Emerging Member

You might call Margaret a seamstress, but what you call her is not very important to her.  Her focus is on repairs / mending and zipper replacement, which she does locally in her area.

Margaret has been sewing professionally for less than 5 years.  Her business is Thread Lightly Sewing in Ithaca, NY, where she provides mending, zipper replacement (her favorite task), and alteration services. 

Her business is very new, having started in December of 2022, so her goal is to stay in business and enjoy it.  She wants to learn pattern design, but for now she is still trying to figure out what she is doing!

Margaret can be found at her brick-and-mortar location or her home studio.  She can also be found online on Instagram and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087904277563).

Patron Member

Mary is an Alterations Specialist who has been doing alterations for friends for 5-10 years and has been sewing for over 60 years.  She finds customers completely word-of-mouth.  Her favorite part of the business is pleasing customers, and her goal is to continue to help people who contact her for help with their alterations.  Mary always liked to learn techniques that she doesn’t currently feel confident in doing.

Mary can be found in her home studio and on Facebook

Emerging Member

Sara Ward considers herself a "Lover of Sewing" who has been sewing professionally for 5-10 years.  She loves to dream up creations and then try to bring them to life.

Sarah believes the art of sewing is about creating a legacy from self-expression, and she loves sharing her passion for heirloom and classic sewing online. She thoroughly enjoys taking her time on a project to make it one of a kind. Sara has been dabbling in heirloom sewing for a while, and now she is learning couture techniques. She can smock, shuttle tat, do a variety of embroidery styles, hand sew buttonholes, drawn thread...

Sarah loves all things sewing aside from alterations. From quilts to couture, it's all thrilling for her. She started sewing back in high school (ish) with 1950’s style dresses. For the past six or so years, she has focused mainly on heirloom sewing because she and her husband have been in their baby season of life. Now that their youngest child is 1.5 years old, she is adding back dresses for herself in addition to still doing some heirloom garments for the kiddos.  There is so much she wants to learn including couture techniques, garment manipulation, fine embroidery, etc.

Sarah is excited to join this group and connect with everyone; her goal is to connect with other sewing enthusiasts.

Sara can be found on her website (sarahclassicsewing.com), on Instagram (sarahclassicsewing.com, instagram.com/sarahclassicsewing), and on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVmLsNfMmmLiGOV9uGfwMwQ).

Patron Member

Lisa Doresey has been sewing professionally for less than 5 years and has not yet launched her business.  Her favorite task is choosing the right fabric for the project.  Lisa has always wanted to learn how to make a couture-level tailored jacket.  Her goal is to decide if she wants to sell her clothes. 

Lisa can be found on Instagram and LinkedIn as @elizabethhlisa

Student Member

Mary Reynolds is a Designer.  She is starting a career in fashion. She is currently in school working on her bachelor’s degree and will hopefully get an internship soon to help with learning the fashion industry. 

Mary started sewing 3 years ago and likes to design what she makes.  In fact, her favorite task to do in her business is to design clothing.  She has always wanted to learn to do draping, and her goal is to create her designs by draping.

Mary can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat:
Instagram: Mary.beth.Reynolds
Facebook: Mary Reynolds
Snapchat: marysugarpie

Emerging Member

Tricia Herzetty is the founder of Mendy, a website and online marketplace that helps people connect with sewists to repair, resize, or remake anything in their wardrobe instead of buying something new made by fast fashion companies.

Tricia been making good things for the internet since 2011 and has focused primarily on building tools for small businesses to help them thrive.  She is really motivated to create digital tools to help others thrive with their businesses. She has over a decade of experience doing this and enjoys making difficult tasks easier.

Tricia founded Mendy as a benefit corporation and our purpose is to reduce people’s dependence on buying mass-produced items made in unsustainable ways and to use human-centered business models to boldly challenge economic systems of inequity. Specifically, she wants to help people get clothes that fit their body, their style, and their values. She is really eager to learn from and support successful sewists.

Mendy is very new and Tricia is a first-time founder in a landscape dominated by men (tech startups). She has worked in product design in tech for over a decade, and wants to use her experience building digital tools for small businesses and marketplaces to make alternatives to fast fashion more accessible to more people. She wants to build a business that prioritizes the well-being of creatives and employees, and would love to have built a company that helps hundreds if not thousands of sewists within the next 5 years.

Tricia learned to sew in elementary school from her Nana (She still has the kit her Nana gave her!), and she is rekindling her love for the skill despite a fear of the math.  Tricia has been sewing professionally for less than 5 years and would love to learn how to add pockets to existing garments!  She prefers the term "sewist" as a more gender-neutral, flexible term.

Outside of work, Tricia is obsessed with her 3 dogs, loves rowing crew at ungodly hours, and buying more books than I can feasibly read in my lifetime.

Tricia can be found at her website, and on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter:

Website: www.getmendy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmendyco/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getmendy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciarosetty/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/getmendy

Formal Member

Donna Whitaker is a CEO / Founder in the sewing industry.  Donna has a full website of fabrics and notions. She also sells other handmade items like door signs, key chains, earrings, etc.

Donna is a Sewing Professional with over 42 years of experience. She is an influencer for Cricut, Oliso, and other brands. Donna is a maker of handmade jewelry, clutch bags, and purses; she also does large vending events during the holidays. Currently she owns Sew Chic Fabrics and Crafts located in Mount Rainier, MD where beginner through intermediate classes occur.  Sew Chic also provide advanced classes in Bra fit, design, and construction as well as jean fit, design, and construction.

Donna’s favorite thing to do in business is "to sew, of course (lol)."  She has learned but wants to brush up on her Chanel and couture making skills!  Her goal is to build out to a large learning space with more fabrics and crafts.

Donna can be found at her Brick-and-mortar location, Website, Blog, Instagram, Facebook:

Web: http://www.sewsewchic.com

Blog: curvygirlsarechic.com

IG: curvygirlsarechic

IG: sewchicfabricsandcrafts

FB: https://www.facebook.com/SewChicFabricsandCrafts

Formal Member

Carol Huls is the President & CEO - Owner of a manufacturing company – DittoForm, where she has employees, contractors, or coworkers.  She has been sewing professionally for less than five years.  She likes to talk about what a DittoForm can do to change how you see yourself.  Carol believes that surrounding yourself with interesting people, cultivating creativity and innovation, and having a strong but flexible plan are the keys to happiness in life and success in business. She has a quirky sense of humor and a personal goal to find something that makes her laugh every day.

Carol helps individuals who make clothing and costumes reach their full potential by providing a valuable tool – a custom dress form of their own body. Carol believes that each and every person is different -- no one is standard -- and that fact makes the world a more beautiful place. She credits her current success to the ability to acknowledge what she doesn’t know and then find someone who does through her strong professional network.  She draws on her experience in outwardly unrelated positions: supporting Fortune 500 corporate executives, connecting non-profit members with experience to those who need assistance, and entertaining and enlightening 8th graders and their teachers visiting Washington DC as a tour guide. 

DittoForm has been around since 2015 and has made improvements every year. The pandemic shutdowns gave them a chance to focus on their intentions and strengthen their process.  Her goal is to expand to have scanning sites available nationwide, and triple the business volume

Carol can be found at her Website (dittoform.com), Instagram (IG@dittoform), Facebook (FB@dittoforms), YouTube(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtSdueN22pM7JViMzfyhLWQ), and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/dittoform).

Formal Member

Linnca Stevens is the Co-Founder, Program and Curriculum Developer, and Operation/Program Manager for The Sewing Labs (TSL). In addition, she has extensive background in both Retail Creative marketplace and Industrial Quilting. Her business includes employees, contractors, or coworkers. 

Linnca tells us "Sewing is the Religion that sustains me."  She has been Involved in the fabric and sewing industries for over 45 years and brings hands on knowledge and skill of the industry.  She enjoys sharing the joy of sewing and seeing others become inspired and empowered by learning to sew.  One thing she would like to learn is pattern drafting.  Her goal is to establish a well-respected Industrial Sewing training program that is a highly recommended and key to support individual to gain emotional and financial dignity and independent through sewing.

Linnca’s business, TSL, is a Registered Apprenticeship program host and Related Training Institute with the US and Missouri Departments of Labor (DOL).  Linnca has been named an Apprenticeship Ambassador from DOL.  TSL is creating a pipeline where they connect at-risk individuals where there are to Training and then to partnering businesses needing sewists.

TSL is currently focused to build a sustainable pipeline of new sewists to support and expand the American marketplace.  Linnca’s experience in fabric retail ranges from mom & pop and corporate operations, merchandising and the customer experience including the development of classroom curriculum for a nationwide sewing program. In addition, she has been a designer in the ""Indie"" garment & quilt arena.  She has done designing for companies such as Need L' Love & Peppermint Pig. Linnca's love for anything fabric & mixed methods drive her to share the legacy of sewing and to allow others to understand the self-enrichment that it brings. The tradition of sewing has been passed down thru her family for multiple generations and is what drives her.

Linnca can be found at her brick-and-mortar location, home studio, Website (https://thesewinglabs.community), Facebook (@ thesewinglabs), Instagram (@ thesewinglabs), Linked In (@ thesewinglabs), Pinterest (@ thesewinglabs), Twitter (@ thesewinglabs), and Tik Tok (@ thesewinglabs)

Formal Member

Lezlie Riley is a dressmaker and alterations specialist.  She has been sewing professionally for 15-20 years.   She loves to see the happy faces of her clients when they pick up their garments.  Her goals are to grow her business and learn bridal alterations

Lezlie can be found at her home studio and at her website, Lezlierileydesign.com, which she has recently launched.