Friday, March 15, 2013

Craft Inspirations: Debra Immergut and Kristin M. Roach

From the Carolina Chocolate Drops to a bias tape maker — here’s what makes our craft authors tick.

Debra Immergut 

Debra Immergut (right) is coauthor of Improv Sewing with Nicole Blum (left). They have worked together to develop many creative projects for FamilyFun magazine, where Debra is a senior editor. Debra and Nicole both live in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts and blog together at Improv Diary



  • Is there a craft tool you can’t do without?
    My Janome Sewist machine! I am in love with it. 
  • What do you listen to while crafting?
    Pandora — everything from Carolina Chocolate Drops to Franz Shubert to Leonard Cohen, depending on my whims; also Fresh Air podcasts. 
  • Is there a color palette you gravitate toward?
    I tend to go for deep jewel tones — ruby, dark blue — when I'm sewing clothes. I like natural off-white canvas for little crafty stitching projects.
  • How do you arrange your crafting supplies?
    I keep it all in two old armoires. One belonged to my grandmother, and I bought the other one years ago when I lived in Europe and my husband’s employer was about to ship our furniture home. We had almost nothing worth shipping, so I went out to a junky old antique store and bought a few things. I’m really glad I did!
  • How many projects do you generally have going at a time?
    Just one. Improv Sewing is all about “fun, fast, and fearless,” and when I sit down to make something, I’m usually finished in a day or less. Of course, I have tons of fabric and ideas for projects that I haven’t gotten around to yet.
  • One word to describe how you feel when immersed in your craft:
    Grateful. 
  • Do you find more joy in the process of working on a project or in the completion of a project?
    I really enjoy getting lost in the process, but I’m also an instant gratification type. I love finishing and having something to show off. 
  • If you could give just one tip to fellow crafters, what would it be?
    Embrace imperfection — the world is full of perfect machine-made stuff. Mistakes are one mark of the artist’s hand. 


Kristin M. Roach 

Kristin M. Roach holds a BFA in painting and is currently teaching art classes, organizing community art programs, and inspiring others to live life creatively with her website CraftLeftovers.com. She has been published in Interweave Knits, KnitScene, Craft, and Make, and she was a contributing designer for the book Button it Up, by Susan Beal. She is the author of Mend It Better. 


  • Is there a craft tool you can’t do without?
    Other than the essentials, which literally fill a room, I’d say my bias tape maker. It adds a real “pop” to anything from pillows to clothing. 
  • What do you listen to while crafting?
    Music. Specifically, right now, I'm listening to Pandora.com’s Architecture In Helsinki radio station. It seems to always have the right mix of upbeat but not distracting. 
  • Is there a color palette you gravitate toward?
    Anything bright: kelly greens, turquoise, hot pink, sun yellow, caution orange. I can’t help myself. 
  • How do you arrange your crafting supplies?
    Over the years I’ve found it works best for me to organize by craft type, then have subcategories for material type — so say all my sewing stuff is together, but then I break it out into containers for all my sewing notions, buttons, hardware, decorative trims, cotton fabric, stabilizing fabric, linen, decor, garment specific fabrics, and so on; then by color within those groups if I have a ton (say, lightweight cotton fabrics).
  • How many projects do you generally have going at a time?
    Too many and never enough. 
  • One word to describe how you feel when immersed in your craft:
    Bliss. 
  • Do you find more joy in the process of working on a project or in the completion of a project?
    I find joy in both. In the beginning of writing a pattern, my problem-solving brain takes over, and I immerse myself in the creative process. Then there’s usually a long period of busywork to get the thing done; normally, it’s pretty meditative and relaxing. At the end, when it’s finished, I’m feel deep satisfaction and joy that first time I use my handmade work, whatever it happens to be, as intended. 
  • If you could give just one tip to fellow crafters, what would it be?
    Never shy away from something because you think you aren’t good enough. You’ll always learn something from trying even if it doesn’t work out, and more times than not you’ll surprise yourself at how much you can do. 
Craft Inspirations was a feature in The Short Storey for March, our Crafts issue. Our craft author participants were Barbara Weiland Talbert, Crispina ffrench, Edie Eckman, Gail Callahan, Gwen Steege, Judith Durant, Nicole Blum, and Rebecca Yaker. Click here to read them all!

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