Gabriele Howell
Gabriele Howell is our resident Quilting Guru at The Running Stitch and we are so very grateful to have her. Customers who have taken Gabriel’s classes or sought her advice in the store will agree that her knowledge is phenomenal. Gabriele’s cheerful personality and attention to detail are bonuses for those who attend her classes.
Gabriele was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario and started sewing as soon as she could pick up a needle and thread it! Her aunt and grandmother taught her to sew including cross stitch, embroidery, and crochet. Her grandmother was her best influence, inspiring in her a lifelong love for sewing. Gabriele first dabbled in quilting in high school when she took a fiber arts class where she learned to use cardboard templates and hand piecing to complete her first hand made quilt.
While living in Aurora, Ontario and pregnant with their son, she took up hand appliqué and machine quilting. Later the family moved to Pickering Ontario and Gabriele attended quilting courses while expecting their daughter and continued with quilting while raising her children.
They moved to Ottawa in 1994 and it was during their short stay here that Gabriele was contracted by The Running Stitch to make piecing models. She enjoyed this until their move to Germantown, Maryland, USA. Gabriele taught classes at the Capital Quilts Store where she met Anne Connery, then a member of The Elly Sienkiewicz Appliqué Academy. Gabriele credits Anne’s patient guidance and tutelage for improving her skills in the craft of hand appliqué.
It’s our good fortune that the family moved back to Ottawa in 2004 and now at The Running Stitch, Gabriele gives classes in machine quilting with domestic sewing machines, hand appliqué, hand quilting and colour theory. Gabriele enjoys teaching and likes to encourage her students to go beyond the pattern and create from within.
Come visit her at the Running Stitch where Gabriele will guide and inspire you with her expertise!
