorable and satisfying experience.

 

Amanda Carita

Bonsall, CA

Amanda's Bundles

amandasbundles.com

facebook | instagram

Amanda Carita is the owner and founder of Amanda's Bundles. She has a passion for sewing and sharing her love and knowledge of fabric. She founded her business on the dream of making beautiful, affordable fabric available to everyone.


Nick Coman

Ridgway, CO
Dragonfly Dyeworks

dragonflycreative.art
facebook | instagram | YouTube
Nick Coman has been teaching garment and quilt construction and design for almost 20 years. He has a degree in fashion design from FIDM in Los Angeles, and has written numerous articles for sewing publications and has a book on surface design. In addition to a private clientele, Nick owns a retreat center in southwest Colorado that specializes in retreats for Fiber artists of all types.

 

Pam Damour

Champlain, NY
The Decorating Diva

pamdamour.com
facebook | instagram | twitter | pinterest | YouTube
Known as the "Decorating Diva" Pam learned early in life, while spending time on her grandparents’ farm, that making something from "scratch" was not only a way of life, but it was the better way of doing things. Holding on to those values she went from farm to fabric and has had a very successful 30+ year career as an interior designer and sewing professional. Pam offers professional drapery workroom training. As a seasoned career speaker, she travels internationally teaching her specialty techniques that have brought her years of continued business as the "Couture of Home Dec Sewing". She is the author of Pillow Talk, Cheaper by the Dozen, Got Quilts?, The Tangled Home, Hold Everything and producer of 12 Home Dec DVDs. She has designed many patterns, rulers, scissors and other sewing related notions. An interior designer by profession and a quilter by passion, Pam lives on the shore of Lake Champlain in a log home, nestled at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains, where she teaches sewing retreats. Her down to earth nature, never forgetting her roots, combined with her professionalism creates a warm and creative experience.

 

Tamara Evans

Flower Mound, TX

Sewing has been a lifelong passion for Tamara. While raising her children, she discovered the limitless creative options of machine embroidery, software, quilting and began a home-based embroidered gift business. Coming back to the corporate arena as a professional in the sewing industry, focusing on new product development, creative project design, embroidery education and quilting with an embroidery focus was full circle. Her joy is education, publishing articles, teaching at trade shows, conventions, and other events. Her goal is to simplify the tedious and frustrating aspects and inspire creativity and confidence. Now, as an impartial independent expert, she will educate and inspire students of all skill levels.

 

Karol Fischbach

Columbia Station, OH

Scrappy Momma

Karol has been teaching quilting for over 20 years and is known for bright colors and doing things out of the box. She currently teaches at Imagine That N More and loves meeting many interesting people.

 

 

 

Leslie Gicei

Broadview Heights, OH

Hidden Stitches, LLC

hiddenstitches.com

facebook | instagram

Leslie is a aattern Designer, multiple business owner, attorney, and avid quilter/crafter. She has been sewing and crafting for over 50 years. Quilting is an art form to be nurtured and treasured. Leslie shares in Josie Prokop's belief that a quilt can be a virtual hug, a recognition of past achievements, a show of support, a shared memory. With this in mind, they created Hidden Stitches, LLC. They enjoy teaching, speaking and helping others make the quilts they design.

 

Michele Gillombardo
Middleburg Heights, OH
Pins and Needles

pinsandneedles.com
facebook
Michele has been teaching for more than eight years at Pins and Needles in Middleburg Heights, Ohio and the sewitonline.com community. She has been sewing and quilting off and on for more than thirty years. Self- taught, using online certifications (Baby Lock Solutions Expert and The Martha Pullen Company), you-tube and perseverance, she has created a learning style that fits all students. Her passion is teaching embroidery, quilting and serging. Her approach is to teach within a relaxed, stress-free atmosphere. She enjoys sharing her knowledge, making sure everyone is comfortable and has the best time creating, whether a beginner or advanced student.

 

Lorraine Henry

San Diego, CA
Lorraine Henry for Conselle

conselle.com

facebook

Lorraine is a specialist in sewing, fitting and pattern alteration for Conselle Institute of Image Management. With a degree in Clothing and Textiles she has been a university instructor. Teaching pattern alteration and fit is her favorite thing to do. She has done this at international sewing shows for many years. Her Two Easy Measuring tape set has been an aid for achieving good fit for fashion sewers throughout the world. With 40+ years experience as a custom dressmaker/tailor/teacher, she has a wealth of knowledge to share with you about sewing and fit.

 

Karla Herrin

Charlestown, IN

Karla has been around the sewing and quilting world all her life, but after a move and career change in 1994 she jumped in and explored all it had to offer. Student, teacher, sewing, machine sales and store manager led her to over 15 years as a free lance educator for SVP Worldwide. Karla loves to design, use and develop new ways to sew and embroider using both new techniques and tools. She is happiest in her sewing studio.

 

Jaymi Horne

Carmel, IN 

Cranky Kangaroo

crankykangaroo.com

facebook | instagram | YouTube

Jaymi Horne has been sewing professionally for over 20 years. She began quilting as a creative outlet, and fell in love with Foundation Paper Piecing. Dubbed the “FPP Queen” by her Instagram followers, she has designed over 50 Foundation Paper Pieced patterns, has been published in Make Modern Magazine and featured in local art shows.

 

Jessica Kaufman

Asheville, NC

WAXON Batik & Dye Studio

waxonstudio.com

facebook | instagram | Pinterest | YouTube

Jessica Kaufman has her M.A. in Crafts Education, and loves nothing more than creating and leading workshops in a variety of fiber and textile arts. She teaches up and down the East Coast, online, and in her Asheville studio. Before creating WAXON Batik & Dye Studio, she taught all workshops through her NYC-based business, happygocrafty.com, which still hosts over 80 free instructional knitting videos.

 

Joyce Keske

Minong, WI

Joyce Keske Design

Joyce started her sewing career in her early 20s making leather jackets. She started her own bridal business, which led to working for David’s Bridal where she was named “Alteration Manager of the Year” for the entire United States. Later she became a Baby Lock Ambassador where she discovered her passion for teaching. She now travels the country teaching for her company, Joyce Keske Design.

 

Judy Kessinger

FitNice

fitnicesystem.com

facebook | instagram | twitter

Judy Kessinger started her career traveling nationwide holding seminars for Hancock Fabrics for over 25 years. She also designed costumes for national and international figure skaters and created a fast and easy way to conquer fitting problems for that field.

 

Judy’s next goal was to make stress-free sewing with simple solutions for fitting. Her personal style included many relaxed, comfortable but well fitted outfits. In her search for the “perfect” pattern she decided to use her experience and create the system herself. The Master Tops and Master Pants patterns were born! Once you FIT the basic pattern, you create an entire wardrobe with 5 pattern pieces

 

With the addition of her remarkable books, Design It Yourself the techniques book, Simple Sewlutions and her newest, Top It Off, she has completed the perfect system.
                   
She is known by many as the Fit Doctor, curing the ills of the sewing “blues”. Sewing is the easy part but it’s the FITTING that makes garments come alive and compliment the body instead of just covering it!
     
Judy has been blessed to have touched the lives of countless women, teaching them the tricks of looking trim and feeling fantastic by simply fitting themselves properly.


Marsha Kirsch
Bay Village, OH
The past 12 years Marsha has been a national educator for SVP worldwide. She is greatly loved for her enthusiasm and lively presentations while sharing masterful technical skills or the inspiration that sewers take away from her events. Using her education background she imparts an empowering "can do" attitude, opening up doors to creativity, and fun ways to embellish projects with exciting results. Student smiles at the end of her events are her reward. Marsha enjoys creating and designing garments, purses and home decor projects which incorporate a creative touch, especially through embellishment. She has had publications in Design in Machine Embroidery and Classic Sewing magazines and had appeared with Sue Hausmann on PBS and Behind the Seams, an internet sewing show through SVP.

 

Donelle McAdams
Marion, IN
Representing Sew Steady

sewsteady.com
sewbizmarion.com
facebook | pinterest
Donelle McAdams is the owner of SEW BIZ, Marion, Indiana, now an online quilt resource. Donelle is the designer of Quick Easy Mitered Binding and Border Tools for the Sewing and Quilting industry that are sold internationally and she is also a pattern designer. Previously a Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher, she has been a quilt store owner for 36 years. She has taught a variety of SchoolHouse and Take & Teach classes and Business Management Seminars at International Quilt Market, Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff Sewing Conventions, Vacuum & Sewing Machine Dealers Trade Association Convention and has participated as a Quilt Store Owner/Educator on numerous panels and advisory boards. She writes a column Profitable Promotions - for FabShop News, an industry magazine and also writes for VDTA. As a promoted Educator for Sew Steady/Westalee Design Templates, Donelle teaches classes in Ruler Work Quilting. Her love and enthusiasm for sewing and quilting is infectious. Taking a class with Donelle is guaranteed to be information-packed, inspirational and FUN!

 

Jill McCloy

Colorado Springs, CO

Jill McCloy Designs
facebook

Jill's sewing career started at an early age – she received her first sewing machine for Christmas just after her fourth birthday. In high school, she did custom sewing and taught at fabric and sewing machine shops using original patterns. In 1992 Jill was hired by Viking Sewing Machines, Inc. as a national educator designing projects for the Viking Club and teaching at Viking World Conventions. She then became an independent educator working with many brands of sewing machines. Jill was featured in the Threads magazine design challenge in 2000, wrote for McCall’s and Threads magazines, designed embroideries for Cactus Punch and taught at many Expo events. Her specialties are machine knowledge and creating original designs. She has over 50 patterns and recently had a truly beautiful line of fabric come out with Northcott fabrics.

 

Susan Miller

Doylestown, OH

Susan has been quilting, sewing and embroidering for many years. She has a quilting studio in her home where she provides longarm quilting services to her customers. Over the years, she has taken Martha Pullen’s Teaching classes for sewing and surging, also Quilt in a Day teacher training and event training with Eleanor Burns Master Quilter in Paducah, Kentucky. Susan has taught at a local quilt shop many classes: longarm program, Kids sew, machine usage classes and embroidery programs. Susan also plans event classes for quilt guilds in her local area. Sewing and quilting has been her love and hobby for over 40 years.

 

Pattie Otto
Falling Waters, WV
Great Copy Patterns and Embroidery

greatcopy.com
facebook | pinterest
Pattie Otto, owner of Great Copy Patterns and Embroidery has a passion for everything sewing from garment design to machine embroidery and enthusiastically shares this during her classes both locally and across the country. In addition to designing her line of patterns, authoring books and magazine articles, she performs alterations on a variety of garments from prom, pageant and wedding attire to other garments such as skirts, pants, etc. Her home studio is well stocked with machines, fabric, thread and everything she needs to create beautiful garments and accessories.

 

Judy Phillips

Stow, OH

Sew Deja Vu

sewdejavu.com

facebook | instagram | pinterest

Ten years ago Judy Phillips opened Sew Deja Vu's doors with a mission to meet the needs of modern sewists. Bringing the newest notions, technical skill classes, and modern trendy fabrics to the hands of sewists and quilters everywhere. The quilt-covered walls and bolts of fabric provide creative inspiration for anyone who enters the store.

 

When Judy shared her passion for the art of sewing, she created a community of not only amazing customers but life-long friends. The home store is located in Stow, Ohio but on occasion, you can find Judy Phillips and the Sew Deja Vu crew traveling to different quilt expos and events. Giving her the ability to share her expertise with a larger audience, and watch their creativity bloom with every class she teaches.

 

Rhonda Pierce

Willowbrook, IL

Schmetz Needles
SCHMETZneedles.com

facebook | instagram | pinterest | YouTube

Rhonda Pierce has a dream job. . . teaching sewing enthusiasts about the hardest working 2” piece of steel in the sewing machine – the SCHMETZ needle. After presenting 200+ virtual classes, she is happy to meet stitch fans in-person. Rhonda created and published 100 issues of SCHMETZ Inspired to SEW. She publishes the must read SCHMETZneedles monthly newsletter. She is a certificated FitNice System Instructor. Her quilt, Color Splash, hung at three International Quilt Festivals. Rhonda’s personal blog is www.SewMoreStitches.com. With quilt shop, wholesale management experience, and the love of sewing, Rhonda delivers a unique perspective as VP Marketing Director of Euro-notions, and Spokesperson for SCHMETZneedles.com North America.

 

Josie Prokop

Broadview Heights, OH

Hidden Stitches, LLC

hiddenstitches.com

facebook | instagram

Josie is a pattern designer, wife, mother, attorney, creative and more! She fell in love with quilting and soon realized creating a quilt is so much more than joining fabric and thread. Her belief is that a quilt can be a virtual hug, a recognition of past achievements, a show of support, a shared memory. With this in mind, Josie and Leslie Gicei created Hidden Stitches, LLC. They enjoy teaching, speaking and helping others make the quilts they design.

 

Debi Reese

Fairview Park, OH

Sew Creative Cottage   

sewcreativecottage.com

facebook | instagram

Debi, a certified Jenny Haskins and Kimberbell instructor, brings over 40 years of sewing experience to her passion for quilting and machine embroidery. In 2009 she founded Sew Creative Cottage where her passion for quilting and machine embroidery blossomed into a creative haven, where she could impart her wealth of knowledge and skills to fellow enthusiasts.

 

Debi's entrepreneurial spirit initially led her to establish Sew Creative Cottage as an online-only venture. This virtual space became a thriving hub for aspiring quilters seeking guidance and inspiration. In 2020, recognizing the growing demand for a tangible and communal quilting experience, Debi took a bold step and transitioned her business to a brick-and-mortar shop nestled in the heart of Fairview Park, Ohio.

 

In this quaint physical space, Debi continues to foster a sense of community among sewing enthusiasts. Her shop is not merely a haven for materials and machines; it is a welcoming space where creativity flourishes, friendships are forged, and the joy of quilting becomes a shared experience. Through Sew Creative Cottage, Debi invites all to join her in the timeless art of quilting and machine embroidery, where stitches weave stories, and every fabric swatch holds the promise of a new masterpiece.

 

Kathy Ruddy
Mukilteo, WA
kathyruddy.com
facebook | instagram
Kathy is an international sewing celebrity, educator, pattern designer, Serger and fitting expert. Active in the sewing industry since 1962, she is the star of 10 Serger and sewing videos and author of 12 Serger and sewing booklets and her new enhanced books on CD called Three ways to Learn CD'S. You can look at pictures of her projects from start to finish, read the words next to the pictures as you listen to Kathy impart her wisdom and experiences as she develops her projects. If you like a hard copy you can print off as many pages from the CD as you like. Her specialty is to show how to sew and serge fast and easy without sacrificing quality, fit or fashion details. Her fresh, fun classes are brimming with surprises and ideas.

 

Nancy Scott

Geneva, IN

BERNINA

bernina.com

facebook | instagram

As a BERNINA Quilting Specialist, Nancy brings 18 years of longarm experience to help you grow your quilting skills to new levels. She loves sharing her knowledge and teaching others to express their creativity through quilting.

 

Tracey Sims-Paterson

Queensland, Australia

Tracey Sims Designs

traceysimsdesigns.com | facebook | facebook | instagram
Representing Zundt Design (Switzerland)

zundtdesign.com | facebook

Tracey is an award-winning artist and designer from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. As a respected teacher of art, sewing and embroidery, she has travelled extensively teaching classes throughout Australia, England, Ireland, Austria, America, Singapore, and New Zealand. An introduction to Urban Zündt of Zündt Design in 2009 has influenced Tracey’s artistic life. Urban digitises her artwork, thus creating beautiful embroidery collections. Tracey creates stunning projects with these designs and to date has published eleven project books and numerous patterns which reflect her talent with colour and design. Many publications in Australia, the USA, and the United Kingdom have featured her quilts, embroideries, and artwork.

 

Megan Sorn

Cleveland, OH

Imagine That & More

imaginethatnmore.com

facebook | instagram

Megan Sorn received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Columbus College of Art and Design. She has worked in the arts in various fields ever since. She has painted murals & decorative finishes, created stained glass, and done computer animation and pottery. Eventually her love for quilting overshadowed the rest, and she has been teaching and doing custom long arming for the last eight years. She recently opened a brick-and-mortar store in Cleveland, Ohio called Imagine That & More, so that she can train others to free motion quilt their own pieces. Her passion in life is to give others the courage, freedom, skills, and tools to be their most creative selves.

 

Jim Suzio

Pittsburgh, PA
facebook
Jim Suzio is an award winning artist, designer, digitizer and sewing instructor (including embroidery software, heirloom, fashion and serger sewing). A self taught sewer, Jim was inspired to try the craft after watching a neighbor's enthusiasm in the art. A new sales position at a machine dealer found him literally "thrown" on stage at an ASG convention where he was discovered by Sue Hausmann, host of the PBS series "America Sews with Sue Hausmann." Jim soon found himself teaching all over the US, Canada and Australia for Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff Sewing Machine Companies. His work has been featured in numerous books and magazines and several ads for Husqvarna Viking and the launch of Ty Pennington's new fabric line. he has been seen on several television programs here ("America Sews with Sue Hausmann,"and "It's Sew Easy") and in Canada ("the Big Breakfast Show").  

 

Michelle Umlauf
Sabillasville, MD
Sewing Machine Artistry

SewingMachineArtistry.com
facebook | instagram | pinterest
Michelle Umlauf has made a career for herself in the sewing industry working as an independent educator. She loves to share her passion with others and enjoys sharing her knowledge. She began taking teacher certification courses with the Martha Pullen Company and Sulky of America. Today she is a Demonstrator for Clover and a National Educator for Baby Lock, Sulky of America, and Pam Damour - the Decorating Diva. She helped found and hosted the Sewing Online with Sulky webinar. Michelle enjoys traveling across the country working for one of these companies in their booths or teaching in a classroom at national expos. She also enjoys bringing classes and lecture/demos to sewing shops, quilt guilds, and online. When she is home, she enjoys spending time with her family at their home in the mountains of Maryland. Her German Shepherds and rescue kitty enjoy taking mom on nice long walks in the woods! To learn more about Michelle, lookup her Facebook page Sewing Machine Artistry and join her for a UFO Friday Live. Become one of her "Sewing Friends" at SewingMachineArtistry.com.  

 

Joe Vecchiarelli
Glendale, CA
French European Dress Forms

frencheuropeaninc.com

facebook | instagram

Joe Vecchiarelli, founder and president of French European Inc., has worked in the fashion industry for over 40 years. During his college years, Joe worked in the family business, sharpening scissors for the industry's top designers. He later graduated from USC's business program and began to realize that opportunities in the apparel business were unlimited. Mr. Vecchiarelli's career took another fascinating turn when he made a foray into the entertainment business working in production with shows like Dancing with the Stars and The X Factor. A few years ago he was approached by NBC to help produce the competitive design talent show, Fashion Star. Presently Mr. Vecchiarelli is ever so busy maintaining his business and helping fashion students and enthusiasts grasp their dreams and become successful within the industry.

 

Nelly Vileikis 

Aurora, OH

Artelas Quilts

artelasquilts.com 

facebook 

Nelly's love affair with quilting started in 1985 while attending graduate school at the University of Montana. One day, while walking into the University Library, she saw the most beautiful landscape quilt hanging at the entrance. She said to herself, "I have to learn to do that". Three days later she was at Geneva Cheffy's home and her life changed forever. Geneva took Nelly under her wing and opened another world for her. For over fifteen years she has been sharing her knowledge as a freelance teacher. Nelly teaches quilt construction techniques and machine quilting. Since 2008 she has taught for Original Sewing & Quilt Expo, which takes her all over the US. She also teaches private workshops, gives lectures and does trunk shows. Nelly loves sharing her talent with her students and willingly encourages them to reach beyond what they consider their normal limits. She designs and publishes quilting patterns and when time permits, she works on other people's quilts using her long-arm machine. She has had numerous patterns published in several issues of Modern Patchwork Magazine. She continuously participates in International, National, regional and local quilt/art competitions and has won numerous awards. Most recently, her work has been included in many exhibits with The Textile Art Alliance of the Cleveland Museum of Art as well as her own solo exhibits. Nelly enjoys reading, traveling and outdoor activities. She lives with her husband in Aurora, Ohio.

 

Jo Ann Wetzel

Seville, OH

Like many of us, Jo Ann learned all about sewing from her mother at a very young age. In fact, she was even named after the famous Jo-Ann Fabrics store because her mother spent way too much time there – hence another sewer was born. At first, Jo Ann created pillows and then moved on to creating garments given her interest in fashion. She learned how to sew, hand embroider, crochet, and knit; and then later, she learned machine embroidery and quilting. She is now using her creative abilities to design unique fabrics utilizing the art of fabric painting and marbling.

 

Kelly Williams

Westerville, OH

Hoffman Media | Classic Sewing magazine

classicsewingmagazine.com
thesewingcollection.com

facebook | instagram | pinterest

Kelly Williams a talented designer and seamstress, began sewing at the young age of 9. Her passion for sewing sparked a love for fashion as she designed and created stunning prom dresses featured in the pages of Sew Beautiful and Threads magazines. In 2008, Kelly was awarded grand prize in the JOANN Fabric and Craft Store’s “Sew Your Own Prom Dress” contest. She inspired sewist of all ages by modeling her prom dresses and Princess Diana replica wedding dress during the fashion show at the Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion and later became an instructor for the teen classes at the school while attending Kent State University obtaining a degree in Fashion Design. She spent 10 years working as a Technical Designer adjusting patterns and correcting fit for a fashion retailer then joined Classic Sewing magazine as Assistant Editorial Director, where she combines her fashion and pattern making skills with her love of sewing.

Thank you to these fine companies who provide continued support.