Lauren Lanker

Greetings, friends!  My name is Lauren Lanker, and I blog over at The Thinking Closet, a place for letting your creativity splish, splash, and spill.  My creations span from home decor to handmade gifts for loved ones to beginner sewing projects.  As AllFreeSewing readers, I'm sure your ears perked up on that last part there...so let me share more about my journey with a needle and thread.

As a girl, I enjoyed arts n' crafts of all kinds, especially cross-stitching and beginner sewing projects.  I remember sitting on a chair with cushions to boost me up at my mother's sewing machine, carefully sewing placemats for my grandparents one Christmas.  As a middle school student, it was on to baggy pajama pants to rock at slumber parties (when baggy pants were so IN during the 90s).  In high school, I recall making a decorative pillow for a school project with the text, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."  However, I never felt fully competant on my own behind a sewing machine, and always needed someone nearby to walk me through each step. 

Fast-forward to 2012: my husband Mark and I moved from Columbus, Ohio to Orlando, Florida, which also meant I went from teaching English and theatre full-time to only teaching theatre part-time.  With some newfound margin in my life, I decided to follow after my dream at becoming proficient on a sewing machine.  So, I invested in a Brother of my own and set off to start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start, according to Julie Andrews).  And so, I've been re-learning how to sew, and having a blast while I'm at it.

If you visit my blog, you can learn about my journey through Raechel Myers's free online Sewing 101 course, as well as check out projects and tutorials I've shared of some of my sewing creations.  My hope is that my tutorials will empower other beginners to take on new projects and grow in their sewing skills.  Also, I do my very best to make my readers enjoy themselves during their visit, even if it means making a fool of myself in the process.  So, stop on by anytime, and prepare to smile.

Links:

Lauren's Blog (The Thinking Closet)
Follow Lauren on Facebook
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Follow Lauren on Twitter
Follow Lauren on Google+

Links on AllFreeSewing:

Quack and Easy Onesie
Super Simple Burp Cloth
Fast Fabric Flower Embellishment