Sew Much More

Laurel McGee began sewing at her grandmother's knee.   However, her time spent working on a sewing machine was inconsistent until 12 years ago when she began making window treatments for her home.    Her professional career began when an interior design student asked for her help in a home they were working on.   After attending the Custom Workroom Weekend, she knew she had found her people.    La...

  Annie Davis is the owner of ALDesigns , originally founded in 2000 as a custom drapery workroom. She provides window treatments, bedding and other soft goods for interior designers. She is also an instructor, focusing on cornices, through venues such as Workroom Tech and The Workroom Channel. She has published articles in Drapery & Design Magazine, has recently done a webinar on pre-lining corni...

In 2008, Stacie Kennedy created her home-based, full-service custom window treatment design and fabrication business serving the Metro Atlanta area and beyond. She is a former Commercial Real Estate Paralegal, who has always had a passion for design. Having learned how to sew from her mother as a teenager, Stacie took her sewing skills to the next level by opening her own creative design business....

LuAnn began her career more than thirty years ago as a co-owner of Window Works , an award-winning window treatment and awning retailer in Livingston, NJ. She's also the host of the top-rated interior design podcast, A Well-Designed Business® , which airs 3x per week on iTunes, Stitcher and iHeart Radio. Her podcast is the definitive resource for interior design professionals interested in operati...

Jean Lawes is the owner of HomeStyle, LLC , a Custom Workroom to the Trade that is dedicated to the fabrication of exceptional quality soft home furnishings. First class craftsmanship, careful attention to detail, personal integrity, and superior customer service are the cornerstone values of HomeStyle. Jean has a Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design from the University of Delaware, an Interior Des...

Ravi Pankhania started sewing in High School as a lark and the hopes of meeting more girls and an easy credit.... but little did he know his true calling lay within those folds of fabric and cheap Bernina Sewing machines. Ravi went on to study fashion and tailoring, learning as much as he could about clothing construction and design as he could. Looking to supplement his meager income as a Fashion...

    Ravi Pankhania started sewing in High School as a lark and the hopes of meeting more girls and an easy credit.... but little did he know his true calling lay within those folds of fabric and cheap Bernina Sewing machines. Ravi went on to study fashion and tailoring, learning as much as he could about clothing construction and design as he could. Looking to supplement his meager income as a Fas...

Christina Price, owner of Main Line Window Décor , has been fabricating window treatments since 2002 after earning a degree in mathematics from Penn State University. She learned the trade from her mother, Maggie. With 11 years of experience in manufacturing, measuring and consulting, Christina started and expanded her own business. Now Main Line Window Decor has an expert team working together to...

In 1995 Susan Kostelecky began SK Designs , an award-winning custom window treatment design and fabricating company serving the greater Houston area. Susan has designed and fabricated hundreds of window treatments, including many featured in Houston area home tours. Susan has served as President of the Houston Area Custom Drapery Association, is a WFCP-Expert and often presents seminars to other w...

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...