Today on the Sew & So Podcast, we welcome Ingrid Alteneder, founder and CEO of Joe, June and Mae an online quilt pattern shop who is joining us from Frankfurt Germany.

Born and raised in Germany, she has travelled most of the world with her jobs and kids. Starting out in the fashion industry receiving her training through a combination of schooling and working at Peek & Cloppenburg. After learning to sew garments she began to quilt...

Today on the Sew & So Podcast, we welcome Meg McElwee and Patrick McElwee—partners in life, work, and creativity. Together they are the co-founders of Sew Liberated, a sewing education company based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Their journey has taken them from the University of Notre Dame to the canyons of northern Mexico, where a combination of Montessori teaching, creativity, and a suitcase full of fabric unexpectedly sparked...

In this episode of Sew & So we welcome costume designer and wardrobe freelancer Jessica Cronin, whose work spans film, television, theater, and fashion. Raised across the U.S., Singapore, and England, Jessica brings a globally shaped perspective to the way clothing communicates who we are. With a BA in Art History from Drew University and an MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University, she has built a dynamic career desig...

Our guest today is William Daniels, an award-winning textile and quilt artist whose work bridges fine art and social commentary. Born in New Orleans and now based in New York, William blends a deep academic background with a hands-on creative spirit. With degrees from the State University of New York and New York University—and nearing completion of his PhD in Art Theory, Philosophy, and Aesthetics—his art reflects both i...

Our guest today is Bianca Weber—founder and owner of Dynamics Fashion, a German sewing and fabric shop offering patterns, accessories, and online tutorials. Bianca grew up in a small village in southern Germany and has carved an extraordinary path: she is not only an entrepreneur but also a commercial pilot and currently studying aerospace engineering.

A multi-talented creator, Bianca contributes sewing tutorials to the BE...

Our guest today is Maddy Ballard, sewist, journalist, author. Born in Syracuse, NY, to a Texan father and a Chinese-New Zealander mother, she grew up in Auckland, New Zealand where she lived until she was 22. She then moved to England to pursue a postgraduate degree in English literature at the University of Oxford. Working in England as a journalist after her degree ended, she returned home during Covid, which is when she learned ...

Our guest today is Thadine Wormly, quilter, artist, proud mother of 4! Originally from Brooklyn, she moved to Flushing Queens in the 1970’s. As a young girl she loved making doll clothes…and learning from her mother how to crochet and knit. Following a move to Miami, FL Thadine took Home Ec in Junior High which allowed her to continue her love of working with fabric. A graduate of the Barbizon Modeling School, she modeled in numero...

In this episode of Sew & So, we sit down with four of those “sewing fairies”—Jaime David (Education Project Manager), Megann Freese (Educator), Hayley Grzych (Educator), and Fabian Renteria (Associate Educator). Together, they pull back the curtain on what it’s like to be behind the scenes of one of fashion TV’s most iconic shows. From early call times and prepping challenges, to watching contestants “make it work” in real time, th...

In today’s episode, we’re thrilled to welcome TaMara Howard of Folk Quilts, an extraordinary artist, educator, and storyteller whose quilts speak volumes about heritage, identity, and innovation.

Born in Virginia and raised in Maryland, TaMara began her quilting journey in 1996—without even owning a sewing machine. Inspired by the colorful stories of her great-grandmother, Maggie V. Folk McClellan, TaMara pursued quilting as a craft...

Our guest today is Phyllis Elmore, a remarkable woman whose story is as unforgettable as the quilts that helped shape her life.

Phyllis is the author of Quilt of Souls, a powerful and deeply personal memoir that has touched readers across the country. 

Born in the Detroit and raised by her grandmother Lula in rural Alabama, Phyllis found herself immersed in a world of deep wisdom, quiet strength, and generational resilience. It was t...

We begin with a reflection on the roots of sewing in Salt Lake City, stretching back to the arrival of Mormon pioneers in 1847. For these early settlers, sewing was not a pastime but a necessity—a way to preserve life, create comfort, and build community. Their quilts, made from scraps of old clothing, flour sacks, and church shirts, stitched stories of faith, hardship, and hope. Today, that legacy lives on—not only in museum colle...

In this episode of Sew & So, we sit down with Kristine Frailing, founder of The New YorkSewing Center, a vibrant, hands-on sewing school with two locations in New York and virtual classes that reach students in all 50 states. A fashion designer, entrepreneur, and mom, Kristine brings her passion for sewing and empowering others into everything she creates.

Kristine shares how her love for sewing began with her great aunt and blossom...

At times we have the opportunity to deviate a little from the tried-and-true conversations this podcast has become known for as opportunities occur for us to sit down with a very special person, perhaps not known as a sewist or quilter, but as someone who has made an indelible mark in the world of creativity. Our guest today is a woman whose life and work have helped shape some of the most iconic spaces and moments in American desi...

Our guest today is Amy Barickman. Born in Michigan, raised in Iowa - Amy graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in Fine Arts, only wishing it was with an emphasis in textiles versus glass blowing.

Always drawn to boutique fashion as well as upcycling and vintage, Vintage Made Modernhas been a theme of many of the books and patterns she produced over the more than 30 the years of product development with the brand she ...

Today we’re threading together sewing, and fate with some of the extraordinary people behind one of the most innovative and visually striking films of the year—Sew Torn. It’s a thriller. A dark comedy. And a stitched-together cinematic wonder that explores how every decision unravels a different destiny.

In Sew Torn, Barbara Duggen—‘The Mobile Seamstress’—stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong. Faced with a suitcase full of cash and t...

Today we welcome quilt artist Barbara Ann McCraw. Actually…we welcome her back as we met Barbara in person and interviewed her at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah at her exhibit Life Stories during Quilt Week in 2024. While our conversation was a component of a compilation of stories…we felt that she had so much more to share, hence she joins us today.

Barbara grew up on the south side of Chicago and later attended Illinois Sta...

Our guests today come to us from the world of fabric design as we welcome Pat & Walter Bravo from Art Gallery Fabrics- Textile Manufacturer in Miami, Florida.

Both born in Buenos Aires Argentina, Pat got the sewing bug beside her mother as she sewed…as she dreamed of painting her world with fabrics.

As Pat created a gallery in their home with quilts, their son named it an Art Gallery and an idea was born. So, Pat and her husband Wal...

In this special family-themed episode we're delighted to welcome sisters Sue Nickels and Pat Holly, renowned figures in the quilting community. Both have dedicated more than four decades to the art of quilting, earning numerous accolades and inspiring countless enthusiasts worldwide.​

Pat Holly was born in Lafayette, Indiana, during her father's tenure as a flight instructor in the Korean War. Though the family relocated to Michigan...

Our guest today is Beth Donaldson, quiltmaker, quilt book author, and Associate Director of the Quilt Index www.quiltindex.org an online repository of quilt information housed at MATRIX: Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences at Michigan State University (https://matrix.msu.edu/),East Lansing, Michigan. 

Born and raised in suburban Detroit, Beth made her first quilt in 1974. She taught quilting beginning in the 1980’s and h...