What’s the best part of sewing? Inspiring others to learn the craft. Sometimes the ‘inspiration’ is subtle, not deliberate. You don’t have to sit someone at a machine and show them how to operate it. No, inspiration can happen by osmosis. Just exposing someone – specifically family members at a young age – to sewing. Leaving the sewing room door open, welcoming them into your creative space and answering questions.
Mothers and daughters can lock heads when it comes time to teach sewing. In fact, in many households, the love of sewing skips a generation. But not always. My niece, Lindsey Zinno (daughter of my infamous stitching sister, Marie Zinno), is the proud maker and owner of The Northern Market. Lindsey created NM to provide multi-functional fiber art for the modern home and lifestyle. Her work is sold online and in boutiques across America and Europe. And she started this company at the ripe old age of 17 – yes, SEVENTEEN!
Marie has always left her sewing room door open to Lindsey encouraging her to find her way and explore different mediums. Lindsey witnessed Marie succeed in her commercial embroidery business and joined the Stitching Sisters on the road. I think she couldn’t help being inspired by her surroundings. 
Today, she’s featured on Nancy Zieman’s blog as she was a guest on Sewing with Nancy. How did that come about? Well, I happened to be taping with Nancy in November 2016 when Marie sent me a link to a local newspaper story about Lindsey and The Northern Market. I showed Nancy and she was intrigued with Lindsey craftsmanship and minimalist style. She wondered if Lindsey would like to be guest on Sewing with Nancy. Not many people turn down that offer.
Lindsey’s success is due to her creative, open spirit. As a youngster, she was forever dabbling in art – drawing, painting, sculpting and music. She was like a sponge, drawing inspiration from everything and everyone around her. It was no surprise that she took to making rope baskets under the tutelage of another one of my sisters, Mary Pat Palombo (the oldest of my five sisters and the first stitcher). While visiting Mary Pat, Lindsey watched her wrap clothesline with fabric and then sew the wrapped cord into baskets. Lindsey jumped into action and quickly made the technique her own.
Like many of today’s makers, she started selling her work on Etsy. As she poured her heart and soul into every stitch, The Northern Market’s popularity grew. She will graduate from the University of Cincinnati this spring and then, heaven knows what’s next for her.
You can watch Lindsey and Nancy as they share these techniques with you on, Rope Sewing Reinvented on Sewing with Nancy. Click here to watch online now.
Thanks for letting me toot my horn – I’m so proud of Lindsey!
This photo was taken at an office while I was getting my car registration.
The tool will remove the majority of bobbin stitches and you will still need a traditional seam ripper along with sharp tweezers, good lighting and your “readers”. Gently hold the Peggy Stitch eraser and start to cut the bobbin stitches from the back of fabric. Flip the fabric over and use the seam ripper as needed. I like to use the tweezers to pull out the loose threads.
The new initial “T” is going to be stitched on the appliqué fabric next to the “S”. The scanning function will be used to precisely place the letter.
The “T” is shown in black because it is much easier to see on the screen when adjusting the location. The zoom feature helps you to clearly see if the letter or design is in the proper place.
Now you have a realistic view of exactly how the new monogram will look.
The perfect embroidery design was located at 
The sample colors were almost the same as the final photograph. The design was very dense so I selected cotton duck fabric for the pillow which was stable enough to support the 20,000 stitches. I also used a poly mesh cut away stabilizer along with a soft tear away stabilizer.
You could make a removable tutu by sewing the tulle on a narrow band of elastic. I opted for the permanent skirt and used a long basting stitch 4.0 to attach the 2 layers. Sew the basting stitch 1″ from edge.
Pull the bobbin thread at one end gather the tulle to make soft folds. Hold in place with a pin and stitch the short ends of tulle together to form the skirt.
Place the template on the garment. Locate the exact location for the embroidery design to be stitched. Slide the positioning sticker under the template cross hair mark and remove the template.
Select the embroidery design and always take notice of the actual size on the screen; the size 3.09×3.23inches. The design will fit in the hoop.
Touch the positioning sticker or Snowman icon on the screen.
The screen will most likely tell you the “the design extends out the pattern area”. Your first thought is to re-hoop the onsie in a larger hoop. But go back to the edit screen and decrease the size a bit.
Now touch the positioning icon once more and it will fit as needed. You might have to re-adjust the size a few times at the screen, but it is easier than re-hooping a baby onsie. The reason for this message appears because the machine wants the ability to completely rotate the embroidery design within the hoop. If the positioning sticker is not completely centered in the hoop (especially if using a small hoop) it will want you to re-hoop the item.