Sew & So goes to the circus as we sit down with Maritza Atayde The Assistant Director of the Gamma Phi Circus.

Gamma Phi Circus is celebrating their 94th year as an organization at Illinois State University and is the oldest and longest running collegiate circus in the United States

Gamma Phi Circus alumni can be found within such organizations as Cirque de Soleil, Disney Cruise Lines, Shrine Circuses, Circus Kingdom, and Kelly Bros.

Our Guest Maritza Atayde is a 4th generation circus performer and owner who has performed with her family's circus Circo Atayde Hermanos, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Big Apple Circus, George Carden International Circus, as well as in musical theater. She has worked for Gamma Phi Circus since 2013 and was promoted to Assistant Director in 2020. Maritza oversees the creation of all costumes for the circus, choreography, and aerial arts.

In this episode, we meet Abby Riba – owner of the ViviLux line of sewing lighting products which she herself designed and created. From Chicago, Abby now lives in Clearwater, Fl. A self-taught sewist specializing in one-of-a-kind bridal and eveningwear – Abby has a knack for identifying a need for sewists…then creating the right product to fill that need. Her first company to do this was Kandi Corp – maker of the then totally innovative DIY hot fix crystals. Join us as Abby takes us along on her incredible journey through both personal and professional challenges and triumphs!

Join us for this up-close and personal conversation with Mary Grabenstatter, owner of Needle Sharp. Mary grew up in Buffalo, NY and after college at Boston College where she studied French and film, she worked as a freelance assistant editor in documentary film for two years before beginning a job at Barnes and Noble. In 2017, she left her job and moved back to her hometown to start Needle Sharp, a sewing subscription service that provides monthly boxes for garment sewists. She says that with many ups and downs, the past five years have been the hardest and most rewarding of her life.

Crowned Miss Universe in 2022, twenty-nine-year-old R’Bonney Gabriel has not only made her mark in embracing her culture, but she has also led notable efforts as a lead sewing instructor in a non-profit design house in Houston which is dedicated to using fashion as a force for good. This is her remarkable story of her childhood, learning to sew and her swift journey to winning the Miss Universe title.

Join us in Dallas TX to experience all the fun and excitement of BERNINA University 2023 – BERNINA’s annual dealer conference where new products are introduced; dealers attend educational seminars and old friends gather to share their sewing and quilting adventures. Plus, this year, meet Yaya Han – internationally renowned cosplay personality and namesake of the new bernette 79 Yaya Han edition.

Join us for this special, in-person conversation with world renown cosplay designer Yaya Han, recorded In Dallas, TX while launching her eponymous sewing machine the bernette 79 Yaya Han edition. She is kind and gracious and her story is one of courage and love of cosplay.

Cookie Washington is a fourth-generation needle worker, award winning textile artist and guest curator of the African American Fiber Arts Exhibit which is part of the North Charleston Arts Festival. Join us for this forthcoming and insightful conversation!

Amanda Carye, the owner of Broadcloth Studio and the co-host of Quilt Buzz has been quilting “since forever”. On this episode she shares her journey outside her comfort zone and shares her adventures in starting both her business and podcast

Alex Anderson takes us through her 40 year “quilt life”. Host of HGTV’s Simply Quilts and thequiltshow.com, at her core she is a teacher at heart. Hear her amazing story of her sewing, her health and her life!

Join us for this intimate, in-person conversation with renown cosplayer Jedimanda. Hear her tell in her own words about her passion for cosplay, what she does when NOT doing cosplay and how she feels about the cosplay community. She is confident, talented, and deeply committed to the cosplay culture!

Sew & So is recorded live from C2E2 Chicago 2023 talking to cosplayers, vendors, fabricators, throwing in a special interview or two along the way.

Six amazing black sewists join us for this open conversation about where they’ve come from, their work today and their hopes for tomorrow. Recorded in-person at QuiltCon 2023 in Atlanta, this episode will give you never before shared insight into the lives of women who are committed to a better future for all. These women are mothers, professionals, quilters, sewists, activists…and each has a part and voice in the furthering of their community. Their experiences are vast, as are their stories, their opinions and their work.

Join us for this intimate, in-person conversation with Nick Verreos – featured on Project Runway and designer to the stars. Hear how it all started for him, what he’s doing today and what the future holds for him and his amazing creations.

Join us for as we travel to the beautiful Pacific Northwest for this perennially favorite Sewing and Stitchery Expo. We meet Nick Verreos from Project Runway, attendees, vendors, catch-up with previous Sew & So guests and have a front row seat to an exclusive fashion show hosted by Nick himself.

Join us for an exclusive, behind the scenes adventure at QuiltCon 2023 in Atlanta. We’ll talk to show organizers, featured artists, notable Black Sewists, activists, vendors and attendees with a few surprises thrown in as well!

Our guest today is Sarah Joiner, a sewist, knitter, blogger at The Lilac Elk and teacher from Pennsylvania, where she teaches college students chemistry by day and sews all night.

Sarah Ramberg is the owner of the upcycling website, Sadie Seasongoods, and author of the book Crafting with Flannel, which was released in 2021. She has been featured on hgtv.com, Huff Po, BuzzFeed, Country Sampler Farmhouse Style magazine, and Goodhousekeeping.com.

Owner of Brooks Ann Bespoke, LLC. Brooks Ann Camper is a former professional costumer on Broadway. Today, she has her own couturier bridal wear business, and blogs about her behind-the-scenes process as well as how to create custom designs for the at-home sewists. Her blogs have been featured in Seamwork, Threads magazine, Huffington Post, and People Magazine.

Founder of Carina Gardner, Inc, Carina has an MA and PhD in Design from the University of Minnesota, where she also taught design for four years. She designs fabrics for Riley Blake and has several digital shops for her circuit silhouette and sublimation crafters. Her brand can be found on everything from dishware, home décor and wallpaper to jewelry and sewing patterns.

Owner of Sookie Sews and founder of Sookie B Academy, Sue O'Very-Pruitt, aka Sookie, has been in the sewing industry her entire career. She is also a twice-published author, notion inventor, a BERNINA and bernette Ambassador and the Embroidery Software v9 expert for BERNINA.