True story: Linda’s very first paid sewing job was secretly hemming 15 of her Marine officer candidate classmates’ skirts to a less dowdy length.

She performed the work at a motel outside the Quantico base gate, using her grandmother-in-law’s borrowed Singer sewing machine and charging $5 apiece (that’s like $1 million in today’s money). Her rationale? The Quantico tailors always made women Marines look too frumpy and frazzled with A-line skirts below the knee.

When Linda realized what a difference a simple repositioning of a hemline can make, she knew it was her calling to use her tailoring talents whenever she could. She kept sewing throughout her career first as a Marine Officer, stay-at-home mom, technical writer, administrative assistant, and finally, a teacher.

She was born and raised in Virginia, and currently resides on the Arlington/Alexandria border with seven sewing machines and an endless stash of fabric.