Lorene’s two children, Anna & John, were growing up quickly and becoming more independent. A highly creative and enterprising person, she craved a project that would grant her happiness and purpose, and when a friend and store owner in Wichita Falls announced she was going to retire and put her business up for sale, Lorene took the intimidating but exciting risk of purchasing the store, with the aim of bringing a fashion fabric store to the mid-cities.

Over the years, the store has grown from a small fashion fabrics store, to a thriving and bustling sewing and quilting store and Bernina dealership, and Lorene’s passion for helping the sewing and quilting community shows through her commitment to Sew It Up. Outside of sewing, quilting, knitting & embroidery, Lorene loves to cook, spend time with her husband of forty-four years, John, at their home in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and travel to often distant places with her daughter Anna, pictured in the upper right photo with her Mom, who lives in Portugal after eight years in England. In addition to being a wife and mother, Sew It Up has been the defining purpose of her life, and she is excited to see what next steps will bring as her bustling fabric store & sewing machine dealership takes a more active presence online! 

Stefanie learned to sew at a young age from her Mom, who has a great love for sewing all kinds of things. Since joining Sew It Up, she has found the ladies that work with her to be her most-loved mentors. Stefanie was born in Canada and has lived all over from Utah, to Chicago, to L.A. and now Texas! She is very close to her family and is a devoted aunt. Outside of sewing and quilting, she loves to cook and bake and take vacations to Disneyland & Disney World! Some of Stefanie’s favorite designers include Rifle Paper Company, Ruby Star Society, Laura Muir & Maureen Cracknell. Stefanie is our social media guru, and she shares what is new at Sew It Up on Instagram and Facebook. We are very grateful to her for working so hard during the pandemic to share our store’s activities on Zoom & Facebook Live! Her vibrant personality and love of sewing is a tremendous asset to our store.

Linda has been inspiring the quilting community at Sew It Up for more than 13 years, sharing her sewing knowledge through teaching from our Quilt it Up Club over donuts & coffee, to virtual Zoom classes during the pandemic. She has lived in Washington, Michigan, California, and now Texas, where she is a busy Mom & Grandmother to twelve children. Outside of quilting, she loves spending time with her family, researching family history, and dolls. She uses her Bernina Q24 nearly every single day, and especially loves working with Lori Holt, Alison Glass & Tilda fabrics. Linda is responsible for creating so many beautiful samples for our store, and we are very fortunate to have such a kind and patient teacher here at Sew It Up!

Eilyn is fascinated by the quiet workings and dependable stitch quality of Bernina machines, and she is a vital support at Sew It Up, diligently working to repair & improve our customer’s machines. Born in Springfield, Illinois, Eilyn has lived in several Latin American countries as the daughter of a missionary. Her mother, who sewed her 6’4” father’s dress shirts in order to avoid the expense of tailoring them, inspired Eilyn on her lifelong interest in sewing out of necessity, rather than as a hobby. From designing home furnishings to creating her own fashions, Eilyn enjoys making things that she loves, rather-than altering store bought items that don’t meet her needs. Eilyn is not afraid of a machine with an attitude, and we are very grateful for her commitment to delivering excellent BERNINA technical support to our community!

With her brilliant technical mind, Janice has been a vital part of the Sew it Up Team since 2008. Her sewing journey started as a child sewing doll clothes, before moving onto making clothing for herself, culminating in making the dress that she was married in. After the passing of her grandmother, Janice & her mother found three beautiful quilt tops that her grandmother had pieced but had not completed. Janice decided to take up hand quilting followed by machine sewing and quilting. Two years later she was able to give her Mom the special gift of one of her grandmother’s completed quilts. This inspired her to take more quilting classes, and in 2002 she purchased her first Bernina machine. She continues to take classes to this day as she loves learning new sewing techniques!

Lori has been sewing from quite a young age, and started sewing purses, dolls & stuffed animals by hand and on her Mom’s sewing machines. Born in Michigan, Lori has lived in California, Georgia and now Texas, where she lives with her husband Jamie and their two children Makayla and Noah. She has two furry family members as well, big and small – Willow, a Siberian Husky & Emma a Chihuahua. Outside of sewing, Lori loves to hike & run, and she and her family love to vacation in Colorado. Lori is a big fan of Ruby Star Society & Robert Kauffman fabrics, and she loves Elizabeth Hartman’s quilt patterns & Noodlehead’s bag patterns. Lori has been busy adding all of her favorite products and more to our website, which is now a treasure trove of beautiful fabrics & patterns. We are grateful for Lori’s dedication to this immense task! 

Madeleine has been working at Sew It Up for 9 years, and her beautiful outlook on life and happy personality is a blessing to the Sew It Up community. Her older sister Mary Ann taught her to sew at the age of 12, and since joining the Sew It Up Team, she has found herself an incredible community of friends and sewing mentors. Madeleine loves helping customers dream up their next project, and she is very gifted at putting the perfect fabrics together! Some of her favorite fabric designers are Rifle Paper Co., Maureen Cracknell & Tone Finnanger of Tilda Fabrics. She loves sewing on her Tula Pink 350 as it makes her happy every time she sees it. Outside of sewing, Madeleine is active in her church & loves to garden. As the sixth of seven children, she is a devoted sister and aunt. She also has a Yorkie named Emma who is an excellent sewing companion! 

Joline’s first sewing classes were in the basement of her local Singer Sewing Centre at the age of ten. She constructed her first outfit as a sixth grader which consisted of pants and a vest made out of brown wide-wale corduroy! Joline loves garment sewing, and is particularly fond of sewing children’s clothing. Since she joined the team at Sew It Up, she has fallen in love with machine embroidery, leading our monthly Embroidery Club in-person or online! She and her husband, Jim, have been married for thirty-seven years and together they have two children. She has lived in Maine, Wisconsin & Texas, and outside of sewing loves to read, cook & travel. She has been sewing on a Bernina since the mid-1990s, and her favorite BERNINA is her 790+. With her witty sense of humor and willingness to help solve problems, she is a tremendous asset at Sew It Up!