Sew Much More

Vitalia (Vita) Vygovska is the award-winning author, speaker, business coach, and window treatment specialist.  Her company,  Vitalia, Inc. - Fine Window Treatments & Interiors, is an all-encompassing fabrication, measurement, and installation service, servicing exclusively interior designers and architects.  In business for almost 12 years, Vita and her team are proud to be experts in their niche...

  Jann Newton is the owner of Newton Custom Interiors , which opened in 2000 and is located in Bloomington, IL. Newton Custom Interiors is an award-winning drapery workroom that offers custom window treatments, pillows and bedding. Jann is a former student of the Custom Home Furnishings Academy and has written articles for the Drapery & Design Magazine. In 2013, Jann started a blog where she share...

Tammy Paradoski is the owner of Daisy Chain , a full-service retail drapery and slipcover studio created in 2000. She specializes in the high-quality craftsmanship of window treatments, bedding, and slipcovers with attention to detail. She is also the owner of Bespoke Soft Furnishings Magazine , the only multimedia publication in the industry. Her passions include teaching others and sharing the k...

Karen Barnes is the owner of The Elegant Window , a to-the-trade custom drapery and soft goods workroom located in Gilbert Arizona.  She is thrilled to be celebrating 20 years in business this year! Karen entered the custom drapery and soft furnishings business in 1997 working with both retail and with the design trade. Five years into the business, Karen realized that what she truly loved was wor...

 Robin Matthews transformed her passion to create into her business "Seams Sew Right" in 2000.  She offers high-end custom window treatments, bedding and slip covers to designers and retail clients.  Robin is a member of the WCAA, WCAA Virtual Chapter and WCAA NJ Chapter where she served as secretary from 2011 to 2015.  She has participated on the planning committee for Windows to Success the WCAA...

Rose Mary LeBlanc is the owner of RML Custom Home Creations LLC  . Rose Mary began her business in 1992 fabricating pillows for a local fabric store in Mandeville, Louisiana. Finding that she both enjoyed fabrication and had exceptional skills, she quickly added slipcovers, window treatments, and bedding to her repertoire. Rose Mary worked for designers fabricating high-end custom window treatment...

In preparing for the Anniversary Podcasts, I realized just how much incredible advice all of my guests have generously offered the podcast listeners.  I thought it might be fun to put it all together in one episode, but it would have been too long, so here is The Best Advice Episode 1 and sometime in the future, I'll add more!  I hope you enjoy listening! Thanks again, to my incredible guests for...

Welcome to Part 2 of the Anniversary Podcast!  Today I ask Donna Cash the questions I didn't ask the first time I interviewed her! Donna Cash owns Designs by Donna , a custom home goods design and fabrication studio, opened in 1989.   The studio is located in Flowery Branch, Ga., and serves the Atlanta metro and surrounding area. In addition to working with wholesale and retail clients, Donna cond...

  I am so excited to share this episode with all of you!  I have now been producing this podcast for one year!  And 54 episodes and 52,000 downloads later, I'm still excited and happy to be bringing it to you every week. To celebrate, I asked my first three guests to come back on and answer some of the questions I added after I had interviewed them.  To do this, I had to relisten to the first thre...

Elizabeth Gerdes is the owner of Stitch Above The Rest, LLC , a full-service retail drapery fabrication studio, in Woodstock, GA, established in 2003. Elizabeth specializes in helping clients create their vision by offering high-quality craftsmanship and attention to detail in every area, from design to fabrication, to installation. Her work has been noticed and published in numerous trade and loc...

Nancy Letts started Pine House Drapery , an award-winning full-service workroom serving interior designers in the lakeside resort communities of northwestern lower Michigan, in 2001, with her husband Rob joining the business as an upholsterer in 2008. Nancy is a CHFA Career Professional in Slipcovers, a CHFA Alumni Showcase winner in 2012, has written how-to articles for Drapery & Design Professio...

Frances Pusch has worked with textiles in some form her entire professional career. Her training includes art school and a bachelor's degree in textile design from Boston University. She also studied tailoring and fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). During twelve years in New York, Frances worked for two leading textile companies, had a custom tailor shop, was a pattern-ma...

Today's podcast is a little different!  Michele Williams and I tackle the question, Why? Why is it important in our businesses and in our lives?  Why do we need to ask that before we do almost anything else? I hope you enjoy this week's podcast.  It's a little different, but different is good, right? You can find Michele at  Scarlet Thread Consulting  and you can join Michele's Facebook group,  Bu...

Anna Welsh is the Founder and CEO of littlebags. BIGIMPACT , a company that hand makes clutch bags from resourced, vintage materials. littlebags. BIGIMPACT is a social impact business, with 15% of the proceeds donated to Treehouse Books, a giving library and literacy center in Philadelphia. Anna is the 2017 recipient of the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Philadelphia Center for Advanc...

For Beuancha Jeffries, it was a natural progression from many years of hand crafts, knitting, needlepoint and cross-stitch to creating her business, Soft Furnishings and Home Décor. A combined 30-year career in the Corporate manufacturing process using assembly equipment, and working in an office environment interpreting blue prints, schematics, following government standards prepared Beuancha for...

On this podcast, we talk with some of the first time instructors who applied for and had their classes accepted for the Custom Workroom Conference.   I interviewed them both before the Conference and after.  I wanted to hear what they were excited about, what, if anything they were nervous about and then how they felt after they taught.   Pamela Lin The Sophisticated Touch Bianca Henry Impressions...

Jana Platina Phipps is an embellishment expert known for her refined vision in the use of trimmings in home furnishings and fashion. She is a designer and an agent for Classical Elements, which supplies trimmings and drapery hardware to the home furnishings industry, customizes private label programs for interior design distributors, and sells to retail stores nationally.  She develops custom trim...

We have an upholstery theme going on again this week!  I visited Kim Chagnon while she was teaching a three day, hands on class in Lancaster, PA.  I already knew a few of her students but there were some new people there and they all shared why hands on is important to them and what they brought with them to learn! Many thanks to Kim and to the women in the class who spent their dinner time with m...

Cynthia Bleskachek has been working as a professional upholsterer since 2001 and teaching since 2010. In 2008 she won a first place craftsmanship award through The Upholstery Journal for a tufted chair. She was a featured presenter at the 2015 Minneapolis Junk Bonanza, with appearances on Kare 11 and Fox 9.  She's also presented at numerous events for the PUAM (Professional Upholstery Association...

Recorded at the Custom Workroom Conference, this podcast is a roundtable discussion with workrooms from the US and the UK, headed by Penny Bruce from Denton Drapes and Nancy Letts from Pine House Drapery . Also featured in this podcast are; Jennifer DeRosa of Beyond Windows, LLC Theda Hadden of Springwood Upholstery Jane Crawford of  Jane Crawford Interiors Diana Heinen of  Two Sisters Drapery Lau...

Laura   Kelly  is the  Founder and President of The Handwork Studio , a kids' needle arts, machine sewing and fashion studio and camps.  THS helps kids build confidence and express themselves creatively through practical arts such as knitting, embroidery, machine sewing, fashion and crafts.  Founded in 2001, today The Handwork Studio is in 10 States and 40 summer locations.  Recognized as the lead...

It's a solo podcast today!  I want to let my listeners know about a few changes to the podcast and to ask you to be even more engaged with me and other listeners and with my guests. Please check out The Sew Much More Podcast  Page and let me know what you're thinking, what questions you have for my guests, and what you like about the podcast!

This is a special podcast being brought to you by Home Dec Gal  with a special announcement from Susan and Rodger!     Susan Woodcock and Rodger Walker own Home Dec Gal and are producers of Custom Workroom Conference and Custom Workroom Weekend events.  Susan is a respected educator and workroom professional with over twenty five years of experience.  In 2016 she published her first book Singer® S...

Today's podcast is a traveling podcast!  I drove with a few of my WCAA friends to the NJ WCAA Chapter's Windows To Success and while I had a captive group, I took the opportunity to ask them some questions. Jen DeRosa is the President of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of WCAA and owner of Beyond Windows, LLC . Annette Brandt is a past treasurer of the SEPA Chapter and owner of Annetti's Cus...

Penny Bruce is the creative force behind Denton Drapes , a couture soft furnishing business established in the UK making bespoke window treatments for the luxury residential market and providing a trade service to high-end Interior Designers. Denton Drapes' client list includes top celebrities from the sport, film and music world along with iconic design brands like Liberty of London. Penny has be...