{"id":609,"date":"2019-04-12T05:30:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T05:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailrite.com\/meet-our-customers\/?p=609"},"modified":"2023-02-03T13:47:05","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T18:47:05","slug":"carol-sewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sailrite.com\/meet-our-customers\/home\/carol-sewing\/","title":{"rendered":"Sewing Like A Pro: Carol Gearheart\u2019s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sewing is a unique skill with the potential to take on any number of roles in one’s life. It can be practical, artistic, an occasional hobby or even a full-time profession. For Sailrite\u00ae customer Carol Gearheart, sewing has become much more than just a means to an end. It\u2019s become a profession that has opened up a number of doors in the DIY universe … with surprising results! <\/span><\/p>\n

Carol and her husband own and operate an embroidery business from their home, so creating fantastic projects is nothing short of commonplace for her. Through years of business operation, she\u2019s become acquainted with a diverse array of people or groups who are in need of her sewing skills. One of these is the equestrian community around her home in Arlington, Washington. It all started when one customer needed a unique logo embroidered on her horse blankets and sheets. She was so pleased with the results that she spread the word of Carol\u2019s great work to her friends and fellow horse owners.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A custom banner sewn for a horse owner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOur customer base grew rapidly! I can\u2019t tell you how many blankets, sheets, stall bags and halter bags we\u2019ve embroidered. Then they started asking, \u2018Can you repair this stall bag, can you fix this banner, can you make us some curtains and table covers?\u2019 And that\u2019s where the Sailrite\u00ae Fabricator\u00ae Sewing Machine comes in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past, Carol had sewn several smaller projects using her household Bernina sewing machine but she found it couldn\u2019t handle big assemblies very well. With a growing demand for a variety of sewing projects, Carol realized she was in need of a dependable industrial sewing machine. And it was especially important to have one that had the performance capabilities to tackle any project she might be tasked with completing for a customer. During her search for a new machine, she discovered a company called Sailrite.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had bought a very old Pfaff industrial machine, but it didn\u2019t have a variable speed motor and it didn\u2019t work very well. I was lucky I didn\u2019t get hurt while using it! I did a lot of research online and contacted Tanner Grant at Sailrite. He was very helpful and aided me in choosing which machine would work best based on the type of projects I wanted to do. I selected the Fabricator and love that I can take one stitch at a time if I want to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fabricator in tow, Carol completed one of her largest projects for a horse show client. She made an 8 x 8-foot curtain out of Cordura with a 96-inch zipper that zipped to a 5 x 5-foot door panel that also had a 96-inch zipper down the center for the opening. To get the zippers and zipper stops just right, Carol had help from her friend, a seamstress at the boat manufacturing plant where they had worked for over 20 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Carol’s finished curtain design.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The process of sewing the curtain was challenging, but Carol persevered. She had to reverse engineer the client\u2019s existing curtains and figure out the zippers they wanted instead of using the Velcro\u00ae that connected the panels on the other curtains she\u2019d received from them. After a few days of watching Sailrite how-to videos on zipper installations, she finally felt as though she had the confidence to master her project. She went on to explain, \u201cThere is no way I could have done it without the videos and tutorials. I watched them over and over again until I got it right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Carol has continued to watch numerous Sailrite how-to videos to further expand on her sewing skills and to try out some fun new projects. \u201cThe videos helped me to improve my pillow-making skills and I learned how to make a box cushion for the front of my fireplace ledge. I plan to create many other projects. There is much more to learn!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n