Brava

September 2011

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workWith Me Meet the Master! Zieman will take center stage at this year's Wisconsin Quilt Expo at the Exhibition Hall at Alliant Energy Center Sept. 8-10. Stop by for a chance to meet Zieman, browse the bounty of ven- dors, and take part in classes available for both master and novice quilters. Nancy Zieman Sewing her way to the top If you've tuned in to Wisconsin Public Television in the last 29 years, chances are you've caught a glimpse of Nancy Zieman. Producer and host of "Sewing with Nancy"—the longest-running TV pro- gram dedicated to the craft—Zieman is a star in her own right and the powerhouse behind Nancy Zieman Productions, a company dedicated to all things sewing. Today she's the face of a franchise—but the confi dence required to be front and center has been a long time in the making. "I was an extremely shy child," she says. "If you would've told me that I'd have a national television program, I would've thought you were crazy." Whether timid by nature or due to the facial paralysis—a condi- tion known as Bell's Palsy—that resulted from an earache as a baby, Zieman will never know. But she is confi dent that sewing pulled her out of her shell. "Sewing was a way to excel," she says. "It was a confi dence builder." Th e talent she cultivated as a young girl paved the way to an impressive career. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with a degree in clothing and textiles, Zieman taught classes at a fab- ric store before starting her own company in 1979. Sensing a demand for more sew- ing education, Zieman began traveling the country to teach until opportunity came knocking two years later in the form of cable TV. Seizing an offer to create a sewing pro- gram, Zieman fi lmed a handful of episodes, and the rest, as they say, was history. Today, the Beaver Dam resident's pro- gram is seen nationwide. It's a long way to come for someone who says she struggled to be taken seriously as a business owner in the textile industry, but Zieman focuses on what got her to this point: teaching a time- less craft. "Th e challenge since day one is thinking, 'What's next?' and trying to position my business so that it fi ts the needs of the way sewers and quilters are looking to learn," Zieman says. —Ashley Finke "Sewing with Nancy" can be viewed on Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. September 2011 bravamagazine.com 33 Photo courtesy of Nancy Zieman Productions

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