Gale Grigg Hazen

Gale Grigg Hazen, of San Jose, California passed away on January 2, 2026, at the age of 81 after a two-year battle with cancer. A proud Willow Glen native, she graduated from the high school and attended San Jose City College majoring in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Fine Arts and Home Economics.

Nationally known for her sewing, fitting, and sewing machine expertise, Gale learned how to sew as a young girl from her dad who owned an upholstery store. Perhaps that’s where she also learned how to always be mechanically inclined from her father and could fix any sewing machine. While raising her two daughters, Gale began to teach and share her passion for sewing with others by offering classes in her garage.

Due to the popularity of her sewing classes, she took a big step and opened her very own store, The Sewing Place, in the mid-eighties, that featured classes and later fabrics and patterns. This special store became a warm and inviting place for women to learn how to sew for their bodies. Gale began to design her own patterns and became a pioneer in body positivity by writing the book Fantastic Fit for Every Body. With the release of her book, the American Sewing Guild, often invited Gale to be a keynote speaker around the country, where she taught women how to create clothes they feel good in. Everyone responded to Gale’s humor and down-to-earth charm.

Gale adored Christmas, and for years made sure her house was fully decorated for her birthday on December 16th. As an annual tradition, Gale and her family would cut down at least a 12-foot tree the day after Thanksgiving, and then the decorating would commence, with no less than five trees and every surface of her home having a touch of holiday cheer.

Gale’s faith was always important to her; she joined St. Francis Episcopal Church on her own when she was a teen. Since those early years, she has remained dedicated to her church community.

Always generous, Gale would open her heart and home to anyone who needed extra support. A friend to so many, she was there to offer strength and advice to those in need.

One of Gale’s joys was to create stockings for the Santa Maria Urban Ministry filled with goodies such as gift cards, toothbrushes, crayons, notebooks, pencils, candy, and anything that would bring a smile to the child who was bestowed one of Gale’s stockings. Gale would organize her sewing friends to first sew the stockings and then to fill them. It was always hard to say no to Gale when she was procuring her stocking stuffers. But why would you, her generosity was infectious.

She is leaving a void among all of us who were fortunate to have been part of her life. She will be deeply missed by her husband, Dennis Hazen, and two daughters Cara and Gena Alvernaz, and grandson Jax Alvernaz.

We encourage friends to continue Gale’s stocking tradition by considering a donation in her memory to the Santa Maria Urban Ministry. (https://santamariasj.org/get-involved/invest/)

Gale’s memorial will be January 24th at 3pm, at her church,

St Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Avenue, SJ, CA 95125.