Michelle Aitken was born in New Zealand in 1963.  Together with her husband Jim, and young children the family migrated to Australia in 1988 where they settled in Melbourne.

Michelle and Jim have three children, and are active in their local community.  Their home is their castle and they have been Extending and Renovating their 1950's home for the past 20 years.

With an extensive business background, and time spent in Retail, Michelle established her own retail Patchwork and Sewing Machine shop in 2001.  The shop was an enormous success and brought Michelle many years of satisfaction as she shared her passion for sewing with her many customers and students.

Michelle enjoys a diverse range of sewing, including Serging, Machine Embroidery, dressmaking, Patchwork and Quilting. Michelle has won the award for Creative Serging at the Husqvarna Viking Convention in 2006 and has had her Patchwork Quilt patterns published in both Quilters Companion and Down Under Quilting magazines.  Michelle has also designed and produced gowns for display by both Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff for a number of years.

More recently Michelle has taken a "behind the scenes" role in the shop, as her failing health forced her to slow down.  Michelle suffers with an agressive form of Arthritis which slows her down.  But with every negative there is a positive, and the positive of this lifestyle change is the extra time Michelle has to share her love of sewing with a wider audience.  In particular it has allowed her the time to develop a range of DVD Tutorials teaching 5D Machine Embroidery.

Michelle still teaches and is available to travel, so if you own a sewing business, or are a member of a group email Michelle to inquire about her Workshop Menu.