Hi Friends and welcome to my little, creative corner of the web! It is really important to me to build community and relationships that lift each other up. So, I would like to start by introducing myself and would love to connect with you through social media, email or newsletter sign up. I hope you will Bee Sew INSPIRED here!
My name is Jennifer Long and I am a quilt pattern and modern rag doll designer. I live in rural, prairie Canada with my husband and 4 children. Throughout my schooling years, I trained full-time to be a professional ballet dancer. I always loved choreographing new dances and designing the costumes to go with them! I learnt at a young age to trust myself to dream, design and bring that vision to reality. I was lucky enough to have a grandmother that owned a fabric/knitting store and a mother that sewed many of our clothes growing up as well as a home economics class in my school that really inspired me and taught me so many of the sewing fundamentals!
I began quilting 20+ years ago when my husband and I were married. At first to decorate our first house together, and then to wrap our babies in beautiful quilts of love! As we began having children,
I wanted toys and dolls that were made with love to surround them and so I began designing rag dolls for them as well! Growing up in the professional ballet world, I experienced an eating disorder, so it was extremely important to me to teach my own girls to love their bodies and play with dolls that promoted healthy body images! Soon, others began requesting these handmade dolls, and so I created BEE SEW INSPIRED!
This journey has inspired me to make a positive difference by designing dolls and quilt patterns for others to be EMPOWERED to sew themselves! I studied embroidery digitizing in order to take my doll drawings to the next level. This led to many doors opening up designing “look-a-like” dolls for individuals, organizations, authors of children’s books, and most recently International companies for mass production.
I find so much joy in sharing my knowledge and inspiring others to create meaningful fabric works of art! I am looking forward to creating together! Please take a few minutes to explore this website! There are lots of links to private, FREE, educational Facebook Groups to learn new skills and build community. Inspired Doll Making. Inspired Quilting.
Jennifer Long