About

Milinda Jay Stephenson
National Educator, Baby Lock

The love of sewing is deeply rooted in Milinda’s family. In 1906, her great-grandmother opened a sewing and notions store in Southport, Florida. She began by ordering needles, pins and fine fabrics from the Sears and Roebuck catalog and selling them on her front porch. By 1925, she had moved her fabric and notions store to downtown Panama City where she spread sewing cheer to all who stopped by.

Milinda’s love of innovative techniques, fine fabrics and real Cluny lace is inhertited from her great-grandmother whose children and grandchildren shared her love of sewing. Three generations later, Milinda carries on the tradition of sewing prom gowns, Halloween costumes, cheerleading uniforms, Christmas pajamas and Easter outfits with her own children and, very recently, grandchildren!

Milinda is a frequent contributor to Creative Machine Embroidery and Sew News magazines. You can see some of Milinda’s projects at milindasews.blogspot.com

Blog

July 2021

This past year has been a tough one for all of us. I miss being with people, and more than anything, I miss teaching live and in-person classes! So nothing has thrilled me more this week than booking events for the fall!

What I’m hearing from sewing enthusiasts is that they want to get together with their friends and learn new things and sew. As much as I have enjoyed teaching virtual classes, there is just nothing like an in-person class, and I am so happy to be teaching them again! I love seeing the joy in faces as a student learns a new skill, creates a beautiful stitch, completes a project to be given to a special someone.

As a life-long educator, it’s important to me for students to leave my classes with a notebook in hand with samples and stitch information so that they can go home and replicate the various techniques in their own projects.

This summer and fall, I’m focusing on IQ Designer as well as the foot kits for the sergers and the wonderful cover-hem machine, the Euphoria. As I teach techniques, students will practice the technique, stitch out a sample, place it in their notebook, and then apply the technique to a project that will be completed by the end of class.

For more information on specific classes, see my event calendar.

Happy sewing!