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Debora has been teaching since 1978 and owns The Critter Pattern Works which has over thirty different patterns. Her designs have won numerous awards and have been featured of the covers of Keepsake Quilting, Clotilde and Orvis catalogs. Debora finds that sewers and quilters want to to shown how to break rules of tradition and expand their creativity and imagination. She likes to demonstrate how to do that through lectures, classes and patterns.
Debora graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fabric Design from The Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia PA, with an award for Outstanding Achievement.
She learned traditional quilting in 1977 and started teaching in the 1978. When Debora was asked to teach machine appliqué (a new idea then), she taught herself, then taught the class. She decided that this would be her technique of choice because it allowed her to express her emerging style, and her style is now recognized even when people forget her face! Debora started her company, The Critter Pattern Works in 1989, to fill a need in the marketplace. There were no realistic animal appliqués sold for sewing enthusiasts and quilters. Even today, there is no other company doing the kinds of designs that Debora does: appliqués grouped by themes -- such as, circus animals, animals from a single species (cats, rabbits,or frogs) to a collection such as Arctic Critters or Farm Animals. Critter Pattern Works now has 30 appliqué patterns and two patterns for clothing which are geared toward appliqué decoration.
Debora has taught in the USA, England, Canada and Australia. She won the American Home Sewing Association's "Create a Winner" contest ($1000) in 1985, the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo Arts and Crafts Show First Place Award in Applied Art in 1984, and the Hoffman Challenge in 1989. Entering contests has never been Debora's focus, so she only won awards in those rare contests she entered. She says: "I design to keep sane and have fun. I teach to help others loosen up and discover innate creativity. "
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