Meet our Education Consultants

Alix Graham-Michel

Alix brings substantial talent and experience to her events across the county, and is considered a true artisan. International certifications serve to enhance her natural flair and skill, and her love of sewing has been expressed in widely published leading sewing magazines that feature her work. Her garment creations have been worn by music artists, seen on the international film screen, as well as interior design showcases and boutiques. Love of teaching and helping others find their passion for sewing at events is what drives Alix to travel extensively to events in the U.S., Canada and South America.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• Attended Fashion Institute of Technology
• Certified in Fashion Design, Patternmaking & Clothing Construction from the French Fashion Academy
• Certified Martha Pullen Instructor

Barbara Moore

Barbara's inspiration comes from her love of all things sewing . . . textiles, machines and the wide variety of notions that help her imagination take flight. Inspiring consumers to be as creative as possible is a take-away benefit she inspires at her nationwide events. Barbara has been sewing for over 40 years, enjoys heirloom sewing, home décor, quilting, garment sewing and crafts. Her hobbies outside of sewing include golf, gardening, and sports activities with her grandchildren.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• Martha Pullen Certified
• Sulky Certified

Carrie Philpott

Carrie simply loves to sew! She started designing and making her entire wardrobe at 14 years old. This passion has extended into an International journey that has embraced every aspect of the textile and garment industry. Carrie worked on the development of Hi-tech Fibers such as Spandex and microfibers. She also was involved in the training of sewing operatives at several high-end British garment factories. Recently, Carrie created a series of digitized embroideries that she marketed through in-person presentations and internet outlets. 

From 1998-2004, Carrie owned and managed Main Street Sewing and Vacuum in Vancouver, WA. This expanded her love of sewing in the embroidery, digitizing, crafting, heirloom, and quilting arenas. She has received certification and training from Sue Hausman, Martha Pullen, Alex Anderson, and Connie Crawford.

Christine Harlan

Education is a genuine life passion of mine. I have worked in the industry in some capacity for more than 30 years, working for others and my own companies. My professional expertise expands into the many facets of garment construction, fiber arts, mixed media, modern quilting and free motion as an art form. My love for understanding human nature on a personal and professional level; wishing to help individuals as well as companies achieve more, led me to pursue additional certification as a Strategic Interventionist. My work as an international strategist and life coach offers many benefits to my work as an educator, artist and professional in this industry. I have worked with and have educated people of all ages, races, religions and backgrounds. If someone presents me with a desire to learn, change and improve, to create more in their life personally and professionally, I am there to support and guide them, so they may achieve the greatest possible results in the shortest amount of time. Time is too precious to waste. Every minute gives us the opportunity to explore, create, be inspired and inspire others as we share our experiences. As an SVP Elite Educator, I have the wonderful opportunity to fill some of these precious minutes with you, creating the possible.

Darelle Anderson

Darrelle first started sewing garments, then progressed to quilting, and on to the world of machine embroidery. She loves creating unique pieces, using a mixture of techniques and embellishments. Her creative passion fuels her goal of teaching consumers how to get the most out of their sewing and embroidery machine experience. She’s distilled her own expertise and ability into simplified techniques that consumers can learn at events while creating fun projects, and whetting their appetites for more. She believes that a wide variety of sewing accessories, notions and tools come together to produce a final, successfully embellished sewing project. As Darrelle says, “how did we ever do all this before today’s machines!”

Special Training & Accreditations:

• Certified HUSQVARNA VIKING® technician since 2004
• SVP Embroidery Club teacher since 2003, working with both HUSQVARNA VIKING® and PFAFF® dealers
• 2004 winner of Washington State “Make It With Wool” contest
• 2005 2nd place winner of “Make It With Wool” contest
• Judge for “Make It With Wool” district level contests
• Winner of numerous local guild awards for quilted creations

Deb North

Deb brings energy and solid sewing experience to all of her events. Her business background includes over 10 years in retail store management, sewing machine sales and teaching, so she knows the industry inside and out. This vast and broad overview contributes to her ability to impart relevant knowledge to consumers, along with over 40 years of sewing expertise. She loves to combine embroidery with home décor and quilting. Deb’s outgoing nature and generous spirit engage everyone in the joy of sewing.

Diana Cedolia

Diana loves to merge the “how to” of using machines with the inspiration of software. She knows all the techniques and tips to produce incredible projects, whether garments or crafts or home décor. When it comes to knowing the serger, Diana is the ultimate go-to sewer, and has created many serger projects for her events. Over 30 years of sewing as well as current knowledge of software applications ensure that Diana will provide consumers attending events with the technology and skills they need to succeed.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• Certified in 5D Software
• Co-authored the successful “Simply Teach Me” series of DVD tutorials for 3D, 4D and 5D embroidery software

Gail Dodson

Beyond her love of sewing, beyond her love of embellishment with embroidery, Gail loves to teach and help others discover their creativity. Her reward is in the happiness she sees on the faces of all her SVP event participants at the end of the day. For over 40 years Gail has been perfecting her own skills, and passing that knowledge on to other sewers. Twenty two of those years were spent as an officer in the Air Force. She is an award-winning expert in digitizing and custom embroidery. Her specialties include 5D Embroidery Software, 5D Quilt Design Creator, and automated quilting. Gail loves clothing construction, quilting, designing and creating tote bags, and automated quilter design creation.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• Certificate in Clothing & Textiles
• Award for Creative Use of Embroidery Software (2006)

Gina Hodges

Gina’s main creative focus is her love of quilting, and inspiring that love in others. That passion takes the form of teaching consumers to explore their own creativity through the world of sewing. And, what better form of creativity than the special world of dolls where her unending imagination can take flight! Gina has been designing and constructing dolls since she was in high school, and she now owns hundreds of doll patterns. She also loves machine embroidery to dress up clothing or as part of her quilts. Other specialties include linens and household items.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• Accredited Jenny Haskins Tutor and Educator
• Certified in Home Interior Design, Business Management and Upholstery

Janie Lantz

Karla Herrin

Karla loves to share her ideas, her wealth of experience, and her passion for sewing and embroidery during her many events across the country. She positively glows when presented with a challenge or exciting new technique, quickly learns and masters it, and then loves to show everyone else how to do it. Karla’s enthusiasm for sewing is apparent in her television sewing shows and web video productions. It’s this same enthusiasm that consumer respond to during her events, and they leave knowing they’ve learned some valuable techniques and tips, plus exciting new information. She likes to sew everything, including heirloom, garments, decorative stitching and embroidery.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• Jenny Haskins training
• Sulky Certified

Karen Charles

Karen is an SVP Event Specialist, and has 25 years of experience in the arts of quilting, embroidery, couture sewing, heirloom and crafting. She has a wealth of expertise in HUSQVARNA VIKING® sewing and embroidery machines and PREMIER+™ Embroidery Software . . . and a unique perspective into what drives success for sewers. Karen is renowned not only for her expansive knowledge of quilting, sewing, embroidery and software, but for her enthusiasm in sharing that knowledge with others. Her teaching methods make even the most complicated task achievable for all students. Whether novice or experienced sewers, Karen’s event participants always learn new and unique methods to achieve beautiful results.

Specialities: Machine embroidery, PREMIER+™ Embroidery Software, TruEmbroidery™ 3, longarm and 16” machine quilting, thread painting, free motion, heirloom sewing, creative serging, teaching and more!

Katrina Walker

Katrina Walker is a designer, educator and author known for her expertise in construction techniques, textiles, machine embroidery, and Modern American Pojagi piecework.  Her work is regularly featured in many magazines including Threads, Creative Machine Embroidery, SewStylish, Stitch, SewNews, and SewItAll. She is a popular instructor both at national sewing shows and online, where her classes for Craftsy, Taunton Workshops, BurdaStyle, and Craft Daily have enrolled thousands of students worldwide. She is a Brand Ambassador for PFAFF sewing machines, and when not sharing the love of sewing, she is raising her own natural colored wool for her Spoiled Sheep yarn (spoiledsheep.com). You can find her online at www.katrinawalker.com.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• Palmer/Pletsch Certified Sewing Instructor
• Washington State Clothing & Textile Advisor
• Training in Patternmaking & Fashion Illustration
• Faculty Member, The Silk Experience
• Clothing Judge for Washington State Grange 4-H Fair
• “Make It With Wool” Competition, Washington State 4-H Fashion Revue Championship
• Judge, Western Washington Fair Sheep to Shawl Competition
• Adult Ambassador, National Make It With Wool Competition (2004)

Kothy Hafersat

Kothy has been a sewer and quilter all her life, starting early at the age of 5 in her grandmother’s bridal business. Kothy’s extensive background in designing and writing quilt patterns, combined with her experience in machine embroidery software training, make her a valuable educator at the many events she teaches across the country. Kothy’s creative expertise extends to garment sewing, embroidery, knitting, tatting, weaving, drawing, and painting.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• College courses in fashion design, pattern drafting and computer graphics programs
• Co-owner of a quilt pattern company

Marsha Kirsch

Greatly loved for her enthusiasm and lively presentations, Marsha incites fantastic results, whether from the masterful technical skills she teaches or the inspiration that sewers take away from her events. She imparts an empowering “can do” attitude when instructing in the use of advanced machines and new software . . . opening up wide doors to creativity, and fun ways to embellish projects with exciting results. Customer “smiles” at the end of her events are her reward. Marsha enjoys creating and designing garments, purses and home décor projects. When selecting a pattern or design, she finds unique ways to give them an individualized creative touch, especially through embellishment.

Special Training & Accreditations:

• America Sews with Sue Hausman
• Behind the Seams, Pfaff internet sewing program

Mickey Hudson

Nancy Bronstein

Patti Buhler

Patti is a gifted quilter, and accomplished in longarm machine quilting, machine embroidery, machine embroidery digitizing, fabric embellishment, thread painting, needle felting, and quilt and garment sewing. She has taught nationally at the Machine Quilter's Exposition, Home and Machine Quilting Show, and Machine Quilters Showcase. Patti was also a guest on Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting. Patti prides herself in teaching to all levels, from beginners to advanced sewers and quilters. Patti's goal is to instill a sense of wonder, accomplishment, and unlimited potential in each and every event participant who wants to know more about our HUSQVARNA VIKING® and PFAFF® longarm and sit down quilting machines. She makes classroom experiences fun, while leading every event participant to express their creativity. Patti believes we are created to create and wants to fulfil the need in all of us to be creative.

• BS in Education, Master's in Educational Technology
• Teacher at Machine Quilter's Showcase, Machine Quilter's Exposition, and Home Machine Quilting Show and numerous other national and regional shows, and quilt guilds
• Published in "Machine Quilting", Collector's Edition