Sewing With Nancy

>> Hi, I'm Nancy Zieman. Thank you for joining me. Welcome to Sewing with Nancy. It's time to discover the joy of sewing and quilting. Today, we have an exciting program. We'd like to start by giving you some guidelines... On how to work with a pattern guide, and also how to set up samples in your class. We're going to be using two fabrics to create this wall hanging. Knowing what fabrics to use, you can be very creative. My machine is set up for an overlock stitch. This is a great technique, not only because it looks good, but it's so fast. This program is the start of the three-part series called "Creative Embroidery Connection." This is the third program of my three-part series entitled... You guessed it, "Sewing for Children." Since we're so fortunate to have a guest this week, Mary Mulari, we're going to feature her in our guest showcase. Today, I would like to welcome our special guest Gail Brown. Natalie, it's always a pleasure to work with you, and now to share this new idea of flower garden quilting. Eileen Roche, our resident embroidery expert and designer is my guest to share insights into how she designs embroidery. You'll be surprised what a great look you can create. It's just that easy. That's what's coming up next on Sewing with Nancy. See you soon.

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Thank you. Thank you! What a treat to have you here. As you can tell at home this is a special day on Sewing with Nancy. It's our "30th Anniversary Special." It's a two-part series where I'm going to have special guests look back over the last 30 years different hairstyles, different scenery special guests, and of course, some bloopers. The "30th Anniversary Special" that's what's coming up next on Sewing with Nancy.

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Sewing with Nancy, &nbspcelebrating30 years of sewing and quilting with Nancy Zieman is made possible by Baby Lock, a complete line of sewing, quilting and embroidery machines and sergers. Baby Lock, for the love of sewing. Madeira, specializing in embroidery, quilting and special effect threads because creativity is never black and white. Koala Studios, fine sewing furniture custom built in America. Clover makers of sewing, knitting, quilting and embroidery products for over 25 years. Experience the Clover difference. Amazing Designs and Klass Needles. To begin this "30th Anniversary Special" I thought it best to tell you how I started how this became my classroom. People often ask what's my background. Well, I began to sew when I was ten years old and I joined the 4-H Club. Many people of my generation living in rural America eastern Wisconsin, particularly for me were 4-H members and sewing, of course, became my passion. I also took forestry, but we're not going there!

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When you had sewing you had to have volunteer leaders through 4-H. My first 4-H leader is with me today. She taught six to seven different kids all together. We made a gathered skirt, a fringed scarf. Not only is she my first 4-H leader but also my mother. I'd like you to meet my mom, Barbara Luedtke-Eckstein.

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4-H and sewing gave me confidence. Obviously, I have a facial paralysis. I'm not the normal television type of personality. It gave me confidence to grow as a person. I loved it. Then I majored in it in college. I have a degree in clothing, textiles and design from UW-Stout, a minor in journalism. After college, I had job interviews. One of those job interviews was in Chicago. That first job interview was with a Mr. Zieman.

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Yep. If that name rings a bell...

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Yeah, yep, I got the job!

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Two years later, we were married. Some people call him "Mr. Nancy."

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Some people have referred to him as "Mr. Notions." Yeah, I call him Rich. I'd like you to meet my husband, Rich Zieman.

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It's really a treat to have my family here. What an honor for me. After we were married we moved to Virginia, Minnesota, where Rich had a job. I didn't have one. I didn't have a job, so I decided to give sewing seminars. So I did. County Extension services, stores traveled around the country, it got old quickly. People would say where do you get that product you're using. After about two times at seminars around the country I thought, I'm going to paste up a sheet of paper. Rich thought I should call it "Sew Sensational." I called it "Nancy's Notions." I liked the alliteration of it all. So the 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper made Nancy's Notions. I got a P.O. box in Virginia, Minnesota. Our second bedroom became the warehouse the sewing room, and the guest room. Yep, all in one. Then, shortly thereafter, I was asked to do a pilot for cable television. Now, in 1982 cable television, you wouldn't know what that was. I thought it was the heavy cable that was holding the antenna to the top of our roof.

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Luckily, not too many people had that because I tried it in our home. We had a two-bedroom house. In our living room our dining room table became the demonstration table. Also the sewing table all in one. We have one clip to show you. That's our only clip we have of that first full year of programming. A very green host with a very condensed set and a very wobbly table. But I forged forward to show you an embarrassing first clip. of the first year of Sewing with Nancy called "Contemporary Tailoring." Hi, I'm Nancy Zieman. Welcome to another program of Sewing with Nancy. Today we conclude our four-part series of "Contemporary Tailoring." I'm going to set my machine at a basting stitch just in case I have to take it out. Now I'll go to my machine. I have the machine set at the basting stitch. Usually, that's six or eight stitches per inch. Then sew from the point of the lapel to the edge. Now, it's always important in this area that all your stitches lock, so when you start to stitch make certain that the take-up lever the lever that goes up and down on your machine is in it's upright position. Oh, yeah.

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After 11 shows taped in my home-- And I got a sunburn the first time because our ceilings were eight feet high. It took 13 hours. It was bad. But after 11 shows the producer said this isn't working so well. We're not going to do this anymore. Then he kind of cavalierly said, go ahead and do it yourself. We had a three-month old baby. I thought, no, there'd be no way I was going to do this again. I remember that night waking up in a cold sweat sitting upright and thinking if you don't do this now, Nancy you'll never have another opportunity. The next day, I called video production companies. I didn't know what I was talking about, but I called them. I secured a three-month contract with a network because I didn't think I could pay the bills. We started producing the shows on their own. We went from a basement studio to an ABC affiliate and now to my home at Wisconsin Public Television. We've had lots of changes over these 30 years. Lots of set designs, different colors, looks. Oh, my goodness you will be able to tell from this summary of clips that we've had a lot of changes over the years. So now you're going to see Sewing with Nancy set designs throughout the years. We'll go to the machine and sew this right now. The machine settings for working with synthetic suede of course, are straight stitch but use a relatively long stitch ten to nine stitches per inch. Now I'm going to use two of the four threads to over-edge the seam. Let's check the small-scale one and show them how we started to make this. We have our sewing machines set up for monogramming. Now the same type of seam can be carried out to the facing area. Working with specialty threads requires hand-in-hand working with specialty needles. A simple construction. Again, we're be using those exposed zipper ideas. It would simply be tacked into place. This one would probably require a lot of tacking because of the various detail. Yeah, how about that for a lot of changes?

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Well, I'm often asked how I determine what topics to choose. If I like it, I figure you will, too. So, the litmus test isn't very difficult. In the '80s, I had young children and a staff with young children. Oh, what better program than "Sewing For Children." Yes. And if you're sewing for children you also have to have children.

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You know, you have to have models so I invited children, lots of children to be my guests. Five in fact, at one time, on air. Now, I want you to pay special attention... Yeah, I learned.

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Pay special attention to a cute, little blond boy who is holding a kitty. Then you'll also notice a rather frazzled bad hair day, host.

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When I'm nervous I talk fast. The longer this tape runs, the faster I talk.

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I have no idea, really, of what I said at the end but I'd like you now just to take a little look at "Sewing for Children," the first issue. Today we have a special three-part series on you guessed it, "Sewing for Children." In our first segment we're going to work with t-shirts and make seven variations from one basic t-shirt style. As you can see, our little boy, Ted here, is wearing a t-shirt with a double ribbing. Then we'll also be making a football jersey from a t-shirt as well as some things for little girls and little boys combined. Then we're going to have a series on sewing little girls' dresses, speciality techniques decorative stitches, as well as other techniques.

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That's right, John. Then, in our last segment of "Sewing for Children" we have specialty things for little boys. We're going to be working with bib overalls and pants and putting in some specialty construction as well as some appliqu and decorative touches. I think you'll enjoy this video. Take it step-by-step with me. You can stop this at any time and replay it to go over a technique that you'd like to see. We'll start off with the t-shirt.

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Well, yeah. That little boy grew up. That little boy is our oldest son, Ted. I'd like you to meet Ted.

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Sitting next to him is his lovely wife, Alison. There's Ally.

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The best part about having adult children is that we now have a future generation to do more sewing for children. I'd like to introduce you to my next guest models-to-be Avery and Luella.

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Oh, boy! But, I got smarter! I got smarter as I go along. I went to more children's sewing but one child at a time. Notice the dimples.

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In the third program on "Knit Trends" I have updates to change the look of necklines or waistlines. Tommy is showing us our first look. Stacked bandings at the neckline. The sewing is easy, yet has great detail. Oh, it was short, but wasn't it sweet?

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Our family is complete by introducing you to our youngest son, Tom.

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Over the past 30 years I've had a variety of guests. We've shown a variety of topics sewing, quilting, embroidering, serging. The guest you're about to meet has been on 46 shows the most of any guest on Sewing with Nancy. I must say, she's our most agreeable guest. Thank you, Nancy, it's going to be fun to work together. Thanks, it's always fun to share ideas with you and your viewers. I think we have some exciting projects to share. These are some great ideas, Nancy. Thanks, Nancy. I always enjoy thinking of new sweatshirt innovations. Thanks, Nancy. I know from the overwhelming response to past programs that our viewers really like to transform sweatshirts.

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Mary Mulari. And it's true, Nancy. They still like to transform sweatshirts! They do, we have shown, together a variety of topics. I'd like to say it's "A to Z." Aprons, reversible aprons appliqu, we've shown sew-green makeovers. We've shown tote bags. We've shown sweatshirts many times and we've shown zipper bags. A to Z, you know. Oh, yes, the famous zipper bag. Mary, at first, you know I could hardly get you to say a word. I know. People said, why didn't you talk more? Why did Nancy do all the talking? She's learned. I have. Sometimes she just says, just let me do it. We should talk about how we met. When you were teaching in Minnesota I was one of your students. I taught her everything she knew. I was an English teacher at the time who just liked to sew. 30 years later, we're still working together Mary brought, to one of our first classes a makeover sweatshirt, an appliqu idea. That's right. I couldn't resist. It was a really novel thing 30 years ago. I guess, really novel. To put an embellishment on a shirt, it was an apple. Then you had a loon, of course, you're from Minnesota. Right, right. That would explain that.

We had so many

"Sweatshirts, Makeovers" "First-rate Sweatshirts." You name it. "Expressive Sweatshirts," "First-Rate," on and on. But then, when you have a sweatshirt and you have appliqus there are places that you should not...

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We had so many

That's right. Not put an appliqu! We left this in the tape. That's right. Consider that we're going to mark the bustline. We would place the garment on the body and we would mark the bustline with pins. Then this would help us to determine where not to place decoration.

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We had so many

Yeah. It's still very important! To state the obvious, yes. Sometimes people can't tell us apart, or think we're sisters. They can tell us apart but they can't tell our voices apart. Right, sometimes when I'm watching the show and I don't see who's on camera, I don't know. Is that me talking or is that Nancy talking? We've done many programs together and we had the most fun in a program that was not a traditional Sewing with Nancy show it was a pledge special. We did it in front of an audience. This is our second audience show. On our first one, we had a band the "Sewing with Nancy Band." The jazz band. Right, we had the "Sewing with Nancy Band." We did a little sewing. And a little cooking. We planned this script in an airport. Right, I guess I have to admit that I caused you to be late for your plane. Yes, so I made her stay and in the cafeteria, we planned this. It's kind of a little silly a little sewing, a little cooking. It's called "Kick It Up A Stitch." So then, it says three ribs of celery, diced. Okay, three ribs of celery. Okay, here. There are three ribs. Okay. And hey, we sew, we cook! You know, I find...

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We had so many

It's much easier!

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We had so many

All right, okay. Mary, you know... Maybe just an 1/8", not a 1/4".

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rim shot

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We had so many

You and your rulers, Nancy! Well, Mary, thanks for being my guest. Thanks for being my friend, and thanks for being here. Your welcome.

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We had so many

I love the interaction between Nancy and Mary Mulari because inevitably, something goes wrong and it's always fun to watch the two of them. I watch Sewing with Nancy &nbspallthe time. If I can't watch it, I DVR it and I have been for probably 20 years or more, watching it. Wow, why? It's great, it's informational. You learn new and different things. Keep up with the products. It's a wonderful show, it really is. Well, yes, congratulations, and many more years. Most of you know this program as Sewing with Nancy. But really, it should be called Sewing with Nancy, Donna, Pat, Kate, Diane, Lois, Deanna you get the idea. Three of us on this stage go to the studio every time. I'd like you to meet Donna Fenske and Pat Hahn. Thank you.

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We had so many

Donna is my right-hand person in producing Sewing with Nancy making samples, planning the program. Pat is our wordsmith, our editor of all the books and booklets that we use to help you understand the program. They come with me every taping date. They set up samples. They work in the control room. They make sure that I'm saying the right things. They follow my script. We work together as a team. Teamwork works at the studio but sometimes there's more than we are bargaining for, Pat. You can tell a story about our trips from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, to Madison, about an hour drive. We've had some memorable trips going back and forth from Beaver Dam to Madison. We've gone through a blizzard. We've gone through ice storms. We've even traveled in a tornado warning. But the day that I recall-- One of the days I recall the most was a day when it was really a beautiful sunny day so the weather wasn't any factor at all. This was a day when we were taping a program on bridal gowns. The week before, we had taped the first portion of that program and Susan Andriks, who was a bridal specialist had been our guest. She had left us some beautiful gowns and veils that we could use for the second part of the program. So, on this particular day we loaded all of our samples into the car. We loaded our notions. We loaded those gowns. And we started traveling up the highway going toward Madison. Shortly after we got out onto the road all of a sudden, the hatchback of the van flew open.

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We had so many

And all of the things from the back of the car spilled out onto the highway. So you can imagine, there was a collective shriek on our part!

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We had so many

We pulled the car to the edge of the road. I don't think you've ever seen us move that quickly.

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We had so many

We hopped out of the car gathered all of this stuff off of the highway. We had notions, scissors, shears, thread. We had bridal gowns all over the road. We managed to pick them all up and get them back in the van. Actually, we were very fortunate because the weather was good. It was early morning so there weren't any other vehicles on the road. And our bridal gowns were all in plastic bags. So we loaded everything carefully proceeded back onto the highway on our way to Madison. But ever since, we've called that day or referred to that program as...

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"The Runaway Bride!"

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All three

Donna, one time you had to do extra sewing at the studio. Well, sometimes we forget things like maybe a foot control or a notion. But this time, Nancy forgot a garment. What had happened, we had finished taping 1-1/2 programs the week before, of "Fleece in a Flash." Nancy forgot her cream turtleneck. To wear. We had to finish the second half of the program. So we had to come up with a Plan A which was, Donna had to go shopping. First of all, the plan was to look for a cream turtleneck. Plan B was if I couldn't find a cream turtleneck I'd have to do a cream t-shirt and transform it into a turtleneck. So, it's summertime. Cream is not a popular color. But I was very lucky and I did find a cream t-shirt that needed to be transformed. So, I had to cut six to eight inches off of the bottom redesign it for the turtleneck. Nancy wore this underneath her fleece cardigan. It was a very flashy Britney Spears top!

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All three

Thank you! Well, as you can tell, there are more memories than one show can handle. We have our first program of our "30th Anniversary Special." We'll be back next time with our audience and also with more bloopers, with more memories, on Sewing with Nancy. Bye for now.

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All three

Thanks for joining me. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye. A DVD of the two-part "Sewing with Nancy's 30th Anniversary Special" is available for $9.99, plus shipping and handling. To order "Sewing with Nancy's 30th Anniversary Special" DVD call 1-800-336-8373

or visit our website at

sewingwithnancy.com/2614 Order item number SN2614 "Sewing with Nancy's 30th Anniversary Special." Credit card orders only. To pay by check or money order call the number on the screen for details. Visit Nancy's website at nancyzieman.com to see additional episodes, Nancy's blog, and more. Sewing with Nancy, &nbspcelebrating30 years of sewing and quilting with Nancy Zieman

has been brought to you by

Baby Lock Madeira Threads Koala Studios Clover Amazing Designs, and Klass Needles. Closed captioning funding provided by Oliso. Sewing with Nancy &nbspisa co-production of Nancy Zieman Productions and Wisconsin Public Television.