About Me


I'm Debbie Cook. Welcome to my blog. I live and work in Tampa, FL, and I'm Mom to 2 grown sons, one a U.S. Marine and one still living at home. I'm also adopted mom to 2 very cute and very spoiled pooches. I put up with the oppressive Florida humidity and ravenous mosquitos as a trade-off for sunshine and warmth nearly every day of the year.

I love to sew, but I didn't know it until I was more than grown up. My mom and grandmothers sewed my whole life and while I never had real lessons from them, I found out later that I had actually learned a lot just by watching and helping. With these "custom dressmakers" available, I never felt the need to sew for myself or sit in front of my own machine unless I was mending, hemming or sewing on Boy Scout badges.

Fast forward to my late-30s and the sewing bug finally bit and I haven't stopped since. I've sewn almost everything - home dec, quilting, gifts, lingerie & more, but sewing clothes for myself is what I really love and I sew most of my wardrobe because I have fun doing it and because it fits me better than anything I'd find in a store.

I stash fabric and patterns a LOT, and I seem to be collecting vintage sewing machines too. I use everything though, so it's all good, right?

I like to share what goes on in my sewing room and some of what goes on in my enjoyably-boring life. I've been blogging about it all for almost 10 years now.

I try to answer questions and comments when I can, but honestly, I'm pretty bad about it. I'd rather spend my free time in the sewing room or trying new-to-me restaurants. There are just never enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do!

email me at dcook100 at gmail dot com and find me on Instagram @stitchesandseamsdeb

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Itch to Stitch Nottingham - My thoughts

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How does so much time go by between posts?? I really always intend to post more often but then either my sewjo disappears or my blogjo (is that a thing?) does, or both. And then I make excuses to myself or figure no one wants to just read about my day-to-day, especially with no pics! But anyway ... here I am. And I sewed! (I thought this pic was both creepy and hilarious, in a 'The Shining' sort of way.) This past Memorial Day Weekend was the most productive I've been in a short time in months! I made two tops and three skirts. Yay! Today, I'm going to talk about the Nottingham top from Itch to Stitch. Link to pattern  here   ( not an affiliate link) . This is the first Itch to Stitch pattern I've actually sewn. I've bought a few and downloaded the freebies and they are in my queue but see comment about sewjo above. Plus Magpie Syndrome. I know ... preaching to the choir! :-) But I love me a twisty top and so this one jumped into first position. Overall, the ...
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HP Nexus T-Shirt Dress

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