Quilt Expo, sponsored by Wisconsin Public Television and Nancy Zieman Productions, is a huge event in the Madison area. This year it will run Thursday-Saturday, September 11-13th at the Alliant Energy Center. It’s grown by leaps and bounds over the past 3 years. What a wonderful place for The Sewing Machine Project to have a presence! The project will have its own booth, in the nonprofit area of the lobby at the expo.
In addition, Margaret will be speaking about The Sewing Machine Project on the main presentation stage on the vendor floor, at 1:15 each afternoon.

Please be sure to stop by when you visit Quilt Expo!

Hans’ Sewing and Vacuum closed it doors at the end of June after 54 years of service to South Central Wisconsin. A very sad day for many people, as Hans’ has been a site for reliable service, excellent customer service, and a community gathering place for so very long.

This impacted the Sewing Machine Project as well since Hans’ has been our primary donation site. Hans’ will continue to take in working machines through the end of July.

Luck follows this project and today Tim at Jerry’s Sewing and Vacuum agreed to take over as the primary donation site for this area. Thank you Tim!

I met with Tim Olson, who owns Jerry’s Sewing and Vacuum in Madison, today. What a kind man! He has agreed to become the primary donation site in Madison for The Sewing Machine Project. If you have a working sewing machine or serger to donate, please send it or drop it off at Jerry’s. Please remember that machines need to be in good working order. At this time we cannot accept any machines in cabinets so if you have a real gem of a machine in a cabinet, please remove it and bring the machine in with it’s foot control, power cord, accessories and whatever else you might have that goes with it.

If you would like to ship your machine to Jerry’s that’s fine too. The address is:

Jerry’s Sewing and Vacuum
2133 Zeier Road
Madison, WI 53704
608-243-7980

Thank you so much!

The flooding of the past few months has hit the Midwest awfully hard. Everyone is feeling it. The Sewing Machine Project will do a collection specifically targeted to people who lost their machines in the flooding. We will be setting up a collection in the near future. Please check the website

Our big fundraiser, the Spring Into Summer event, is right around the corner! Last year, we used the proceeds from this event to pay all of the fees involved with becoming an official 501(c)3 and still had money left over to cover a portion of the machine delivery to New Orleans. We’ve come so far so fast! This year, the proceeds will help us to begin developing sewing collectives in the New Orleans area. These collectives will incorporate sewing education as well as small business education, helping people to mend their communities as well as their own lives.

Please join us for this fun and worthwhile event!

Spring Into Summer Event!
Benefiting the Sewing Machine Project

Saturday, June 21 4-9PM
Tori and Dennis Hull’s home
4811 Tonyawatha Trail,
Monona, Wisconsin

Featuring the music of The Leeding Zeroes

Proceeds from this event will cover the costs of transporting sewing machines to Louisiana as well as establishing educational programs and sewing cooperatives in that region.

$25 suggested donation per person

Feel free to bring a friend!

The beer is cold (and delicious), the friends are fabulous and the cause is real! Don’t miss the party of the summer!

RSVP regrets only 221-1844

Thank you to the Hulls for their kindness and also to
The Great Dane and Capital Brewery for generously donating the beer for this event.

If you are unable to attend and would like to make a donation, please send your check to

The Sewing Machine Project
PO Box 6245
Monona, WI 53716

Or visit www.thesewingmachineproject.org to donate online

The Sewing Machine Project is a 501(c)3 Non Profit.
All donations are tax deductible.

Due to technical difficulties on the local Madison station, 1055 triple m, the show didn’t air properly on Sunday 5/18. Triple M and etown have kindly collaborated to re-air the project featuring the Sewing Machine Project, the Bodeans, Over the Rhine, and Doug Fine, in the Madison area THIS SUNDAY, 5/24 AT 9PM. So Madison-area listeners…here’s another chance to hear it!

This is the week, everybody! The Sewing Machine Project will be featured on the etown radio broadcast…earning an “e-chievement award” for the work we’ve done in the Gulf Coast region. Check the etown website and type in your zip code to see which staion it broadcasts on and when. Broadcasts begin on May 14th and continue until May 20th. If you are unable to get the broadcast in your area, you can listen to the introduction to the award on the “e-chievement recent winners” link on the site.

Thanks, once again, to etown for this amazing opportunity!

Please read the beautiful article Sheila Strupe wrote for the April 20 edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Sewing Sows Seed of Hope

The machines that go to New Orleans take on new lives with their new owners. Now, we’re giving the owners a chance to share their stories. If you are the recipient of a machine, please visit our new Testimonials page and leave a comment.

Plus, if you would like to find out how the Sewing Machine Project is affecting lives, the Testimonials page is a great place to start.

I am continually amazed by how things fall into place in this project. Not that there isn’t a lot of hard work in the background but sometimes things happen that continue to reinforce the fact that this is meant to be. Here’s another example…

I had contacted Anna Morgan in early April because her name came up on my list of people who still needed machines. I gave her a call and left a message. She returned my call the next day, saying she did still need a machine but not for personal use…rather for the new Adams Street Cultural Development Center she’d founded. She asked if she might have 2 machines for the center. Later, she called back and asked if she might possibly have 5 machines so they could begin sewing classes. I agreed to the number and after we’d hung up, I began looking over the list of machines I was bringing to find 5 machines that were similar to one another. It makes a teacher’s job easier if the machines in the classroom are alike, or at least similar in function.
I was interrupted and had to leave for awhile before I’d put together a list of machines for Anna. When I returned I walked in the door and there were 5 machines, exactly alike, all lined up. The McFarland, Wisconsin high school had not only donated the machines, but had them tuned up before dropping them off. So there they were, all shiny and clean, all threaded with fine thread.
I have no doubt that this Project is following a positive path and it is meant to be.

1. I recently received an e-mail from a faculty member at Brookfield Academy informing me of their most recent service effort. They had read about the Sewing Machine Project in the UW Alumni Newsletter in the Fall of ‘07 and decided to take up a collection of machines, fabric and notions at the school to support the SMP. Their idea paid off in a big way. On Saturday April 19th, a pickup truck loaded to the top with donations made its way to Hans’ sewing for a delivery! Not only did Brookfield Academy families donate machines, they also donated lots of fabric and other sewing related items. I was thrilled to receive their delivery!
   If your organization needs assistance in setting up a Sewing Machine Project service project, please contact Margaret.
   Thank you, Brookfield Academy!