Frances Webb

French Heirloom Sewing

Like many of you, I began sewing as a child, having observed my mother's skills. When I was four, my mother allowed me to use her sewing machine to construct garments for my dolls. Since then, I've done a little bit of everything in hand and machine sewing. But it wasn't until I had nieces and goddaughters that I became interested in French Heirloom sewing.

My first French Heirloom garment was a dress for my niece, hand sewn in 1994. In 1996, I became more serious about the art and purchased my Pfaff Creative 7570 computerized embroidery machine. Hand sewing took too long, I had more little girls to sew for, and my grandmother's forty-year old Singer, which I inherited, would only straight stitch!

Andy Bennett, my first heirloom teacher and now my good friend, taught me many heirloom techniques using The Heirloom Quilt by Yolande Filson and Roberta Przybylski. We met once each month at Quilted Expressions, the local Pfaff dealer, to construct twelve blocks and to put the quilt together.

Since then, I have had the privilege of taking classes from many very talented instructors. I had the opportunity to become a Martha Pullen Pfaff Licensed Teacher in September, 2000. It was a terrific experience--one that I'd recommend to anyone interested in teaching French Heirloom Sewing.

Frances Webb and Martha Pullen, Pfaff Licensing

After purchasing a Viking Designer 1, I repeated the experience when I returned to Alabama for my Martha Pullen Husqvarna Viking II License in October, 2002.

Frances Webb and Martha Pullen, Husqvarna Viking II Licensing

Most recently, I was in the first group to receive the Martha Pullen Teaching Serger Sewing License in September, 2004.

Although previously I taught French Heirloom sewing at Quilted Expressions (Lynchburg, Virginia), the Lynchburg Sewing Center (Forest, Virginia), the Viking Sewing Center (Roanoke, Virginia), and the Quilt and Sew Studio (Forest, Virginia), I am not currently teaching. Search my site and you may find some of my class instructions available at no charge!

Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion (July 23-29, 2007)