Janome Educators

Amy has traveled the US and Mexico demonstrating and educating on Janome sewing machines, sergers and software.

Amy has taught basic sewing, garment construction and pattern making at every level from children and adult beginners to advanced techniques in a university setting. Amy has also developed a program as a paraprofessional therapist teaching sewing and quilting as a skill set for adults with chronic mental illness and traumatic brain injury. 

Sharing her love of sewing, knowledge of machines and accessories to consumers and dealers is the reason Amy loves her job.

Anne’s passion for sewing started with the required Home Economics class. Sewing, creating unique clothes, and crafting was her thing – even using her grandmothers trudle machine. Her first embroidery machine, the MC9000, grew that passion with quilting, embroidery and digitizing.  If it could fit in the hoop, let’s embroider it! Joining the Janome team was a dream come true, Anne is a Janome girl through and through – you know she didn’t stop with that MC9000! Sharing her creativity through her travels with Janome and teaching are some of her favorite things.  Anne lives in Wilmington, DE with her husband and children. Outside of work, Anne enjoys spending time with her family, being the co-rider on their Goldwing and creating more projects!

Costa’s passion for sewing began many years ago, at his grandmother’s knee and it never left him! After 40 years of teaching Elementary School Music, both in the States, and abroad, he retired and began devoting all his time to sewing. He began quilting, but quickly realized that his first love was embroidery. He began digitizing and progressed to making difficult and intricate projects. His enthusiasm knows no bounds and is contagious! The only thing he likes more than working on projects, is sharing his knowledge with others! He currently teaches classes near his home in Durham, NC. He is a favorite of both novice sewers and experienced embroiderers. They all appreciate his knowledge and expertise, but most of all his contagious enthusiasm for his craft! He makes learning fun! He is known as an edutainer”.

With degrees in Music, Education, Musical Theatre, and Costume Design, Costa is a perfect fit for our Team!

Christina has been sewing since grade school when she begged her mother to teach her to sew. Instead of sharing a sewing machine with her mom, her first major purchase was a sewing machine with money she earned at an after-school job in 8th grade. While her sewing career began with making garments, Christina has added home dec and heirloom sewing, embroidery and, of course, quilting to her skills. With the popularity of quilting these days, she can show you how easy it is to free-motion, create feathers and succeed at ruler work.

She has taught throughout the United States at quilt shows and sewing stores and can often be found assisting in classrooms. When you have the opportunity to be in a classroom with Christina, whether she is teaching or assisting, you will learn a lot and, as many of her students will tell you, you will have a lot of fun. She has a very relaxed style, attentive to each and every attendee. When you take a class from her, you will definitely pick up tips and techniques that will help you with all of your sewing.  

Geri Finio is a lifelong hand-embroiderer and sewing enthusiast with a love for the many mediums of stitchery and a critical eye for detail. After a successful career in corporate computer technology, she shifted gears to follow her passion. Her strong technology background compliments her artisan talents, as she combines digitized and hand-guided machine embroidery to create innovative designs. Geri owned and operated Studio 187 where she successfully collaborated with high profile artists, interior designers and private clientele, tailoring designs to meet individual needs.

In addition, she embroidered all embroidery examples in the book “Asian-Inspired Machine Embroidery” authored by the internationally celebrated embroidery artist, Joan Elliott; served on the Editorial Board of Stitches Magazine and was often featured on their covers, articles and repeatedly invited to judge their National Golden Needle Awards for industry level embroiderers. Her focus is on elevating the status of embroidery to a level it once enjoyed: A symbol of beauty and refinement. 

Kate’s fascination with quilting began in 1991 when she received a hand-quilted Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt as a wedding present.  The gift of a second scrappy quilt further solidified her love of fabrics and colors.  She made her first quilt in 1993 to celebrate the birth of her first child and has been a devoted quilter ever since.  As an Army veteran with over 7 years of service, a military spouse for 27 years and a mother of 5 children, quilting became the thread that stitched her into the new community every time the family moved.  As a stay-at-home mom, she taught and organized charity quilting for decades through community and church organizations.  She loves all styles and types of quilts from art to modern, from traditional pieced to appliqué. 

By 2007 her children were older and she began teaching at local quilt shops.  She loves to interact with other creative people and help them to develop the skills they need to make both beautiful and comfortable quilted items.  When her husband’s military service brought her family to Albuquerque, NM in 2014, she began working and teaching at her local quilt shop.  This training and experience also helped her realize her own dream of becoming a longarm quilter. 

In 2016, she opened FabriKated Quilts Longarm Service in Rio Rancho, NM.  After longarming for the public for several year, Kate’s love of quilting and longarming lead to a natural transition to teaching others how to get the best from their longarm machines.  Teaching longarming since 2016,  Kate joined Janome America as a longarm specialist in January 2022.

Her longarm specialties include ruler work skills, working with Pro-Stitcher^®, and combining digital and free-motion designs.  Her students also learn to achieve their best possible results by playing with all different thread types and weights, squaring up and taming wavy quilts, and breaking large quilts down into manageable bites.  

Let her help you longarm your way into the future by embracing traditions of the past and blending them with modern techniques to create heirlooms for tomorrow.    

Katy started sewing by taking her mother's scraps and making doll clothes. Her love of sewing is evident in her classes and workshops by stepping outside of the box. 

As an instructor and salesperson for a Janome dealer, she always tries to attempt to 'break it down' to make complicated techniques into simple instructions, while making it fun at the same time with her bubbly personality. 

Katy joined Janome as a Freelance Educational Coordinator in January of 2016.

As a Freelance Educational Coordinator, Kelley enjoys teaching others about quilting and sewing. She is very passionate about helping others learn more about her fulfilling hobby. 

Kelley's accomplishments include owning a Janome dealership and quilt shop for six years. She also enjoys being a long arm quilter and teaching all of the newest techniques at the local quilt show where she lives in North Carolina. Her excitement for Janome sewing machines is contagious!

Michele started sewing when she was a young child, making doll clothes with a hand crank toy machine. After graduating from high school Michele worked at a large department store in the alterations department, using the time to learn everything she could about sewing and alterations from her senior co-workers. While attending college in New York, she started her own home decorating business where she went to the client’s home, designed all fabric treatments and then went back to her shop and made the curtains, shades, bedspreads, canopies, pillows, wall hangings, etc. Michele moved back to the Seattle area to raise a family with a special-needs kid. She went to work for a friend in Olympia, WA in a sewing machine store and worked there for 15 years as lead salesperson selling six different brands of machines and teaching project classes.

Michele now does freelance training and teaching around the nation and hopes to continue to do this for many years to come!

As a young child, Miriam had a love for textiles and anything she could create with them. 

Miriam attended Maryland College of Art and studied textile arts. She taught herself to sew while in college and from that point, never looked back. 

Miriam has been involved in the fabric world in many different avenues: fashion design, managing a modern quilt store, creating award winning quilts, co-owning a long arm quilting business, serving as a sales representative and most excitingly as a Janome's Education Specialist.

Mitzi is a passionate quilter and designer that loves to explore boundless creativity with others.  As an educator, she has inspired many to explore their creative sides all while building a kinship in the art.  Her goal is to always ignite the stitching spark in others the way prior educators have done the same for her.

Though Mitzi has been sewing since a very young age, it was a military assignment to Alaska in 2009 that brought her into the quilting world.  After becoming a very frequent customer and student of the local quilt shop, she developed an intense love of all things quilting.  Soon she would become not only an enthusiast, but also a designer, educator, and volunteer of the art.

Most days are spent in her home studio in Maryland, where she is busy designing new patterns and trying out the latest techniques, all while balancing life as a wife, mom, and small farm owner.  A true animal lover, it’s never a surprise to see some animal popping up in photos, some even enjoying her latest designs.  Peek inside her studio and you will see she is powered by a love of Janome machines, showcasing the MC15000, M7, 550e, and many more! 

Sam has been with Janome for nine years, but he has been sewing for the past 39. Prior to joining Janome, Sam had his own custom sewing business in Texas where he designed and made wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, home decor, costumes, hats and pretty much anything that can be sewn. He also spends time volunteering in the summer -  teaching Girl Scout troops sewing so they can earn their Textile Badge. Sam loves all sewing related gadgets and probably has every notion ever made, some still in their original packaging. When Sam is teaching a class or talking to fellow sewists, it is evident that he is passionate about sewing and teaching it to others. 

Susan is not your average instructor. Her extensive experience includes managing a number of dealerships and instructing consumers and dealers in the home industry since 1985. 

She is a professional digitizer, quilter, crafter and seamstress specializing in Machine arts. Susan has also authored many articles for different sewing industry magazines and newsletters as well as having published her own designs and patterns. 

Susan's secret passion is anything Artistic. Being certified by many industry professionals such as Sulky, Martha Pullen, Nancy Zieman and Jenny Haskins in their different styles and sewing techniques - she brings a unique approach to her sewing, crafting and teaching. 

From sergers to software, designing for the home to 18" dolls, Susan is able to inspire and motivate from the very beginner to the advanced professional in the industry.