About Lisa
"i love african fabrics with every fiber of my being..."
Lisa Shepard Stewart is a writer and designer based in New Jersey. In her books, African Accents: Fabrics and Crafts to Decorate Your Home and Global Expressions: Decorating with Fabrics from Around the World, Lisa encourages others to express themselves creatively through culturally relevant techniques and materials. She published her third book, African Accents On The Go! Designing Accessories with Cultural Style in June 2007, and in 2011 began publishing FABRIGASM magazine, for Lovers of African Textiles.
Lisa offers classes and events internationally, and travels to Ghana to source artists, fabrics and materials. She also organizes and hosts SewJourns to Ghana, Colorado, New Mexico and other fun destinations.
Lisa has written for various web sites, and trade and consumer publications. and has demonstrated several projects & techniques on HGTV , and its sister network, DIY, along with Discovery Channel and sewing & quilting programs on PBS. For four years (2001 to 2004), she was the craft columnist for the Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, serving a readership of over 450,000 at the time.
She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City with a Bachelors degree in Marketing and an Associate degree in Communications. She has held various positions in the sewing, craft, and textile industries, including creative director, writer/consultant, fabric buyer, merchandiser, and marketing manager.
She opened CE's first studio location in downtown Rahway, NJ in December 2017. The space combines retail and event space for classes and private parties. Faraway customers can shop all of the studio's merchandise by way of Virtual Visits, personal shopping appointments via Zoom, WhatsApp or Google Duo video call apps.
Lisa's obsession with African textiles began in 1986, during a trip to Senegal, West Africa. In addition to sewing and fabric collecting, she is a part-time vegetarian whose other interests include travel, entertaining, holistic health, and yoga.