- Meet Bunkhouse Sewing

Apr. 27, 2009

Meet Bunkhouse Sewing

Did you know that we carry sewing products for your curriculum here at the Schoolhouse Store? Bunkhouse Sewing provides a lot of our items, and now you can get to know this company even better through an interview with JoAnn, one of the leaders of this company.

Give us a general overview of your company and the products that you sell through the Schoolhouse Store.
The primary focus of Bunkhouse Sewing is developing sewing instruction manuals (including multi-sized patterns) with their accompanying devotionals. We have sewing books for boys and girls ranging in difficulty from learning to sew to advanced heirloom and quilting techniques. These books are also perfect for adults who would like to teach themselves to sew. We also offer doll and doll clothing patterns, modest clothing patterns, and church banner patterns.

Tell us an interesting fact or story about your company.
I homeschooled both of my children, and as the time for college was approaching, my daughter, Corrie, showed no interest in further education; she had developed her own western and heirloom sewing business, and was teaching children to sew in 4-H at the time. She was approached by Martha Pullen, a "giant" in the world of sewing, with the idea of writing sewing books for kids (a market that had been sadly neglected). From those words of encouragement, she and I began Bunkhouse Sewing and the business continues to grow! We started with Stitches & Pins, which was geared toward budding seamstresses age nine and up, and then we branched out from there. We now have five sewing books and much more. Even now, Corrie, as a mother of four, remains active with ideas and designing clothing for the business.

How can your products best benefit the homeschooling community?
I really feel that sewing is a basic life skill that everyone needs to know. Not only does it build motor skills, both fine and large, it teaches children to read and follow instructions, and gives solid results when they finish a project. As children become more adept, it opens up doors to garment design, alteration, and repair. A sewing project can be used as a base for learning many other subjects: reading, math in figuring and measurement, cutting, pinning, and assembling. And for the industrious student, or the stay-at-home-mother, sewing can be an avenue of income, either with ready-made products, alterations, teaching, or pattern design. There are so many assets in teaching your children to sew!

Which of your products are you the most excited about?
Right now we are working on finishing our devotionals that accompany the sewing books, and I am really excited about that! It is our hope that not only would sewing be a skill that kids learn, but that there could be some real Biblical truth acquired along with it. All of our devotionals correspond to the projects being taught in the sewing books so there is real-life, spiritual application to the lessons. Our desire is that along with the fun of learning to sew, we can help provide a strong Biblical foundation for the children. In each of the devotionals there are Bible stories, memory verses, words of wisdom and lots of fun--all related to the projects they are sewing!

What new items can we expect to see from your company in the next year?
We are expanding to including a modest clothing line that is coming out this year, called "Clothed in Beauty and Grace." We are going to be offering lots of modest girls clothing patterns, sizes 4 - 16, for slim, standard and plus sizes, as well as infant and toddlers. It's very exciting, and I hope that everyone will check it out as we will continually be adding products to this line!