After learning how to crochet in third grade at a yarn shop by making a pair of slippers, Claudia Botterweg left behind an unfinished Afghan when she left home for college. She found herself living across the street from a vintage clothing store and spent most of her budget on vintage clothes. She began repairing clothes in exchange for store credit. One of her tasks was to make camisoles with vintage crocheted lace yokes.

After college, Claudia tried to make sweaters, and made some multi-colored granny squares. She discovered a tin full of several used balls of tatting thread, a tatting shuttle, and a size 14 steel crochet hook that she had inherited from her grandmother. She made some lace edgings from an old crochet pattern book, became fascinated with lace, and graduated to making doilies. In the 1980s, she made hundreds of lace collars and sold them at craft fairs. She also designed her own camisole yokes and made camisoles to sell.

Recently, Claudia acquired a stack of vintage patterns. She has been busily translating the patterns from vintage instructions, making them easy for beginners to read, making written instructions when only charts were provided, and making charts when only written instructions were provided. She hopes that a new generation of needlecrafters will learn how to make beautiful lace to decorate themselves, their friends and families, and their homes.