Sew Much More

Harmony Maraldo is an upholsterer, a pricing strategist, and the current president of the National Upholstery Association. By day, she works as the Head of Pricing & Packaging for a tech company in Boston. On nights and weekends, she runs a small traditional upholstery business, Tack & Tuft while also juggling the demanding needs of directing a non-profit. Harmony believes that demand for reuphols...

Kelli Vitari is an award-winning owner of the window treatment store and drapery and upholstery workroom, Wild Fern Window Furnishings , in Olympia, WA. She has been fabricating for the industry for the past 18 years in various workrooms across the country and has been sewing since the age of 8. Her educational background ranges from architectural engineering and interior and commercial design to...

Denise Korynta, of Smith Mountain Lake, VA, created her slipcover business, Details by Denise when the need arose to find a job that would give her the flexibility to work around her husband's schedule, spend more time at their lake house, and with their 6 grandchildren.  It was the perfect option that combined her love of decorating, sewing, fabric, working with people, and problem-solving. It qu...

Audrey Campbell is the owner of Boxwood & Ivy, a drapery workroom located in Cincinnati, OH, servicing both retail and to-the-trade clients.  She credits her start in the industry to her creative mother who loved to redecorate and was never afraid of a good DIY project. In 2015 Audrey purchased a used industrial straight stitch machine on a whim while making items for her own home and a seed was p...

Rosemarie Garner comes by her sewing passion naturally. Her maternal grandparents were a seamstress and a tailor, and her mother taught her how to sew when she was in junior high school. Fast forward many years later, R Garner Custom Designs was born on the third floor of her Montclair, NJ home, where she worked for 12 years.  Five years ago, she moved to a glorious 900-square-foot industrial spac...

Michelle Minner is the owner of  Blue Roof Cabin Upholstery , located in Washington state. She's a solopreneur, specializing in residential furniture reupholstery. Michelle fell into the upholstery trade by accident. As a DIY blogger looking for a project she decided to try her hand at reupholstering an old chair and fell in love with the transformation process. Self-taught, Michelle is passionate...

Lisa Jones, is the owner, designer, and fabricator of Lisa Jones Interiors . She has been sewing all of her life. Her mother, LuAnn, taught her to sew when she was a little girl, and Lisa made a lot of her clothes, prom dresses, and her wedding gown. Lisa started her first sewing business a few years after high school and made clothes, prom dresses, a lot of cheerleading outfits, and even costumes...

Links and Resources; Some of the links I provide, specifically to Amazon and a few others, require me to let you know that if you use those links and make a purchase, I will make some money.  I won't make a million dollars, but I might be able to get a cup of coffee, so thank you! Atomic Habits by James Clear Gretchen Rubin's Tendencies Quiz

I was so happy to continue the tradition of a year-end wrap-up with Michele Williams.       Links and Resources; (Some of the links I provide are affiliate links and if you use those links and make a purchase, I will make some money.  I won't make a million dollars, but I might be able to get a cup of coffee, so thank you!)   Custom Workroom Conferenc e Learn To Choose Window Coverings Metrique So...

Sheri has been in the workroom business for the past 28 years, full-time. She had started it before retiring from her nursing career, by working on it nights and weekends. The business has evolved through many iterations. This business began making children's appliquéd clothing and has changed a lot! The present business model is now a mobile slipcover business, called Sassy Slipcovers . This was...

Gabriela McCormick, owner of Great Oak Interiors . A full-service custom window treatment workroom, offering fabrication, installation, and design service to retail customers as well as to the trade. Located in Peru, NY in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate NY. Started very slowly while raising a 4-year-old and twins then one day everything started to fall into place very very quickly!   You can...

Carrie Duso is the owner of CMD Interiors , a one-person retail drapery, and design studio in Mason, Michigan. She began sewing window treatments in 1997 at the Window Design Studio in Ann Arbor MI where she worked before returning to the Lansing area to study interior design at MSU.  In 2000, she established her own part-time workroom, M.Atelier. Carrie is currently re-establishing her part-time...

The Sew Much More Podcast is sponsored by;   The Workroom Channel   Scarlet Thread Consulting   The WCAA   The Curtains and Soft Furnishings Resource Library   Merril Y Landis, LTD   Angel's Distributing, LLC   National Upholstery Association

Riana LeJeune-Copeland is the owner and creative Mastermind of Repinned LLC . Riana was born in 1982 and was raised by an emergency medical pilot father and a historic restoration expert mother. Having grown up in historic homes, she had a deep appreciation for antiques and great craftsmanship.  Riana moved to Des Moines with her family in 1996, attending Callanan and then Graduating from Roosevel...

Shasta Breitkopf has been part of the Window coverings industry for quite some time and I was so happy to be able to hear more about her story! Shasta has worked for various companies and also as an independent representative of some of those companies.  Her company,  Unique Expressions  was developed to assist workrooms with products that help with productivity as well as fabrication. Links and R...

Heather McGrew is the owner of  Drapery Décor .  She started her business in 2010 after working and gaining knowledge/experience of this industry in a workroom in Chicago.  Heather is a workroom dedicated to providing custom window treatments.    Links and Resources;     Snapseed Whitagram Pinterest Fiver Tiktok Inshot   Books; (I do use some affiliate links here, so if you choose to use them, I a...

    (Some of the links I provide, specifically to Amazon and a few others, require me to let you know that if you use those links and make a purchase, I will make some money.  I won't make a million dollars, but I might be able to get a cup of coffee, so thank you!) Simon Sinek's Podcast - A Little Optimism - Unreasonable Hospitality with Will Guidara Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hildenbrand  

Lisa Brock is the owner of Brock Custom Interiors in the Birmingham AL area. Born and raised in the south, married her college sweetheart and best friend. They raised 5 children on a pastor's salary learning to make a dollar stretch. We were often gifted hand-me-down furniture that I would turn into usable goods in our home with a bucket of paint and a nematic staple gun.   Fast forward, kids are...

Kevin Kise owns a workroom and is a designer for  Kise Interiors . Coming from humble beginnings in Rural Franklin County, Ohio, his passion for fabrics began when at 8 his Grandmother showed him how to sew, and cook. Her beliefs were that every man should know how to fix a hole in his jeans and cook for himself. Kevin took both of those tasks to heart by going to culinary school out of high schoo...

Lisa O'Brien is the owner of  All Things Material . Raised in Northern Kentucky, as a child Lisa O'Brien was always creating something. No wonder she became an artist! Custom window treatments add an artistic element to every home. Creativity, education, and detail are necessary to provide customers with the right look to fit their home design goals. Hiring a professional is how this is done. In 2...

Where is the problem in your workflow?  I would love to hear from you about it.  Let me know on the Sew Much More Facebook page .     Links and Resources; (some of these are affiliate links and I will earn a few cents if you choose to purchase through the link.) Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman The Ten Percent Happier Podcast with Oliver Burkeman

Adam Brand is the 4th generation co-owner of M&S Schmalberg. Their artificial flowers have complemented the apparel, wedding, accessory, millinery and home furnishing industries for over 100 years. M&S Schmalberg's custom fabric flowers are still hand-made in New York City. They have been featured in The NY Times, Women's Wear Daily, Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and on the runway all over the world...

Cathy Cuddington is the owner of Dogwood Designs , a wholesale workroom located in Apex, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Her earliest sewing memory is making clothes for her Barbie dolls. She moved on to sewing her clothes through high school, even learning some tailoring techniques. Cathy spent her first career in the IT industry, during its infancy (i.e. card punch machines). During those 2...

Michele Williams is a serial entrepreneur and speaker on a mission to close the financial literacy gap for small businesses.  Through her two companies, Scarlet Thread Consulting , a client-facing coaching program, and Metrique Solutions , a robust financial software platform, she supports entrepreneurs to understand their numbers confidently.  Michele is a champion for creative entrepreneurs, ser...

Born and raised in Marietta Ohio. Enjoyed making and creating as a kid and did a lot of cross stitch with her mom. Sewed a pair of shorts as a class project in 4th grade and didn't pick up sewing again until after college. As a social worker, in Cincinnati, creating became a great outlet so she took an upholstery class and learned the basics. Life had plans and her first daughter was born, a month...