While the (now closed) Bernina Sewing Studio was a small independent sewing machine dealership in my area, it was where the owner Barbara introduced me to the joys of a good sewing machine, the delightful enigma of a serger, and showed me that Sandra Betzina existed.

I became enthralled by Sandra’s expertise and personal charisma through her books, especially “Power Sewing” and “More Power Sewing” (with many more to come) which I devoured as if they were “Pride and Prejudice”; the books immediately took me out of the home-sewing-bumpkin stage to a whole new fashion-sewing level. I also could not get enough of Sandra’s videos (VHS in those days) either. Next thing I know she has her own TV show on my then-favorite channel HGTV. Before I blinked, her designs were added to the Vogue Patterns line under the name Today’s Fit with a new and realistic body measurement system. I took every opportunity to sign up for her seminars and classes (except the overseas treks). I bet you already know that her subscription video series “Power Sewing” is now being added to YouTube weekly, so you can watch her expertise for free. Highly recommended:

My favorite part of learning from Sandra is that she laid out her own entire closet (self made, of course) for everyone to see and learn the sewing techniques and ideas therein. Go to powersewing.com to take a look at her own garments.

But then….

“You remind me of my Grandmother.”

As I did with my post on Claire Shaeffer, I’ll share one sweet and funny interaction with Sandra. While shopping at her booth during a sewing expo, we chatted briefly about God-knows-what — and then she said out of the blue: “You remind me of my grandma.” Er, what? Sandra is a few years older than me, but I was touched. Here’s how the (paraphrased) conversation went:

Sandra: “You remind me of my Grandmother”.

Me: “Oh?? Was your grandma South Asian, or Middle Eastern?”

Sandra (laughingly): “She was Scottish-Irish. Go figure.”

Me: …………..

To this day, I don’t know why I reminded her of her Grandmother.

Sandra, can you please elaborate? I know you’re now retiring, and I want to thank you for all the excellent and inspiring sewing lessons. I am a way better seamstress than I was before I knew you existed. I just wish I had not given away the original self published Power Sewing books……

Below is my favorite pattern of all time— I’ll never discard it. Until V1411 was released, I had never found a good pants pattern.

I tweaked a detail or two of the two patterns and still got the look of the originals! Click away….. White Pants and Plaid Jacket and don’t miss the post about the Pocket Tweak.

Have a great spring, friends. This February, we’re enjoying our winter airconditioning over here in the Southern US. This week, the temperatures are hitting 80 degrees plus.

Samina