Hi, I’m Teresa Coates and I’m really glad you’re here. These days I’m a nationally-recognized sewing & quilting educator, pattern designer, and owner of Crinkle Dreams pattern, but I didn’t start here.
I started sewing when I was a kid in the ’80s. In fact, my first project was a dirndl skirt with a waistband and button closure that I wore proudly for as long as I waist could be cinched in by it. In my late teens and early 20s I spent a lot more time sewing garments for myself, self-taught mostly from the Vogue Sewing Book (RIP).
Then it was in 1992, when I was pregnant with my son, that I made my very first quilt. It was the cover quilt on a magazine I’d picked up at the grocery store. With minimal piecing and a cross-stitched clown focus, it was just the right speed for my first.
After Stuart’s birth, I made my first patchwork quilt, using cereal boxes and scissors to make templates since this was back before rotary cutters were in common usage. I made a sailboat quilt using yardage from the local JoAnn (RIP) and a book I’d borrowed from the library.
Over the years, I made a quilt for my daughter’s birth and then for my neices and nephews. I made more for friends’ children and cousins
