Spotlight – Sandra Fry

Once a month we’d like to introduce you to a member who creates more than the usual garments or quilts. And to start off our series, we’d like you to meet Sandra Fry. She’s been a member of the Plano Chapter since 2015 . She moved her membership from the Houston Chapter after moving to Rowlett.

Her specialty is hand embroidered wool applique items and quilts.

Sandra was taught by her grandmother around the age of 4 or 5 to hand embroider. That was her first lesson. Then in 6th grade she taught herself to sew and made her first garment, a jumper, on a Singer Featherweight, which she still has. She then went on to major in Home Economics at Indiana State University. And during her time there she made a wool suit which she still has. She has repurposed many other garments into her quilts.

She is a retired Family and Consumer Sciences Agent and has also worked in the 4-H area of clothing while employed by Purdue University, University of Florida, New Mexico State University and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension where she retired in 2013.

Her quilting activities began in the early 80’s when Extension Homemakers asked her to teach them how to quilt.

Sometime in the 90’s she was introduced to wool applique and hasn’t looked back. Her favorite fabric to work with is wool so this explains part of her love for this. She loves the simplicity of the core stitches, blanket stitch and whipstitch, and the option to embellish the design with a variety of other embroidery stitches. When asked what drew her to wool applique she answered, “I loved the look of it”. She finds patterns in books and on line which inspire her to create all the wonderful things you see here.

If you’d like to meet Sandra, attend We’re Sew Special or Hoopla Sisters. That’s where she hangs out with her sewing buddies.