About Me
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I was born and raised in Nashville Tennessee. My mother sewed and had done so from childhood standing while she pumped the pedal of the non-motorized Singer. She stood while she made doll clothes so that she could see over the top of the table to the machine. After I was born, she signed up for classes at Watkins Institute in downtown Nashville. She began classes with Elizabeth Travis Johnson sometime after my second birthday. She made many things with Mrs. Johnson and at my third birthday party, |
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was wearing a white organdy pinafore with blue organdy angel sleeves and
blue organdy medallions stitched into the hem that she made in class. I
was actually suppose to wear that pinafore in the Watkins Fashion show,
but refused to go on the stage. She still loves me anyway. She continued
to take classes at Watkins and I continued to have cute little dresses to
wear as well as complete doll wardrobes.
I myself did not sew as a little child
although I do remember having those punch |
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After graduating from high school, I
attended University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I entered as an art
major but soon decided that supporting myself and possibly my brother as
well as an artist would mean we might both starve. (Developmentally
delayed from birth damage, my brother is now my legal responsibility.) So
having made that decision, I changed my major to the Home Economics
Department and explored first an Interior Design major and finally a
general Home Economics degree. One of the classes that I took was a basic
sewing class. The graduate student teaching the class understood very
little about fit and refused to believe me when I told her I took a size 8
pattern. She insisted I buy a size 12 pattern based on my bust
measurement. While everyone else was cutting and then sewing, I was still
trying to cut that Size 12 down to a Size 8. Had I been older, I would
have just bought the Size 8 and ignored her. With a nearly three week lag
behind everyone else, my dress was not hemmed but otherwise finished by
end of class term. I received a C grade in that class which still amuses
me to this day. Apparently, I failed to silk cover my snaps and that cost
me a great deal on my grade. I still do not silk cover snaps. |
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After college, I was married and we moved to
upper state New York. I was a wife of a graduate student. We had no money
- none. I made everything on the sewing machine with my mother often
mailing me fabric so I would have something to sew. I made slipcovers,
curtains, and all my clothes and even some of my husbands. |
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After four years, we left NY and headed to
MA where we lived until December of 2005. We moved in August 1975 and I gave birth the following
June to my one child, a beautiful baby girl. I went to work at the local
Stretch and Sew when she was around 15 months old. I became the evening
manager there after a time. It was a wonderful place to work, as I was
able to be home all day with my child and then work at night. We had
regular fashion shows and she loved to be in them. Guess she did not take
after her mother there. |
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When she was about four and a half, my aunt
had found someone who was teaching English Smocking and suggested I go
with her to the class. I discovered that I just loved to smock. At that
time, there were no 'plates' available but there were old books with
stitches and dreaming up a pattern and balancing it was just part of the
fun. I did finally find a pattern for my first yoke dress. It had detailed
smocking instructions. Later, when I had finished smocking and was ready
to put the dress together, the directions actually said "Construct
garment." I did the best I could. It was a pretty, little tan dress with
an apple print and red smocking. I used red piping. That piping was way
too wide and would do well on a corduroy sofa. On the dress's first
washing, it also ran its dye all over the skirt front. I had washed the
garment fabric but not the store bought bias. I used that dress in classes
as an example of what NOT to do. The next pattern I bought was a Vogue child. Unfortunately, whoever had designed the pattern had failed to allow for the difference from a size one to a size eight. Therefore, I smocked all the rows it told me to smock.
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About this time, my aunt and I attended our first SAGA (Smocking Arts Guild of America: http://www.smocking.org) Convention. That was Memphis TN in 1982. We had a wonderful time. The astounding quality of workmanship was really a revelation. We both learned so very much, and met so many wonderful people who all had the same goal of saving the fine art of handwork for future generations. I came home and made a lace peter pan collar for that dress. When the dress was finished, the hem was very narrow because of there was not enough cloth allowed for one in that pattern.  Back
from Memphis, we located a place in RI selling smocking supplies and we
drove there for a couple of years. When she decided to close her doors, I
decided to open a small shop in the basement of my home. I actually bought
many of her store fixtures. When I was calling one of the business members
to place my first wholesale order, they wanted a name. I did not have one
but I saw a copy of the Lee Wards catalog out of the corner of my eye.
Part of their logo was the phrase - Creative Needle Crafts. I blurted out
that name and promptly winced. Not such a wise choice but it proved to be
very good for the business. |
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My aunt and I attended many more conventions. I have at least 10 that I can remember and there might have been more. I got to take classes from Elizabeth Travis Johnson as well. Full circle had come. One year I had the opportunity to take a few of the items my mother had made in her classes to a convention to show her. That was a special moment for me. Of course, I also had classes with Ellen, and Martha, and Florence Roberson, and countless others. What I learned at all those conventions, I was able to return home and share with my students at my shop. Eventually, we moved the shop out to a retail location and remained there until the ceiling collapsed. That collapse took more than the ceiling from me. Although we reopened in a little over a week, we closed the doors for good by the next June. I have always thought of it as one door closing and another opening. I never looked back. And I finally got to sew again. Arthritis has slowed my work, but with surgery on my hands and wrists and now my eye, I am beginning to be able to stitch again. I forgot how much joy stitching brings. And being able to see the hole in a needle again is a true blessing. I presently live in CA south of San Francisco with my husband and two insane Bengal cats named Paku and Kiki. My daughter and her husband live in San Francisco and I am eagerly waiting for grandchildren. My next best job is to be a nanny to my own grandchildren. I think that will be my best job.
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cards that you would thread shoelaces through to mimic sewing. I also
loved to cut out paper dolls and all their clothing. I had boxes of them
to play with. I do remember taking a
sewing class at the local department store. I made a pink gingham
shirtwaist sleeveless dress with a poppy appliqued to the gathered skirt.
The center of the flower, I had stuffed with cotton through the back. It
was cute and I won a sewing machine. I believe I was about nine then and
extremely chubby. As far as I know, there are no pictures of me in that
garment although I do still have the dress.
