In the early 1960's Ann Person had been teaching sewing classes, coordinating fashion shows, and more when she was given a carton of knit remnants as a thank-you for teaching one of her sewing classes. But when Ann tried to turn those remnants into clothing for her daughters, it wasn't as easy as she first thought. There were no patterns or guidelines for knit fabrics in the home. So Ann started experimenting - first by taking apart knit ready-to-wear garments. From there she developed easy sewing techniques and teaching them all over the area. 

Her first patterns were on butcher paper - her students traced the sizes they needed and then got to work. From there, commercial patterns, and eventually stores evolved. I had the privilege of meeting Ann in 1977 when I completed my first Teacher Training Course. In my opinion Stretch & Sew Patterns are still...  Read More

 I have a rather large collection of fabrics that have been languishing in boxes, aching to be made into something wonderful! Most were purchased in the 1970's and 1980's. I do not know the fabric content of every piece. I will describe them to the best of my ability. They are sold as is - by that I mean I will not cut them into shorter pieces. All pictures are actual scans of the fabric. It is sometimes difficult to get the exact color for your viewing - keep that in mind if you are trying to match something.

In order to prepare them for sale, I WASHED everything in cold water and dried them in the dryer. Therefore, every piece has been pre-shrunk for you! In some cases, this has changed the texture/hand of the fabric, as well as ending up with some unusual widths. I do my best to describe what the fabric is now like. For instance, I had some raw silks...  Read More

All commercial records pressed prior to 1957 were monaural (mono) meaning they only had one signal channel to speakers or headphones. Stereophonic LP's had been tinkered with since the 1930's - the idea being that recorded music sounds better when each ear is presented with a different element of the overall sound. But stereo was very expensive - in the early 60's only wealthy adults could afford state-of-the-art "hi-fi" stereo systems with two speakers. Teenagers, the biggest consumers of records made do with cheap mono record players with one speaker. And stereo records cost more than mono. Because of this, artists like Frank Sinatra were more likely to put out stereo recordings while pop stars kept to mono recordings. That began to change in 1966 when inexpensive stylus cartridges allowed stereo records...  Read More

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." — Jacqueline Kennedy.
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." — Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"

There are so many wonderful quotes about reading, but these are two of my favorites. There is so much to be learned from books, so many worlds to visit! My personal story of discovering the joys of reading began when I was in third grade. Up to that point, I had been a C/D student. We moved to a new school district part-way into the school year. As if that wasn't bad enough, I got sick with rheumatic fever and was confined to bed for 3 months. My teacher, Mrs. Butler, sent work home for me to do, and my Mom brought home stacks of books from the library every week, and I devoured...  Read More