Many of us think we know Nancy Zieman. We see her in our living room (teaching us sewing via PBS) and we see her smiling at us from her many of her nifty notions she’s created over the years. In fact, every time I press a hem, I see her name on my seam gauge, over and over and over again! She is a dear friend of mine, but seeing her so regularly really makes me think I know everything about her.
Until I read her latest blog about how she created the projects in our Designer Necklines. For heavens sake, we worked on those projects together but I never thought to ask, “How did you come up with the idea?”
Apparently, if you want a good idea from Nancy, just add water! She gets her best ideas when she’s swimming, taking a shower or washing dishes! Who knew Nancy was such a fish? Frankly, I’ve always thought of her as more a turf girl. I mean, she grew up on a farm (I’m sure there was some digging in the dirt as a youngster), she makes the most beautiful landscape quilts (with the emphasis on land), her favorite sport is football (all the time, not just this year with the national champion Green Bay Packers) and she loves to garden (more digging in the dirt.)
Now we know how she keeps those hands looking so camera-ready every two weeks. Obviously, she soaks in Palmolive! And when she does, she comes up with some great ideas – ideas that make the lives of sewers and embroiderers simpler. She’s a master at breaking down a difficult task into manageable sections so that anyone can achieve success.
Tell me what your favorite “Nancy technique” is and you could win a copy of Designer Necklines. Is there a technique that had you stumped and with a little help from Nancy, now you can breeze right through that roadblock? I know Nancy has taught me many, many sewing tasks but the one that stands out in my mind is binding a quilt. I refer to her Landscape Quilting book over and over again when I need a quick review on binding. How about you?
Last week we asked what you were stitching. The winner of the Snap-Hoop is…Kathy Schmidt!
Kathy said… “What am I working on now……way too many things at the same time….nothing new for me lol. The 3 top things I am working on are some funky patches for my friend, embroidery on a jacket for me, and custom designed/fitted pants for my wonderful husband.”
Congratulations, Kathy!
Speaking of Designer Necklines, we received a wonderful email with pictures from Cynthia Wheeler.
“Lorraine, Here are photos of the results of our first attempt at decorating t-shirt necklines. As you can see all were very successful. There is always the machine malfunction that sets some back but with help they recover nicely. Some of our members have very high level machines that thread themselves and others who have basic machines with limited designs. With some creative thinking we were able to use the technique taught in the video and apply it to other designs. We are a group of about 12 persons that have embroidery machines that were growing moldy. Most of us work full time. We wanted to use our machines and gathering together every other month gives us a chance to create and learn more about the operation of the machines . I am always looking for projects that can be completed in a 3 hour time span. As you can tell from the smiles on their faces the completion of the project is important. Because we all know that it is not going to be completed when we get home. Hope you enjoy the photos.” -Cynthia Wheeler, Fairfield Machine Embroidery Group, Meeting location is at the Cornerstone Quilt Shoppe in Fairfield, CA
To see the rest of the photos, visit our Facebook page. Thanks for the wonderful photos from your event, Ladies! It looks like you had a great time!
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My favorite technique that I learned from Nancy is how to actually make a landscape quilt. This is the ones with using the silver pens to put the highlight on the trees.
Oooooh, I want the necklines stuff!.
I use lots of Nancy’s tips, but I think the “folded corner” is the one I like most. Really helps reduce bulkiness.
All of Nancy’s tip are great but if I had to pick one of my favorite it would have to be the miter corners! I love how simple she makes it and I use it all the time now.
My favorite Nancy’s technique is how to sew a collar and get perfect points everytime–splitting the undercollar in half and taping each half to the upper collar when cutting out. It works everytime and you don’t have the the bumps at the front point.
Hard to pick my favorite “Nancy’s Hint” but I’ll pick how to pivot & slide a pants pattern to make them longer. I’m taller than average & the main reason I originally learned to sew was to have slacks that were long enough. I was doing it wrong until Nancy showed the easy way.
Hard to pick a favorite, but I liked Nancy’s idea on using elastics, especially the buttonhole elastic. I bought some and used it in some pants for my grandchildren. They are all skinny, and the buttonhole elastic enabled me to fix pants for them to wear without a lot of work.
Gail
I love 10.20.30 Minutes to Quilt by Nancy. It has some great tips on how to break down your quilting time. When I start to quilt the whole house and the husband gets ignored. (Bad Wife, Bad Wife) Then I have this horrid mess. It’s awful when I can’t even find my little dog Boomer. Any way, with Nancy’s book I can get quilting done in smaller bites. My husband and Boomer are a lot happier and I don’t have to face the house disaster I had been ignoring.
Nancy would be so happy to know she’s helped you maintain a happy household!
Thank you, can’t wait to get my snap hoop!
My favorite Nancy Zieman hint…..way to0 many to choose from, so instead my favorite is her Machine Embroidery With Confidence book. I have & am learning more & more everytime I read it. I have puchased many embroidery books, but it was the best one with very simple & detailed instructions & hints.
I have been watching her show pretty much since it started & am a longtime purchaser from her store.
I am so very glad that Eileen is teamed up with Nancy!
I have been watching Nancy for years on PBS. I tape the shows and then transfer to DVD so I can have the answers to situations close at hand. My most recent activity was to create a yo=yo quilt for my great grand daughter. I got the yo-yo makers and Nancy’s book that detailed many different techniques for the yo-yos. I completed the quilt and have gotten a lot of inspiration for future yo-yo projects. I look forward to her catalog each month because I get so many ideas from looking through it.
My favorite Nancy technique is the turning of corners by folding first one side then the other and then turn the corner. I have used this many, many times. I make alot of placements that are reversable and this makes the corners to come out prefect all the time!!
I am not a quilter, but I have used Nancy’s “Bravo for Binding” technique over and over again. It has come in handy on potholders, small blankets and so much more.
One of Nancy’s hints. —- There are so many I have used, but the one that stands out most is folding the seam allowance down on corners of collars or facings, etc. to get a sharp corner. I have watched her on tv for many years & I also tape her programs. I even got to go to one of her sewing weekends. In fact Eileen was teaching a class the time I was there. Enjoyed it very much & would like to return again. I always learn so much from Nancy.
My favorite Nancy technique is the Place and Stitch embroidery. There is an outline for just about everything you might want to embroidery.
My favorite Nancy tip is folding the seam allowance down to get sharp corners on a shirt. I made over 2 dozen shirts for my husband over the years, and collar points were a problem until I learned Nancy’s technique. I record every program on PBS. I was very fortunate a few years ago to be able to attend a seminar where Nancy talked about her landscape quilts. Everyone was asking if we could take her picture & her reply was “yes, but only if you’re in the picture too.”
It really is hard to decide on one tip but I think the one that has helped me the most was her tip to iron on the interfacing before cutting out the collar or shirt facing. I highly recommend ‘Nancy’s 25 Favorite Sewing Techniques’ book.
It’s hard to select only one hint, but I would say the idea of 10-20-30 minutes to sew has been a favorite. In fact, I use it in other areas besides sewing and it’s helped me get many projects done!
I think Nancy’s idea to make embroidery software that shows exactly where to place your embroidery blank for foolproof embroidery placement (Place & Stitch) is wonderful. I had a hard time with placement when I first began embroidery and it helped me tremendously.
While I don’t do a lot of garment sewing theses days, I use Nancy hint of folding the corner seam allowance over when I make pillows or receiving blankets. I love the perfect corner. Actually, if the truth be known, I just love all of Nancy’s hints and ideas.
I have followed Nancy for many years. The last several years she hasn’t been on in my area. Nancy has been one of my all time favorite people. I to love all her hints and tips but the one I learn many years ago that has been helpful so many time when gathering fabric is take sturdy string and lay on fabric where you want the gathers and then zig zag over the string making zig zags big enough that it doesn’t sew the string to your facric. When finished just pull and there your gathers. As simple as that!
Thanks, Elaine
I was first introduced to Nancy when I took a jacket class. The class was around her techniques. I cannot say what my favorite technique is, but she has always made everything look so easy, and I always refer back to her tapes or one of her books, whenever I need some help on a project.
Her video on Embroider, quilt and sew all in the hoop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHO-Rj52pYQ&feature=player_embedded gave me the confidence to create my own embroidery designs for “Dotee” dolls for a swap.
Nancy taught how to make a blouse that looks like it has a placket front, has a pointed collar, and placket-like sleeves. I have made that blouse in dozens of fabrics and colors and always get compliments. I never tell my non-sewing associates it is Nancy 3M blouse: mock, modified and marvelous!