About

I’m Deborah, and I sew.  I live in Atlanta with my husband and three of our children in a renovated mid-century ranch on an acre of land. I came to sewing in a roudabout way, starting out as a schoolteacher then earning a Master’s (and half a PhD) in archaeology before launching a children’s clothing line in 2007 that morphed into teaching sewing in a tiny stitch lounge, which grew into a retail bricks-and-mortar shop by 2010 and led me to teaching video sewing classes online.

In 2015, I launched The Murder Mystery Quilt and The League of Dressmakers, online subscription clubs designed to playfully and intentionally connect the sewing community, built on my firm belief that sewing is for everyone, and that you’ll learn the most if you jump in with both feet and give it a shot–even if you’re not quite sure what you’re doing. (I’m also quite adamant that everything ought to have pockets.) I’ve had the joy of meeting over 13,000 members through my clubs since they launched, and have formed some of the most rewarding relationships of my professional life as a result.

When I feel like tooting my own horn, I’ll also tell you I’m the author of two best-selling books, Stitch by Stitch and Stitch Savvy, whose combined sales total nearly 120,000 copies.  I proudly founded a bricks-and-mortar Whipstitch, a popular local retail sewing lounge which was voted Best of Atlanta every year it was open.  I’m also a regular speaker and instructor for sewing and blogging conferences, including QuiltCon, Sewing Summit, the School of Art Fashion, Mom 2.0, Dad 2.0, and the International Quilt Market, as well as at local quilt guilds.

Currently, I’m spending my time adding every online class I’ve ever taught to the League of Dressmakers digital video catalog, designing the next installment of the Murder Mystery Quilt while writing the accompanying novel (my ninth!), and publishing current personal sewing projects here on Whipstitch.  My passion is to guide you to love sewing and make it a part of your everyday life–I not-so-secretly believe that EVERYONE should learn to sew, and have made my mission to create a community and products that help you Learn As You Sew ™!

Please take a tour and stay a while!  Check out some of my favorite posts and readers’ favorite projects to get a better idea of who I am and what I like.  I’d really love to get to know you!

Popular Posts

• The Story of Sandra
• YOU. CAN. SEW.
• Why I Sew
• I Am A Halloween Failure
• Sewing & Self-Compassion
• 2014 Sewing Studio Tour
• Emergency Dress
• Vintage Barbie Clothes
• Mending
• Taking Back Seamstress
• Today: Honey Did List
• Weekend at Whipstitch Lounge (from Dana of MADE)

Popular Finished Projects

• Nested Fabric Buckets
• Snack Bandolier for Boys
• Kindle Cover
• Holiday ball skirt
• Baby Travel Pouch
• Castle Peeps Travel Play Set
• 20-minute Girls’ Skirt Tutorial
• Continuous Bias Tape Tutorial

Blog Series

• I love putting together tutorials and working on sewing technique.  Those items can be found in the tutorials link at the top of the page, or by clicking here.  (This page is currently under renovation, with a couple dozen–eek!–new items lurking in corners that I’ve yet to add!)
• The Sewing Buddy Project is an internet-based sewing pen pal arrangement that grew out of the 2010 Sewing Goals survey.  The project is on hiatus at the moment, but past posts are great reading.
• Christmas of 2010, I decided it was time to finally make the Advent calendar I’d been dreaming of ever since I moved out of my mom’s house and first did Christmas on my own.  See the final product and the day-by-day shots!
• Neat As Ninepence was a series all about sewing for every room of the house, organizing your space, and using your machine to bring beauty and happiness to every corner of your home.  
• Sewing With Kids was originally intended to be a book title that I wanted to pitch to my publisher.  I decided instead to make it a blog series and offer it as a weekly series that walks through sewing projects to do WITH our kids, and all the other lessons we can teach them along the way.
• The Charm Pack Patterns Series was a whole mess of free ideas and patterns and links for using the 5″ x 5″ squares that come in a quilter’s charm pack of fabric.
• The Anthropology of Sewing was a (VERY) occasional series where I put that graduate degree to good use and walk through some of why I think sewing has suddenly taken off and found a new niche in America today.