I absolutely love trapunto and even entered my first article in a contest last Spring. I was proud of my work and it was quite a difficult piece. I was very happy to see the short video from Ms.Yolande. It showed even more tips that I did not find when I was preparing my entry. I am so glad you made the video available to us. Thank you very much. I am now looking for another pattern to use for my next contest but they are difficult to find. I have just simply been looking at any/all patterns I think would work for the technique. So far as I know there are no patterns specifically for Trapunto. I found a large, very colorful parrot fabric last year and used metallic threads between the hundreds of feathers, different colors for each of the different colored feathers. It was really fun. I did not know there were tools that would work so well for the technique as Ms. Yolande demonstrated. I used what I had that would work including some dental tools for some of the more difficult, tiny areas.

When we renovated the entire upstairs turning it into the master suite, I took over the former master bedroom downstairs for my sewing work space. The only changes I might make are: more ceiling lighting as it is a large space and I use it all; a better area for my serger so that I would not have to be moving it for use. I have a long credenza I found at a resale shop that is perfect for sewing and has lots of storage including a couple file drawers for my books! I can only use one machine at a time as there is only one area for the chair so I have to exchange one machine for another. I think the ideal would be lifts that could move my machines down into the work table/desk for storage and it would be nice if it were in an L shape for me to move my chair just a little bit to use the other machine. My husband made me a large cutting table and I have many dressers for my stash and also a closet. I need to complete the painting of the room so I could utilize the vast wall space better. In fact, just writing this is encouraging me to complete the room and make it what I want! Thank you, Threads! I am pretty lucky but I can see that making some of these changes myself will help. Now maybe I could move things around a bit to utilize the good lighting I do have. Hmmmmmm.

My husband and I are considering downsizing within the next two years so this has been something I have already considered and begun. Instead of candy for the local teens that come to my door on Halloween, I made masks. They loved them! I am making some aprons for a couple young ladies at church that I know love to help their moms cook. I have given covers for wheelchairs as well as walker bags to persons at the nursing home close by. My homemaker's club president heads a workshop that makes toys as well as blankets and even shopping bags for various charities and the material is always donated, so it is easy to find a home there. I so enjoy sewing, though, that I am trying to find ways to use it at church as well as anywhere else I think something can be useful. When I have to absolutely get rid of it, just prior to the big move, I will definitely know the County Homemaker's Workshop will make excellent use of what I have. Great question, though. Makes us put on our thinking caps.

I absolutely adore the very helpful information in Threads Magazines. Since my hubby lost his job and I am unable to subscribe to magazines any longer, I have trouble finding up to date information on how to do things when I am sewing and mending for others. I have a library of older and even very much older books about sewing and even on tailoring, but I know there are easier and better methods I can discover in Threads Magazine. Some of my library does not even touch on the subject of sergers since they were not even invented when the books were printed. I could certainly benefit from the magazine collection and so could the people I sew and mend for. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to have all that professional information and instruction as well as great ideas in one terrific library of Threads Magazines. Thank you for the very exciting offer.

I never thought trying out a machine would be helpful because it seemed to me it would take awhile to become comfortable enough to use it properly in order to accomplish anything you would normally sit down and do almost automatically at home. I have to admit, though, the comments in this article have me wondering if it would not, indeed, be a help. I always do so much research on a machine everywhere I can, that I know exactly which machine I want before I enter the store. Thanks anyway.

I was happy to learn about the comic book archival backer boards for storing fabric. I looked up the web site and the price is wonderful! I previously purchased some of the fabric organizers we see advertised from DeNiece's Designs LLC, dherrod@thefabricorganizer.com. They are wonderful in two sizes and they actually have tabs to hold the fabric onto the corrugated-type organizers. I am sorry, I do not recall the price of them. I bought both sizes. My stash, much like anyone's, contains both large amounts and small. I like the idea of having them all on something that is instantly visible, protected from sun and moisture, and ready for me to just "pick" what I want. I wash my fabric when I bring it home and make sure it is totally dry before I fold and store it. I find much of my fabric at resale stores, especially at a local St. Vincent DePaul Store.

Smaller items like leftover pieces for possible quilts or projects; pieces and bits of trim, ribbon, whatever, I put into 6-drawer plastic roller containers I found on sale at the local retail fabric store. I have a file drawer in the old credenza I found and purchased for a sewing table. I store the important help books for sewing, serging or quilting there. I try to keep things I may need during a project close at hand. It works well for me and I wonder many times what my mother, the excellent seamstress that she was, would think of all my tools and helps of today.

Our daughter will be moving out on her own this year and I will be able to expand into a larger and more adaptable area for sewing. I can hardly wait to feel really well organized.

I have four machines, two old singers, one a portable and one a desk-type, both from the 50s and real workhorses with no special features. I also have a fairly new Kenmore which is my mainstay and it is great except for really bulky seams of denim, etc. My love is the Pfaff serger. It is absolutely magical and I love it! The desk-type Singer was my mom's and it has so much history that I don't know how to ever part with it. After my dad and we three kids, it was her life. She was terrific and sewed for everyone - wedding dresses, formal dresses, school clothes, everything but shoes.

I cannot imagine doing without most all my notions, some I use more than others. However, the one I use most are my little thread cutters. They are very small scissors with pointed, curved blades which make them ideal for cutting threads nice and close without damaging fabric. They are also the best item for removing buttons from fabric. The short, sharp pointed blades can slip between the thread and the fabric or button easily and cleanly. They are also quite sharp. I can't imagine doing any of my thread-related projects without them.

I have done several types of fabric sewing and lately I discovered if you can fold paper into shapes, you can do the same with fabric. I have been practicing and have been successful with a particular flower form which can be sewn into anything and decorate quilts, purses, scarves, added onto tops, skirts, etc. They can be lovely. It is always fun to find another way to use fabric. It feels like "winning" to be able to create something you haven't tried before. Now I want to try some of the other flower forms I have seen. Wouldn't it be fun to have several different "flowers" affixed to a wall hanging? I think so. It wouldn't have to be large to be effective, either.

I have vowed to clear up the collection of lovely clothing I have to "re-style" and then to get busy and sew, sew, sew clothing with much of my material "stash" that I purchased for new clothing. I hope to remember some of what I had in mind upon making those purchases, too. Now if I could only "remake" my body to match some of the older patterns I have.

I love this! What creativity it shows! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I love red, black and white together. Thanks for sending in this entry for us to see. Your talents are obvious.

This is not only a lovely gown created and sewn by a very talented lady, but the story is also one that we all would love to have. Thanks so much for the entire presentation. I feel fortunate to have been able to share in this wonderful story.

This is absolutely lovely. I only wish I could see the front, too. Congratulations on your great color choices.

I have to commend you on such an undertaking. Your future (at the time), sister-in-law had a great eye to have chosen such "parts" to go together, but the artistry was yours in putting them altogether in such a wonderful way. How in the world did such a long, long train make it through an evening of fun and dancing???!! Evidently it did. Congratulations on a very difficult but well done project.

Wow! This really pops! Nice color and it looks great on you! Great choice for your coloring. I hope you are very proud of this because you can certainly wear it proud. Congratulations.

I have been wanting to make myself a jacket with this type neckline. I love it! You were so smart to use a muslin for the fit. What a nice outfit. Congratulations!

Gee! What a terrific look on you! You must be very proud of this. I would assume this is not the first time you have been able to wear something so wonderful done by your own hand. Congratulations! Great look.

Since my mother was a prolific and very fine seamstress, I received many, many wonderful sewn gifts in my life. She used to stand my sister and/or I on a chair for our birthdays and tear off our old pajamas and present us with a wonderful, new pair. It was rather a tradition until we became too old to stand on a chair or to tear off our pajamas. I did, however, receive a lovely gift this year, hand sewn by a half-sister I only discovered four years ago. I love her and am glad she has joined my world. She made me a lovely heavy cuddly fleece lap quilt. It is so pretty it could actually be a hanging on a wall. I was very touched by her generosity. I enjoy it each time I sit for an evening to watch some TV. It makes me think of her every time I see it, too. I hope everyone feels the same whenever someone sews them a gift. It is so special.

My mother was an excellent seamstress, always in demand by people needing repairs or something made for them. She also knitted, crocheted, quilted, and embroidered. We had her mother's old sewing machine, an old Singer treadle from the late 1800s. My sister and I began wanting to make our own doll clothes but simply took some scraps, cut out some pieces, and put them on our dolls like a paper doll-type piece of clothing. Not satisfied with that, we began to learn the old treadle. Mom had us originally try to sew squares together, like a quilt piece. This taught us how to cut material, control the treadle, straight seaming, and how to thread and take care of the machine. Quilt squares quickly bored us as we wanted to do things more exciting. We made doll clothes. As soon as we were 9, we joined 4-H and signed up for sewing. (Mom was one of our two club leaders). This is when she and Dad decided it was time to trade in the old treadle for a new machine and we quickly had a new 1954 Singer desk model machine. (Dad said he didn't know why I would need an electric machine because I often turned the wheel with my hand on the treadle). Being a 4-H member, I was so proud at 13 to win a big purple ribbon at the county fair. The dress was a simple sleeveless dress with a gathered skirt. My sister later went to State Fair with a dress she made. She was 22 months older and I was extremely proud of anything she ever accomplished which was much. We also began home economics at school. There I made a "duster" (lightweight housecoat), and modelled it at a fashion show held for the parents and students. It was short-sleeved with a huge inverted pleat down the center back which began at the bottom of the yoke, and a bow at the top of the pleat. I was so proud of it I thought it was just wonderful! I am still sewing and just now learning to knit and try some beginner quilting (at 67!!!). I enjoy making clothing, home dec items, gifts, and craft items. My mother was still using her sewing machine when she became ill at the age of 90 and handed all her supplies and the machine to me along with an early Singer serger which was very limited but was wonderful to serge unfinished seams. Though I rarely use her desk model machine, I still have it. My sister has the old serger, as well as a very fancy new sewing machine that also embroiders. I now enjoy my Pfaff serger with all the bells and whistles. I have an electronic sewing machine that does all I need it to do and more. With all the sewing supplies we have today to make things so much easier it is difficult to leave my sewing area! Many times I have said, "If my mom had been able to use the tools we have today, I wonder what she could/would have accomplished!" I can't imagine. She made wedding dresses, coats, underwear, just anything and everything, using an old treadle and then a 1950s Singer. What a gal! I am so thankful that she taught us so much. Our families have definitely been enriched, also. Happy Sewing!!!