Martha Pullen
Teacher Licensing
Huntsville, AL

Dates & Details

Southwest Sewing Celebration
Tucson, AZ

Dates & Details

School of Art Fashion
Huntsville, AL

Dates & Details

Save the Date!

February 6-13, 2011

We’re having a birthday party, and we want YOU to join us! Celebrate 30 years of Martha Pullen Company at the February 2011 School of Art Fashion! We’ll have a very special banquet presentation to commemorate 30 years of bringing you the best in sewing notions, quality fabrics, laces, trims and sewing education! Make plans now to join Martha and the MPC staff for great schools and lots of wonderful 30th birthday surprises. Registration begins Wednesday, September 8, 2010. Click here to download the brochure! Join us in February for:

Beginning Heirloom School with Dody Baker & Patty Smith
Kari Mecca Embellishing School
Wendy Schoen Baby School
Debbie Glenn Fine Machine Sewing School
Louise Cutting Fashion School
Gail Doane Sewing for Girls School
Michie' Mooney Smocking & Construction School
Bernina School with Lezette Thomason
Baby Lock Sew & Serge for Babies School with Pam Mahshie & Missy Billingsley
Everything Evy Hawkins with Baby Lock
Baby Lock Heirloom School with Connie Palmer
Husqvarna/Viking School with Sue Hausmann & Peggy Dilbone
Pfaff/Zundt School with Sue Pennington Stewart

Preday Classes also with:
Kathy McMakin, Alicia Welcher, Kathy Barnard,
Suzanne Shelton, Trisha Smith, Darlene Guillory & more!

Registration begins Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 8:00am (CST)
For registration call 800-547-4176, ext. 4.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
Brand New Licensing Pages!

Our Licensing pages at www.marthapullen.com have undergone a complete transformation and we invite you to come and take a personal tour. We think you’ll enjoy our new layout and décor with its updated information, easy-to-navigate pages, and detailed specifics about each licensing that is currently on our calendar. You’ll find comments from a few of our Martha Pullen Licensed teachers, pictures taken during licensing activities, and answers to the questions most frequently asked about licensings. Also included are direct links to the Licensing Registration Form so you can easily print the form and complete it for registration. So come on in – maybe even “sit a spell”. We think the view from our redecorated porch will inspire you to make plans to come to a licensing very soon. And we promise you a glass of sweet Southern iced tea or lemonade when you come! Just click here!

You are invited to Heirloom II Licensing!

And speaking of brand new, Heirloom Sewing II will first be offered October 8-15, 2010, so make your plans to attend now! With more than 20 projects and kits, this may just be the best heirloom curriculum ever! You’ll make two christening gowns, a child’s dress, a baby set for boys and one for girls, bonnets, a sewing organizer set, and a to-die-for heirloom quilt. There’s also a lady’s blouse, camisole and tap pants, tote, spa set and MORE!! Internationally known heirloom teachers – Martha Pullen, Connie Palmer, Missy Billingsley, Peggy Dilbone, Kathy McMakin, LaQuinta Schum, and Alicia Welcher – will spend six days and seven nights giving you a great sewing education. You can even borrow a sewing machine from us, so you don’t have to ship your own! We have Baby Lock Ellisimos, Viking Diamonds and Pfaff CVs. Just tell us what you want to borrow when you register!

Your course fee includes all kits, an embroidery and specialty thread bag, meals, snacks, double occupancy lodging, a licensing credential certificate, professional photo with Martha, joint copyright on all projects and two CDs – one with PDFs of all the projects and one with curriculum embroidery designs in all popular formats for you to use in the classes you teach. Even if you don’t plan to teach, come anyway! You’ll learn new techniques and make great sewing friends. (Don’t worry; we’re not retiring Heirloom Sewing I yet, and you don’t need to take the curriculum in any particular order.)

Click here to register! Or call 800-547-4176, x5. Let us save a seat for YOU October 8-15!

Back-to-School for Less!!

Send that sweet girl back-to-school in style this year for a whole lot less! Get our "Jane's First Day Dress" pattern for 25% off this week and pair it with the new Martha's Classic Cotton Gingham and solid colors, now 25% off, too! This adorable Sew Beautiful Collection pattern fits girls' sizes 2 through 6 to make great back-to-school fashions. Regularly priced at $12.00; click here to purchase the pattern now for just $9.00!

Make her pretty dresses in the new fall colors of cotton solids and gingham available at the MPC store! Chocolate, ecru, gray, orange and navy are perfect autumn hues for her school clothes and more. Regularly $12.00 per yard; all of our classic cotton and classic cotton ginghams are on sale for $9.00 per yard (3 yard minimum per color). Click here to order!

Add our coordinating bias trims to dress up those First Day creations! Click here to purchase our baby piping, spaghetti bias, picot-edge folded bias and single-fold bias.

For more fashion ideas using the "Jane's First Day" pattern, check out the September issue of Sew Beautiful magazine, now on sale at a newsstand near you!

Beautiful French Cotton Lace Now on Sale!

Get these gorgeous French cotton laces at 30% off this week! Our 3/4” lace edging (L-2/9872), regularly priced at $2.80 per yard, is just $2.00 for a limited time! Its corresponding 5/8” lace insertion (L-2/9878) is regularly $2.32; purchase it this week only for just $1.68 per yard! You must order a minimum of five yards to get the sale price. Just click here to order!

SEWING TIPS FOR LACE SHAPING FROM MARTHA PULLEN
 
Several weeks ago I told you about Dody Baker’s tip for slipping a plastic card behind shaped lace to remove it more easily. Today I have some more quick tips for lace shaping.

1. Place glass head pins in the lace shaping board at the four corners of any fabric or garment piece to stabilize the actual fabric or garment before shaping the lace.
2. If it is necessary to draw a template on the garment, after lace shaping and pressing on the wash-away marker, re-pinning the lace to the garment and sewing the lace to the garment, soak the garment in CLEAR water overnight. If your water is high in chlorine you might need to use distilled water. These blue marks must be removed and using soap on the garment before it has been thoroughly soaked might have them return permanently. Dabbing them with water makes the marks go away. HOWEVER, they can re-appear and if you have washed the garment with soap before they “mysteriously” re-appear, the marks will be permanent. If your lace is shaped on any type of fabric other than 100% cotton do not iron on top of the marks after shaping your lace. Some people do not mark on the garment at all fearing that the marks will come back after the heat of the iron.
   
3. Some people prefer to draw a template on white paper with a PERMANENT PEN. Then put this template on your lace shaping board, fabric next and shape until your heart’s content. This way you have the custom template on throw-away paper not on your dress. Be sure you use a permanent pen for this paper template since a regular pen will fade onto your garment when you spray starch and press your shaped pieces.
4. After lightly spray starching your shaped lace, ALWAYS place a press cloth over it before touching a DRY iron to press the shaped lace. I just use a piece of batiste fabric for a press cloth. Press until bone dry before removing the pins, a few at a time, to re-pin the lace to the garment. Please use Dody’s tip I sent several weeks ago about removing lace from the lace shaping board by slipping a plastic hotel key or old credit card underneath the small piece of shaped lace before pinning to the garment. 

Please click here to see Martha lace shape a heart. Making a lace heart uses two of the three techniques for lace shaping-curving and mitering. The only lace shaping technique left is flip flopping!

FROM JEAN-ANN CARNAHAN WHO HAS BEEN TO LICENSING 5 TIMES
When I first came to Huntsville in January of 2007, I needed a bag to carry my lace shaping board. So I made a simple tote of recycled denim. I cut the bottom off a denim jumper and used the hem as the top of the bag. I used a leg off a pair of black denim jeans for a pocket to hold my 6" x 24" ruler. I put my name on the pocket using the alphabet from the 2006 IEC - it stitched out beautifully, even on the tough denim. I've used this bag ever since; it holds the board and a whole lot more. It's great for oversized items and quilt blocks, too.

FABULOUS PETTISKIRTS ON JANET JORDAN, TX PLUS HER THREE GRANDDAUGHTERS
Note from Martha Pullen: Janet told me recently when she was here for a serger licensing that everybody on a recent vacation to a theme park stopped not only her three granddaughters but her in her pettiskirt! Janet, I love the fact that grandmother had a pettiskirt too. You are all adorable!

Dear Sewing Family,

With September almost here I have to confess I always think about school’s starting, band practice, football games, getting two new pairs of shoes for the fall (black and brown), piano lessons beginning again, Mama’s sewing my “traditional cotton dresses”—you get the picture. As many of you know I am a third generation schoolteacher. I transferred my love of teaching from the public school classroom to the sewing classroom many years ago. And how I love it. We love bringing excellent sewing education to you through our books, Sew Beautiful magazine, our events, our videos - and other avenues. We love to bring gorgeous sewing products to YOU -- for YOU. When I think about sewing of course I think about Mama and my Aunt Chris. Both were great encouragers and both schoolteachers in addition to being my sewing teachers. My high school classmate, John Tally, an attorney in Birmingham, wrote me a story about my Mama and her teaching philosophy, which is like our teaching philosophy in our company.

"When I was in about the 4th grade, I think, I was selected, or made, to dress up like Daniel Boone for a school performance. I wore a coonskin cap and had to sing a song about Daniel Boone to the tune of "The Girl I Left Behind Me," and the first verse started out "O Daniel Boone, the pioneer..." and I think your mother probably wrote the lyrics. It seems like it had about fourteen verses, but probably it had three. My job was to memorize this song and sing it while your mom accompanied me on the piano just in front of the stage. Somewhere in the song I forgot the words, and I don't have to tell you what a panic I was in, but your mother, without missing a beat, picked up the words for me, and of course I remembered where I was almost immediately, and I was able to pick it right up. So even though I'm sure it was obvious that I forgot, it was no big deal. To me, this was typical of your mother. She had that great quality of always pressing forward with such a positive attitude, not too worried about whether somebody might hit a snag somewhere.”

Now, that is our philosophy of sewing education. Just go right ahead and sew and if you hit a snag we will just “pick it up for you.”  We are planning great licensing programs this fall. Come if you are a beginner in heirloom sewing or if you are a master. Jean-Ann Carnahan who has been to FIVE Martha Pullen licensings wrote to me recently that she had a lot of people ask her if it were worth the money. She shared the following information and pictures.

“Since people on 3 different lists have asked me this question, and I've talked about how great it is, I thought I'd take a few pictures to show what you get for that $2700 at the recent serger licensing. So, I spread all the kits out on the bed (it's Queen-sized, for reference) along with the notebook and the thread bag and the other paper stuff. All those neatly folded kits become a garment or bag or other item. There are two Christening gowns with slips and bonnets (Although one can become a child's dress, the pattern has sizes up to 6, I think). There are two quilts and a pattern for a third bonus quilt – there are several bonus projects that come without kits, just extra projects you can make up (Use some of that extra fabric you have on hand!). There are several bags; cosmetic, tote, USB, garment and purses. Then there's the placemats, napkins, napkin rings. Kid's garments, baby blanket, doll dress and slip and then there is the ladies' linen jacket. I know I've forgotten a few things, but you get the picture. Then a picture of the Projects Instruction Book, so you can see how thick it is. Those folded over pages are pattern sheets. And then you also get a regular tissue pattern and a larger sheet for one of the pieces in the set.

And then a close-up of a few of the kits, so you can see how pretty they are put together. Each kit comes in a zip-top baggie with a label, and you get labels with your name on them, so you can label each kit - a real good idea, because they start piling up! And FAST! I also added a picture of the classroom wall, where the items are hanging. I didn't think to take a picture of the food tables in the back of the room. There is always coffee and hot water for tea plus a punch bowl of ice for cold drinks and they bring in cases of soda and water and lemonade. Then the snacks from veggies and fruit to cheese and crackers to pretzels and chocolate. They don't let you get hungry! All that, plus the regular meals and hotel room. So, is it worth it? Well, I keep going back!”

Thanks Jean-Ann for sharing.

We have the greatest School of Art Fashion ever this February! It will be our 30th Birthday Party for Martha Pullen Company! I am going to dance, I promise and Sue Hausmann is going to sing. WE are going to present “The Martha and Sue Follies” at our banquet Friday night. You absolutely cannot miss this! We will have a few other entertainment acts for you. Registration for this Birthday Party School will begin at 8am (CST) September 8. Please call early to be assured of the class of your choice. I told our school director, Sis Hutchison, earlier this week that I have never in my whole life seen such an exciting educational program as this year’s school. Please call 800-547-4176, ext. 4 to register. Please click here to download a complete brochure!
 
Before I close I would like to share something adorable my friend Frances Hash sent to me. "A grandparent is a device so simple a small child can operate it." Don’t you love it?
 
I pray for our men and women serving in harm’s way and for their families. I pray for our country and for our leaders. My special prayers are with each of you this week. Actually I pray for you every week and many times daily. You are my sewing family and I love you dearly. I wrote my devotional this week as I was praying for you. Please know that I care and we care as a company about you and your family. We think it is a great privilege that you are also our customers but first and foremost you are our friends. I wish I could deliver this letter to each of you in person. Please know it is for you personally and I consider it a great honor that so many of you get this letter. I thank you for everything.

May God Bless You and Those You Love,
Martha

Join Martha and shop the MPC Store at these Baby Lock
For the Love of Heirloom Sewing Events!

Maryland Heights, Missouri, September 9-11
call Jackman’s Fabrics at 314-994-1060 for details and registration

East Aurora, New York, September 28-30
call Aurora Sewing Center at 716-652-2811 for details and registration

Sew Beautiful

Click here to subscribe for only $18 a year

Click here to give a gift subscription for only $18 a year 

	Sensational Sweater Makeovers	Lullaby Safari	Jane's Pinched Pleats
	From Kathy Barnard & Sew Beautiful Staff	By Lorraine Bergeron	By Khristal Jouett

MARTHA PULLEN LICENSED TEACHER WEEKS

Licensing dates are scheduled as listed below:

— 2010 —

— 2011 —

2010 Registration Form | 2011 Registration Form

Roman numeral designations indicate a collection of curriculum and not the order in which the
licensings need to be taken. All licensing curriculums are stand-alone and have no prerequisites other than a love of sewing and a desire to learn.

For more info, call 800-547-4176, ext. 5 or visit our licensing info page: Licensing Link

Psalm 5:3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
 
Sometimes I think about the amount of praying that I do. And more often than not I think about the amount of praying that I don’t do. When I try and try to figure out things in my own understanding, I finally realize that I cannot do things by myself. Why, after knowing the Lord totally and completely for many, many years do I still do this?  I know better. I know that only He can direct my life. As I look at the things that are happening in the world today, I rest assured in knowing that God is still in control; however, I feel that more prayer is necessary than ever to ask that God continue to bless America and to lead us in the way we should go. And then I need to remember to praise Him and thank Him for being in control of the universe and this country and the events that trouble me. I am looking up for you and your family and me and my family. I am thanking Him for the blessings. I rest assured that God indeed hears my prayers and the prayers of His people. And I certainly confess that I need to spend much more time in prayer.
 
I would like to quote John McArthur from his book Scriptures to Live By (page 177). I have read this passage over and over this week.
 
"Prayer moves the riches of God’s supernatural grace from heaven to earth -- from His throne to our need. He will respond to our cries and do what is best for us in each experience of life, while still fulfilling His perfect eternal purpose for us."

Recipe from the editors of Taste of the South, a magazine about the rich food heritage of the South. Each issue of Taste of the South features more than 60 easy recipes, which we know you will adore. It's published by Hoffman Media of which Martha Pullen Company is a subsidiary. Thanks to their editors for sharing these recipes with us. If you have questions concerning these recipes, please visit TasteoftheSouthMagazine.com, or call, (888) 411-8995. Click here to subscribe to Taste of the South.

Jalapeño-Lime Marinated Cheese

Yield: approximately 12 servings

2 (8-ounce) packages Monterey Jack cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 (8-ounce) packages sharp Cheddar cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 fresh jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Tortilla chips

In a shallow dish, place cheeses and jalapeño pepper.
In a small bowl, combine lime juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, cumin, and garlic, whisking to combine. Gradually whisk in oil. Stir in bell pepper and cilantro. Pour over cheese.
Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 2 days. Serve with tortilla chips.