Nancy Zieman

Nancy Zieman (born June 21, 1953) is the TV host of Sewing with Nancy, a half-hour TV show that she co-produces on Wisconsin Public Television. On the air since September, 1982, it is the longest running sewing program on North American television. Initially, the programs were videotaped in Nancy’s living room with a camera crew of one person. In the early years, Nancy Zieman ran a one-woman show, developing the scripts, making the samples, and taping the programs. Nancy has been the host and executive producer since its inauguration. Since the mid 1980s, Wisconsin Public Television in Madison, Wisconsin has been Nancy’s partner in television production with Laurie Gorman serving as the director for the past 19 years

Raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, Zieman graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Stout with double majors in Home Economics and Journalism. In Chicago she worked for a national sewing chain store. She worked as a freelance sewing instructor in Minnesota.

In 1979, she founded Nancy's Notions, a direct mail company specializing in sewing notions, supplies and accessories. Nancy's Notions was purchased by the Tacony Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri in 2003. She is an author and a designer for The McCall Pattern Company and Clover Needlecraft.

Zieman has written several sewing books including The Art of Landscape Quilting, Serge with Confidence, Machine Embroidery with Confidence, Sew with Confidence, Landscape Quilts with Natalie Sewell, Let’s Sew, 10-20-30 Minutes to Sew, The Best of Sewing with Nancy, Sew Clever Bags, and 501 Sewing Hints. She has also designed patterns for the McCall's Pattern Company.

In 1988, she received the Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year award from the Wisconsin Women Entrepreneurs Association. In 1991, she received the National 4-H Alumni Award.

Zieman has Bell's Palsy and is open about her condition, having written about it, been interviewed by journalists, and hosting a segment on the television show with medical professionals. She jokingly refers to herself as the "Poster Child for Bell's Palsy."

Zieman lives in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin where her original "Nancy Notions" shop still operates.

References

Stroke Face

External links

• Nancy's Notions company web site
• Sewing With Nancy TV show web site