Our Teachers
Chris Aliseo & Mary Dessert
Chris Aliseo and Mary Dessert, lifelong friends, are happy to share their adventures, whether it be quilting, gaming or baking.
Arlene Baker
A needlework and bead artist, designer and teacher, Arlene draws her inspiration for the projects in her classes from more than 35 years of collecting vintage ribbonry and beadwork. She specializes in easy to follow, step-by-step instructions written for novice and experienced alike.
April Berg
April has been teaching culinary classes throughout Southern California for the last 25 plus years. She brings years of experience of empowering her students to learn and master a variety of techniques.
Classes will be posted online shortly!
Beth Butterfield
Elizabeth is a mixed media artist and florist who is passionate about being creative outside the lines. She has been teaching at Piecemakers for fifteen years.
Diane Calderwood
Diane Calderwood is an innovative gourd artist who has taught gourd art at Piecemakers since 2001. She is now teaching new mixed media projects as well.
Watch for future classes!
Sheilah Cleary
Sheilah has been passionate about needle arts all her life. She teaches jewelry design, beadwork, knitting, crochet and has taught many other crafts at Piecemakers where she’s been for over 30 years.
Teja Cooling
Teja is a respected sculptor, illustrator, impressionist painter and collage artist and has exhibited at the Laguna Festival and several art galleries. She has been teaching her ever popular Vintage Bobble tree class for the past 10 years at Piecemakers.
Watch for future classes!
Kathy Davis
As an artist and craftsperson, Kathy has explored and taught various media including clays, fibers and resins to create dolls and jewelry. She enjoys introducing her students to new possibilities, and has taught at Piecemakers for close to 30 years!
Robin Dudley-Howes
Robin is a nationally known mixed media instructor, designer and published artist — a self-described bead and paper fanatic, whose classes are known as a place where creativity blooms and magic happens.
Watch for future classes!
Patti Dubreuil
Patti D of Patti D Designs creates and teaches her original patterns and designs for handbags, pillows, quilts as well as Tuffet classes. In addition, Patti is a Laura Heine Certified Instructor for collages.
Chris Flynn
Chris comes to us from the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California. Chris enjoys antique laces, linens, and wallpapers as she creates fabric books, journals, purses, and just about anything that serves both a purpose and is visually pleasing.
Watch for future classes!
Karen Fraser
Karen has been teaching at Piecemakers since 2003. She excels in teaching silk ribbon embroidery, stump work, thread painting, lace dyeing and embellishments.
Donna
Two of Donna's areas of expertise are quilting/sewing and baking. She teaches classes in both, including the Apple Pie Baking class, and is one of the bakers of Piecemakers famous apple pie!
Julie Haymaker
Julie worked for 27 years as a professional illustrator, and also studied ceramics, metal smithing and wood working. She is currently a multi-media artist and CEO of her own Shrinkets business. Julie travels from Arizona to teach at Piecemakers.
Watch for future classes!
Linda Illumanardi
Linda has been teaching at Piecemakers since 2018. Her specialty is botanical printing and natural dyeing. She is currently exploring a variety of California dyes with roots, bark, leaves and cones that she harvested from San Francisco to Orange County.
Rose Mary Jameson
Rose Mary had the love for creating instilled in her at a young age by her mom. Whether sewing theatrical costumes or wedding gowns, or designing jewelry pieces, Rose Mary loves spreading the joy of sewing and beading to her students.
Watch for future classes!
Bonny Knoll
Bonny's passion is crafting and appliqueing, teaching students to make totes, backpacks, or whimsical home dec items. Specializing in using the latest and greatest tools, Bonny helps her students make their projects look professional.
Gigi Lenker
Gigi Lenker is a local fiber artist who has a passion for creating yarn, weaving, and simple basket making including pine needle basketry!
Sheila Lind
Sheila Lind is a multi media artist who has shown her work at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach for 43 years! She loves and creates many forms of art, and adores teaching classes at Piecemakers.
Watch for future classes!
Hanne Lohde
Hanne is an award-winning designer and teacher. She specializes in wool quilting, hand applique and embroidery techniques on her original quilts, bags, pincushions and more.
Lisa Mattock
We are pleased to welcome Lisa Mattock from Australia to Piecemakers! Lisa and her company “Forage, by Lisa Mattock” is about seeking out reclaimed and vintage textile treasures and upcycling them into beautiful pieces that speak to the soul of the stitcher.
Gloria McKinnon
Gloria is an Australian Fibre Artist with a lifetime of thread and silk ribbon embroidery knowledge to share with you. She has been teaching at Piecemakers for over 30 years, currently making Fabulous Fabric Story and Memory Books.
Debbie Miller
Debbie has been an artist for many years, recycling, repurposing and selling at Arts and Crafts Festivals. She says “Becoming a teacher at Piecemakers and meeting so many amazing people has truly been a blessing.”
Joanna
You may know Joanna from Piecemakers class sample room or as one of the organizers of our annual fairs. She also takes time to teach the yummy scones and lemon curd that are available in Piecemakers Country Tea Room!
Leslie O'Leary
Leslie is an internationally recognized, master doll artist who loves teaching at Piecemakers! She has been with us for over 25 years, and is devoted to her students and her art.
Evelyn Penfield
Evelyn Penfield has taught her whimsical world of Heirloom bear designs and all types of animals from California to New Zealand and Australia for over 40 years. She has been constantly delighting Piecemaker's students with creations from bears to monkeys, squirrels, bunnies, embroidered pincushions, heirloom babies, and more!
Danna Phalen
Danna has been teaching at Piecemakers for 7 years. Her specialty is Alcohol Ink Art on a variety of substrates including YUPO paper, tile, jewelry, ornaments and more.
Sue Pletl
Sue Pletl has been embroidering for most of her life, starting with pillowcases when she was a little girl. She hopes to inspire you to create your memories with beautiful hand-crafted embroidered cards and bookmarks, and is sure you will love hand crafts as much as she does!
Rossanna
Having over 30 years of experience in the fashion industry, Rossanna is well versed in garment construction. She teaches adults and kids' classes throughout the year and the ever popular kids' summer sewing camps.
Heather
Part of Piecemakers Construction Company team, Heather devotes her handwork time to ribbon and thread embroidery, bead work and soap/lotion/scrub making. She teaches these arts and grass roots skills to adults and children.
Mary Shey
Mary Shey’s needlework life began when she was four, and has been a lifelong love affair. Hailing from Acton, Massachusetts, she teaches the techniques and beauty of ribbon embroidery to all levels in Greater Boston, San Francisco and Southern California.
Di
Di is part of Piecemakers' production department that works on custom quilt orders, and original handcrafted items for sale at the store, including our yummy apple pies. She teaches embroidery, quilting and apple pie baking.
Larene Smith
Larene has been teaching at Piecemakers since 2009. She specializes in simplifying quilting techniques, and excels in designing quilts, wallhangings, table runners, totes and more.
Angie Taylor
Angie loves creating one-of-a-kind whimsical animals for children, portraits, flowers and writing or painting. She enjoys teaching children the skill of directed drawing, and finds joy in the sketches that children produce.
Watch for future classes!
Maria Urdinarrain
Maria Urdinarrain is a textile designer and fiber artist who loves to teach traditional fiber arts to children and adults. She enjoys helping others to release their creativity and work with their hands.
Watch for future classes!
Linda Webb
Linda has worked at Piecemakers for 4 years as a knitting and crochet teacher. She started knitting and crocheting at 14, and thoroughly enjoys the colors and the texture of yarn, and creating things that are practical.
Barbara Willis
For over thirty years, Barbara has been designing, teaching and delighting her students with whimsical one-of-a-kind dolls. We always look forward to her original designs, and her newest creations are admired by both dollmakers and non-dollmakers alike!
Watch for future classes!
LeeAnna Yater
LeeAnna has enjoyed teaching the Shibori fiber arts classes at Piecemakers since 2018. She also creates and teaches other fine crafts to include handmade paper, alternative book arts, weaving, printmaking and ceramics to name a few.