How I Got Here, Part 1: Sewing & Quilting Background
For my first blog post, I wanted to share my background and tell the story of how I got into Tech Editing. Apparently, I have missed writing, as my first draft poured out of my fingers and ended up over 2500 words! I decided to break the post up into two parts: first, my sewing story, and second, my professional story. Forgive the photo quality; some are such poor starting quality that they couldn’t be improved much. See those as a journey in my (still lackluster) photography skills along with my sewing journey.
Sewing and Quilting Background
Learning To Sew:
For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in sewing and creating, though I never would have called myself *creative*. (More on creativity to come in future posts!) My Mamaw (great-grandmother) and Nana (grandmother) have always been prolific sewists, and I’m so grateful to have grown up living close enough to visit with them regularly. I loved hanging out with my Nana in her sewing room. I would play with fabric (or material, as she calls it), organize threads, and even arrange the pins in her big tomato cushion by size and color. Being in Nana’s sewing room was a privilege that I tried not to take for granted; we had to be well-behaved to be permitted in with the dangers of needles, pins, and the ever-hot iron. I learned how to use a sewing machine through observation and endless questions, seated on the kitchen chair I dragged down the hall.
Me and my nana with the quilt she made for me in 2021. She has always sewn, but she started really quilting around the same time I did. She has now made a quilt for each of her 9 grandchildren (my generation).
My first memories of creating my own items out of material are, of course, creating for my Barbies. I didn’t love imaginary play as a child, and I still don’t, but I did love dressing my Barbies. I would mix and match the clothes they came with or create new ones out of socks, scrap fabrics, and paper. I didn’t yet use needle and thread, but tape and scissors went a long way.
As a young teen, around 12 or 13 years old, my parents gifted me my first sewing machine. It’s the most beginner Brother machine, probably purchased at Walmart. On that machine, I sewed my first garment – including a zipper! – under the watchful eye of my Mamaw. I brought a friend, and we sat at Mamaw’s dining room table, taking turns using my machines. We shared the same pattern and used different fabrics, creating what we’d now call a Mary Kate and Ashley matching moment. We sure did wear those dresses to church the following Sunday. I wish I had a photo, but this was well before I had a cell phone or my own digital camera!
Though I was not a very skilled sewist, I had fun creating baby blankets for my nieces and nephews and all my sister’s pregnant friends. I loved upcycling my plain t-shirts by adding fun flourishes and having my Nana help me alter clothes, including the thrifted dress I wore to my Bridal shower.
One of my favorite makes from this time, pulled from the archives of Facebook. I took the cream floral applique off on one ill-fitting shirt and appliqued it on a navy shirt with contrasting yellow thread. I sewed on the floor in my bedroom. The Poly-Fil in the background of the second photo was used for stuffed sock monkeys I made two nieces and nephews.
The Break:
I took a seven-year break from turning on my sewing machine, and the inciting incident starting this break was an injury so many quilters consider a rite of passage.
When I was 20, a week before I was to start student teaching High School English Language Arts, I was helping my oldest sister make a baby blanket for a friend. Of course, we were using difficult fabrics like Dimple Dot Minky. I was so proud of myself for setting and sticking to my clear boundaries, finally encouraging my sister do almost all the stitching for the blanket herself. After all, we’d made a dozen of these together before, with me doing most of the sewing, and these were all for her friends. I conceded to sew the final top stitch, though, and promptly sewed right through my finger. It was quite a bonding experience for us, as she promptly freaked out and drove us to the emergency room. I can’t remember if or how that blanket was finished, or who it was for, but I will never forget the color of the Minky or how excited the Doctors were to bring the Interns in to see and learn about my injury.
And that, friends, was the start of my break from sewing. I graduated from university, got married, moved halfway across the country, and started teaching all within six months of this event, all of which transformed my life and impacted my time for hobbies. But truly, it was the fear of sewing through my finger again that prevented me from doing anything more than staring at my machine for almost 7 years.
The only photo I can find to represent this time is one of the needle in my finger, which I don’t think is appropriate to post!
Back to Stitching & Learning To Quilt:
Then, as you might predict from both my history of making baby blankets and the way at least half of quilters begin, I decided I needed to brave my machine as soon as our closest friends started announcing their pregnancy plans. At this point, though, I wanted to up my game and make real quilts, not just the stitch and flip blankets I had made as a teenager. Plus, I knew I wanted to stick with quilting cotton: I was not going back to Minky!
I started following a few quilters on Instagram. As soon as the first set of parents-to-be chose a nursery theme, I purchased a “quilt kit” (very loosely labeled) from a small shop on Etsy. The pattern was not quite up to the standards I have now, and it definitely did not include enough detail for a beginner quilter! I think I lucked out in at least choosing great fabrics–the Stargazer collection by Art Gallery Fabrics–but I was lost and defeated every time I tried to start working on that dang quilt.
The evolution of my first “real” quilt, made with a bare-bones pattern and my childhood sewing machine.
Eventually, over the course of 8 months or so, I finally got the top pieced, finishing after baby G was born. I continued to procrastinate quilting, as the research I was doing made me even more intimidated to start. I soon found the modern quilting community on Instagram and started consuming more helpful and encouraging content, including from Alderwood Studio. I Think Amber was just starting the Modern Makes Membership around this time, and I immediately signed up for what I thought would be a great skill-builder monthly activity. I knew I needed to practice quilting and binding a quilt before working on the baby quilt, and I made the Midpoint Mini by Cotton and Joy as my first complete quilt. I was so proud of this mini that I immediately hung it on the wall in my sewing room, where it still is today!
First completed quilt — The Midpoint Mini! Sewing room circa August 2020.
By the time I completed G’s baby quilt, he was close to 6 months old, and we were into the start of the Pandemic. We did a porch drop off; I stood at the end of the driveway to watch my friends open the quilt while we all cried. It was beautiful.
First finished baby quilt! I used what has become my go-to quilting: diagonal cross hatch. The quilt has some puckers and wonky binding, but all that matters is that is was made with love (and some tears!).
At this point, I was hooked! With the pandemic starting, my scary burnout from grad school, and my neurodivergent need to pour myself into a new skill until I feel confident in it, I started quilting a ton! I read countless blog articles, spent hours watching YouTube videos, signed up for all the quilt-a-longs to get extra tips via weekly newsletters, and studied quilt patterns.
I had quite a few stops and starts in terms of actually completing quilts, and some of those half-pieced WIPS are still in my sewing closet (looking at you, Vintage Lace quilt in what turned out to be Barney colors), but I was learning. It was just what I needed to help distract myself from getting too lost in focusing only on how Covid was devastating the world and start to pull myself out of the deep hole grad school had buried me in.
My longest running WIP, dating to February 2020 (4 years!). After making a million HSTs, I got the ick with the colors and the project has been banished to the closet since. I need to destash this one since I’m sure I will never finish!
After I had a few quilt tops under my belt and had found the Instagram quilting community, I started signing up for pattern testing. During 2020, I completed 22 quilt tops, including a few minis. I completed 9 pattern tests, and this is when I first realized I had a knack for editing quilt patterns. Since I started quilting with that difficult baby quilt, I have completed at least 60 quilt tops and actually finished ~45 quilting projects. Quilting has become my creative outlet, my comfort, and my community.
A small selection of some of my favorite makes. From top left: our late dog, Jax, wrapped up in a Ruby Star Society Jelly Rainbow Quilt, my first completed QAL; the Good Neighbor Quilt at my local shop, Stitchhouse; Vote Mini made during the 2020 election season; Jax on our favorite chair with one of my earliest test quilts, Sunshine Day; The Myrtle Quilt by Pear Tree Designs, The Dogwood Quilt by Pear Tree Designs; a fully hand-quilted Sunshine Day Quilt; another baby quilt, the Beth Quilt by Spring Daisy Stitchery; Flutterby Quilt by The Wannabe Grandma; Fallen Leaves by Hillside Stitches; Check Yes Quilt by Kindred Quilt Co; and the infamous "Fuck This Shit” quilt made in community with some of my closest friends in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, seen here hanging at QuiltCon ‘23.
