I had a complicated relationship with my mother. I will leave it at that. There was one thing she made me do that I am forever grateful for. She made me go to sewing classes for a week in downtown Pittsburgh at a department store. I certainly did not really learn to sew that week, but it set me on the path to where I am now. I did learn to sew clothing over the years by actually making things. I pretty much made all of my clothing. Of course that was back when patterns were less than $1 and fabric was not that expensive. There were lots of fabric stores including an entire floor devoted to sewing in all of the department stores. Over the years we have seen all of them go away. The big fat books showing patterns from companies like McCalls or Simplicity are now just skinny books. Patterns now cost a fortune. We’ve seen Joann fabrics fold. So things have changed a lot. Now we have cheap disposable clothing to buy so we don’t have to sew clothing anymore.
I even made my wedding dress and made lots of dresses and costumes for our daughter.
All that clothing making eventually led to quilting and where I am today. I wonder if I ever would have found quilting if my mom had not sent me for sewing classes.
Did you sew clothing before you started quilting? Do you still make clothing?
Thanks for reading.
Chris
Yes, made my wedding dress, the kids clothes, my clothes, curtains, etc. before even considering anything to do with quilting. My friends back in Athens, PA were beginning to quilt back in the early 1980's, so I figured it was worth a try. Did a LOT of quilting while we were in NJ as my watercolors of rural America were unwelcome in NJ! My quilting started as the usual patterns, but I quickly shifted to making my own patterns and eventually to creating modern art quilts. Oh, I still made a few crib quilts, fewer bed quilts, and lots of Christmas quilting themes. Still quilted when we moved to central PA, but here, they do not sell at all well. I went back to watercolors of birds, animals, local scenery. Now I've switch back to modern art using alcohol inks! I get bored doing the same things over and over!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE making clothing and make one thing every year. Only one because my closets are bursting. It is my first love, quilting is second. I also sewed home dec professionally. Our show is next week and I'm putting quilts into the STORE, which I am co-convening, as I've got to start divesting myself of my huge inventory of quilts. Also have quilted charity and quilts of Valour for years too.
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From a very early age I was intrigued by my mother's sewing machine and wanted to learn to use it. When I was still in grade school, she ended up subbing long-term for a home ec teacher and I often had to amuse myself in that time between when I got let out of school and mom was done with her teaching duties. So there I was, spending time with all these sewing machines around me, and to keep me busy, mom would give me small sewing tasks, easy things to make. By the time I was in junior high home ec which was taught by another teacher, I already knew the basics and was allowed to get a more advanced pattern to make a skirt and blouse. I was on my way and spent lots of time with those fat pattern books and drooling over fabric in the small section of our also small department store. I also started making clothes for my mom. So yeah, by the time I was planning my wedding, of course I'd be making my wedding dress and my bridesmaids would be making their dresses too. We all knew how to sew garments. I think part of the attraction for me was that I could make unique outfits because of the fabric choices I could make. I never wanted to look like everyone else. While still in high school, I started dabbling with patchwork, nothing fancy, just squares cut from the leftovers of my clothing construction, sewn together to make the skirt of a full length "prairie dress" or a "picnic table cloth" using a pattern from a magazine. My parents moved after I left for college, and one of my first visits at the new home, I found that mom had collected the leftovers of my dressmaking in a box labeled "fabric for Sheila's quilt". Yeah, she knew I'd make one some day and it wasn't too long later, after college and marriage, that I did start making from my scraps and patterns out of magazines. It just grew from there, more stories I could tell you that led me further and further down the path until one day I realized I wanted to put aside all the other handcrafts I was doing and concentrate on quilting. Also, that I was getting very frustrated with making clothes for myself as I struggled to get the fit right and was never good at alterations. Plus fabric was getting mighty expensive and I no longer cared quite so much about having unique clothes. Make quilts because you don't have to worry so much about fit! Pretty much stopped the garment making at that point. Moved from traditional to contemporary to art quilts over the years and currently am really enjoying getting back to non-art quilting projects. As for what originally influenced me to start quilting, it was actually the star quilt on my parents' bed that was made by my dad's mother who died at an early age. That quilt fascinated me and gave me the drive to someday make my own quilts. Mom didn't do that kind of sewing or any craft really but she did know how interested I was in making quilts, thus that box of scraps saved for my future quilt.
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