Nancy Zieman is the TV host of Sewing with Nancy, a half-hour TV show produced by Wisconsin Public Television. On the air since September, 1982, it is the longest running sewing program on North American television. Nancy has been the host and executive producer since its inauguration.
Raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, Zieman graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Stout with double majors in Home Economics and Journalism. In Chicago she worked for a national sewing chain store. She worked as a freelance sewing instructor in Minnesota.
In 1979, she founded Nancy's Notions, a direct mail company specializing in sewing notions, supplies and accessories. Nancy's Notions was purchased by the Tacony Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri in 2003.
Zieman has written several sewing books including The Art of Landscape Quilting, Serge with Confidence, Machine Embroidery with Confidence, Sew with Confidence, Landscape Quilts with Natalie Sewell, Let’s Sew, 10-20-30 Minutes to Sew, The Best of Sewing with Nancy, Sew Clever Bags, and 501 Sewing Hints. She has also designed patterns for the McCall's Pattern Company.
In 1988, she received the Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year award from the Wisconsin Women Entrepreneurs Association. In 1991, she received the National 4-H Alumni Award.
Zieman lives in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin where her original "Nancy Notions" shop still operates.