Meet the Teachers

 

We take the time to search out the best in the industry, introducing you to exceptional designers, best-selling authors, creative thinkers and visionaries. Taking classes at Original Sewing & Quilt Expo adds to a memorable and satisfying experience.

 

Libby Ashcraft

Fort Worth, TX

libbyashcraft.com

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Libby has been teaching sewing, embroidery and embroidery software for over 20 years. She has specialized in embroidery software, but has recently expanded her expertise to include electronic cutters such as the Silhouette Cameo and Brother Scan 'N Cut. Libby is a Terri Johnson Creates Licensed Instructor and teaches the Silhouette Cameo at workshops and classes around the country. She teaches three software clubs a month in her local area, providing unique and detailed lessons for her students, with many lessons based on student requests. Libby is a presenter the All Things Silhouette Conference, Original Sewing & Quilt Expo events and other events. As a Martha Pullen Licensed teacher, Libby travels the U.S. helping bring the joy of sewing to many students. In addition to her teaching, Libby was a Technical Sewing Editor for Classic Sewing magazine.

 

Karen Barry

Kailua-Kona, HI

Quilt Passions

www.quiltpassions.net

Karen Barry is the owner of Quilt Passions and founder of the Kona Hawaiian Quilt Museum & Gallery. A former schoolteacher turned quilter, Karen leads retreats, teaches classes, and curates exhibits celebrating Hawaiian quilt traditions. Passionate about preserving local culture, she’s become a driving force in Hawaiʻi’s quilting community through education, events, and grassroots advocacy.

 

Sandra Chandler

Nashville, TN

sandrajohnsondesigns.com

Sandra Lee Chandler is a Nashville-based textile artist, educator, and social media storyteller with over 38 years of experience in quilting and fiber arts. Holding a B.S. in Clothing, Textiles, and Design from Arizona State University, she specializes in repurposed denim, wearable quilted garments, and sustainable design. Sandra teaches a weekly virtual quilting class through Saddleback Community College and has presented at leading events such as QuiltCon, Quilt Canada, Craft Napa, and the Festival of Quilts in England. Her work has been featured in Threads, Quiltfolk, American Quilt Magazine, and more, and she has appeared on The Quilt Show and Quilting Arts. Passionate about storytelling through textiles, Sandra fosters creativity, community, and lifelong learning in all her workshops—making her a sought-after instructor for guilds and events worldwide.

 

Denise Dacus

Murfreesboro, TN
MavaNell Studio
mavanellstudio.com
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Denise Dacus is the owner and founder of MavaNell Studio, a unique “Traveling Quilt Store” that brings quilting supplies and inspiration directly to quilt shows and retreats. With over 28 years of quilting experience, Denise is dedicated to making the craft accessible and enjoyable for novice quilters. She specializes in teaching quick and easy methods to achieve impressive results, and her quilt patterns are known for their clarity and ease of use. Denise’s quilt designs are crafted with the help of Electric Quilt 8 software. She not only uses EQ8 to create her own patterns but is also passionate about teaching others how to use the software. Encouraging her students to explore their own creativity through EQ8 is a key aspect of her teaching approach. Her love of quilting and commitment to educating others have made her a valued resource in the quilting community.

 

Eric Drexler
Port Charlotte, FL
Sulky of America
sulky.com
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Eric has been in the industry over 40 years. Free-motion artistry has been his life-long passion. He has made numerous large and small works of machine art, some of which have been featured in Sulky Books and at Trade and Consumer Shows all over the country. Through his association with Sulky of America since the beginning, he has had the pleasure and honor of being inspired by some of the world's greatest creative sewers and quilters. Eric loves life and he loves to teach and share his exuberance for creative sewing. He is passionate about inspiring students of all ages so they can discover and enjoy a lifetime of creative fun. His infectious smile and warm humor puts everyone at ease and makes them ready and eager to learn. He is widely sought after to teach and share his contagious enthusiasm at Consumer shows, Sewing and Quilting Guilds and on many PBS shows.

 

Tamara Evans

Williamsburg, VA

Sewing has been a lifelong passion for Tamara. While raising her children, she discovered the limitless creative options of machine embroidery, software, quilting and began a home-based embroidered gift business. Coming back to the corporate arena as a professional in the sewing industry, focusing on new product development, creative project design, embroidery education and quilting with an embroidery focus was full circle. Her joy is education, publishing articles, teaching at trade shows, conventions, and other events. Her goal is to simplify the tedious and frustrating aspects and inspire creativity and confidence. Now, as an impartial independent expert, she will educate and inspire students of all skill levels.

 

Lynn Gerard
Nappanee, IN

The Cork Emporium

thecorkemporium.com

Lynn Gerard is the owner of The Cork Emporium. This unique store is for eco-conscious fashion enthusiasts and creative artisans alike. The Cork Emporium specializes in offering a diverse range of thread, cloth and ornate accessories crafted from an environmentally friendly and versatile material: cork fabric. Derived primarily from the bark of the cork oak tree, this high-quality fabric is sourced from Spain, Portugal and France, regions known for their abundant cork oak forests. One notable aspect of cork fabric is its sustainability.

 

LuAnn Hartley

Lexington, NC

Sanluchell Designs

LuAnn Hartley has been teaching a variety of classes for over 30 years. Her background includes education consultant, sewing machine sales, and a store owner for over 25 years. She has a passion for embellishing, quilting, and creating new ways to use techniques for both sewing and serging. She has taught all over the country and at major quilting shows.

 

Allyson Heidenfelder

Burnsville, NC 

Quilt-N-Code

quilt-n-code.com

Allyson Heidenfelder was taught by her mother and has been sewing since she can remember. She created her first solo apparel outfit at the age of 13. She began quilting in her 20’s and has enjoyed the art ever since. Allyson and her husband, Lanny, started Quilt-N-Code in 2018 to offer quilters and sewers in the Burnsville, NC area a place to shop and learn. They carry a variety of fabrics and notions to meet your needs, and also offer classes if you are interested in learning to sew or learning new ways to sew.

 

Jaymi Horne

Carmel, IN 

Cranky Kangaroo

crankykangaroo.com

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Jaymi Horne has been sewing professionally for over 20 years. She began quilting as a creative outlet, and fell in love with Foundation Paper Piecing. Dubbed the “FPP Queen” by her Instagram followers, she has designed over 50 Foundation Paper Pieced patterns, has been published in Make Modern Magazine and featured in local art shows.

 

Jessica Kaufman

Asheville, NC

WAXON Batik & Dye Studio

waxonstudio.com

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Jessica Kaufman has her M.A. in Crafts Education, and loves nothing more than creating and leading workshops in a variety of fiber and textile arts. She teaches up and down the East Coast, online, and in her Asheville studio. Before creating WAXON Batik & Dye Studio, she taught all workshops through her NYC-based business, happygocrafty.com, which still hosts over 80 free instructional knitting videos.

 

HollyAnne Knight
Duluth, GA

String & Story

stringandstory.com

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HollyAnne is founder and CEO of online quilting education company String & Story and proprietor of String & Story on Main, a boutique sewing and quilting shop in Duluth, GA. HollyAnne specializes in teaching free motion quilting and quilting with rulers on the domestic and longarm quilting machines, quilt design, and guiding Quilting Rockstars worldwide to finish their quilts with confidence.

 

Angie Lamoree
Weaverville, NC

Once upon a time (2005), Angie took her first quilting class just for the heck of it. After all, when you have five kids, you need to get out every once in a while, and just do something for yourself. She was hooked from the first lesson. It wasn’t long before her husband, DJ was trying his hand at it too, and was actually really good.

 

One day, Angie had the idea that if she was going to be a quilting addict, she might as well make a business of it, and get others hooked. After getting DJ and the kids on board, in April 2017, the little shop on Main Street in Weaverville, NC opened for business. Happily situated in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, the suburb of Asheville is a cultural mecca of handcrafters and artists.

Angie & DJ believe that quilting/sewing/crafting is a way to transform thoughts and emotions into beautiful, one-of-a-kind handmade items. And when helping those pieces make their way into the world, they believe in providing the highest-quality fabrics, tools, and supplies along with friendly, supportive help…and 5 Little Monkeys prides itself on making sure you have that.

 

Susan Luaces

Tampa, FL

susieluaces.com

Susie began sewing at nine, taught by her mother, and honed her skills through high school classes, sewing magazines, and books. She created her own clothes, including tailored suits. Despite college and a career in engineering limiting her sewing time, her passion never waned. After leaving engineering to focus on family, she dedicated more time to sewing. Susie has sewn clothing, Halloween costumes, wedding dresses, home décor items, quilts, toys, and nursery items, with garment sewing being her favorite. She has teaching experience from her engineering career, as a part-time fitness instructor, and as a sewing instructor at Joann Fabrics. Since 2002, Susie found the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo, to be a great source of knowledge. Discovering Lorraine Henry’s fitting classes, she resonated with the Seam Method of pattern alteration. Susie trained with Lorraine and Judith Rasband in 2024 to ensure the method's continued availability and is now ready to share her expertise.

 

Jill McCloy

Toledo, OH

Jill McCloy Designs
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Jill's sewing career started at an early age – she received her first sewing machine for Christmas just after her fourth birthday. In high school, she did custom sewing and taught at fabric and sewing machine shops using original patterns. In 1992 Jill was hired by Viking Sewing Machines, Inc. as a national educator designing projects for the Viking Club and teaching at Viking World Conventions. She then became an independent educator working with many brands of sewing machines. Jill was featured in the Threads magazine design challenge in 2000, wrote for McCall’s and Threads magazines, designed embroideries for Cactus Punch and taught at many Expo events. Her specialties are machine knowledge and creating original designs. She has over 50 patterns and recently had a truly beautiful line of fabric come out with Northcott fabrics.  

 

Linda McGehee

Shreveport, LA

Ghee's

ghees.com

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Designer, Linda McGehee has a diverse sewing background with 50 years experience from garments to handbags, piecing to heirloom, surface manipulation to combining a variety of methods into a sampler of various techniques. Linda has traveled the globe demonstrating and lecturing from her books and patterns. She is much sought after at trade and machine conventions, consumer shows, guilds, shops & television. Her style is easy and fun with a flair for detail.

 

Teresa Melonson

Taylors, SC

Handi Quilter

handiquilter.com

Teresa “learned” to sew in Home Economics class. Unimpressed with the experience, she decided it wasn’t going to add much to her life. Later, as a US Navy wife, she realized that every move brought new windows that never fit the last home’s curtains. Suddenly, sewing had a practical purpose and she actually DID learn to sew!

One time she was invited to a quilt show and only went so that she wouldn’t hurt the inviter’s feelings. Astounded at the fantastic quilts, she decided to make baby quilts for her soon to arrive granddaughter and grandson. She instantly became 100% hooked on quilting forevermore. She took many, MANY classes, soon finding quilting to be the part she loved best.

After learning to quilt on domestic machines, she bought an Infinity® (AKA Buzz), and continued having fun with new tools and ways to quilt. Among the rulers and marking pens, she eventually added Pro-Stitcher® and PS Designer™ to her repertoire. In 2015, she started her own longarm business. Her quilting skills have been honored with blue ribbons at local quilt shows.

As a High School Business teacher, it was a natural evolution for her to teach quilting in retail and private settings. She has a keen awareness of different learning styles which enables her to explain concepts based upon each person’s needs. Teresa’s enthusiasm for coaching students originates in remembering what it’s like when that “AH-HA” moment comes. That important moment helps one becomes bolder in trying whatever comes next. Learning becomes exciting!

Teresa and her sewing machine technician husband David, live in Taylors, SC. (Although she will always be known as the girl from Buffalo, NY- GO BILLS!) Their “retired” life includes; pickle-ball, curling, a longarm quilting and machine repair business as well as RV traveling with their West-Highland Terrier, Bobbin. Fortunately, the weather is great in Taylors so they do enjoy visits from their 3 children and 9 grandchildren who still live in the WNY area!

 

Carol Mitchell

Taylorsville, NC

Barn Quilt Squares by Carol

barnquiltsquares.com

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I am a traveling Barn Quilt square painting teacher located in Taylorsville NC. I have been teaching for 12 years. Barn quilt painting is something I am very pasionate about and really enjoy teaching others how to make a 2 x 2 MDO board come alive for them. My boards are weatherproof and will last outside a very long time. We live on a farm in NC and this is part of my agriculture background but barn quilts are also for houses and garage and can also be mounted inside the house.

 

Jim Suzio

Pittsburgh, PA
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Jim Suzio is an award winning artist, designer, digitizer and sewing instructor (including embroidery software, heirloom, fashion and serger sewing). A self taught sewer, Jim was inspired to try the craft after watching a neighbor's enthusiasm in the art. A new sales position at a machine dealer found him literally "thrown" on stage at an ASG convention where he was discovered by Sue Hausmann, host of the PBS series "America Sews with Sue Hausmann." Jim soon found himself teaching all over the US, Canada and Australia for Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff Sewing Machine Companies. His work has been featured in numerous books and magazines and several ads for Husqvarna Viking and the launch of Ty Pennington's new fabric line. he has been seen on several television programs here ("America Sews with Sue Hausmann,"and "It's Sew Easy") and in Canada ("the Big Breakfast Show").

 

Chelsea Swindle

Lebanon, TN

She Sews Seams

shesewsseams.com
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Chelsea is the founder of She Sews Seams. She is a passionate and approachable sewing content creator who has been immersed in the world of sewing since the age of 15. With a mission to make sewing accessible to everyone—no matter their age, budget, or experience level - Chelsea is dedicated to simplifying the art of sewing through clear, bite-sized tutorials.

Whether you're a seasoned sewist or just starting out, her step-by-step guides are designed to build confidence and inspire creativity. Along with a published sewing journal, Chelsea also has a successful sewing merch line, offering fancy and fun items to the sewing community.

Join Chelsea on her journey to make sewing not just a craft, but an enjoyable and attainable skill for all. From beginners to experts, her classes include something for everyone!

 

Jess VanDenburgh

facebook | instagram | YouTube

Hi I'm Jess! I was born and raised in upstate New York where I still live with my husband & 2 dogs. My grandma taught me at a young age how to sew and encouraged my creativity. I stumbled upon bag making in 2005 due to a major obsession with bags and a large fabric stash. I started making bags for friends and family at first and then selling them. From there my company, Sew Many Creations was born. Originally the company focused solely on making custom bags but slowly developed into a pattern company after many requests. In 2012 I expanded my pattern company to also include bag hardware, cork, fabric, kits, zippers and more. In 2020 I finally started my Youtube channel where I chat live every Friday about anything and everything bag making. I also upload tutorials, free patterns and educational videos. Teaching is my absolute favorite and if you watch any of the hundreds of YouTube videos I have on my channel, I think you'll agree!