info January 10th, 2008
By CECELIA GOODNOW
P-I REPORTER(Editor’s Note: An additional store was added to the list of stores and classes.)
For a while it looked as if home sewing was going the way of butter churning. It seldom saved money over cheap, imported clothing, and its dowdy image was a turnoff for young career women.
Then came “Project Runway.”
Now in its fourth season, the Bravo-TV reality show — think “Survivor” for fashion designers — has touched off a home-sewing renaissance among young, urban hipsters eager to add fabric draping and bobbin winding to their repertoire of craft skills.
“Oh, my God, it’s insane,” said Glorianne Cubbage, 35-year-old owner of Bernina Northwest, a Seattle sewing machine dealer. ” ‘Project Runway’ was the best thing to happen to this industry.”
Cubbage opened her Northgate-area shop two years ago after working for a dealership that closed after its traditional customer base faded out. In fact, Cubbage said, “Sewing as it once was is dying.”
Rising from the ashes is a new brand of sewing that emphasizes self-expression, individuality, digital technology and girls-night-out camaraderie (though a surprising number of men have take it up as well).
One hot trend is “refashioning”: finding stylish new uses for secondhand clothes. A spate of recent books shows how to turn a favorite T-shirt into a tote bag or create a smart tube dress from a pillow case. Craftster.org, a craft forum and project-sharing site, has lots of examples.
Regardless of the project, sewers say creativity and custom design are a big part of sewing’s allure.
“It’s starting to be appreciated by a younger generation,” said Jessica Heiman, a 24-year-old spa receptionist at Hotel 1000 in Seattle.
Heiman, who requested sewing lessons for Christmas a few years ago, said, “I think people are really taking back the idea of homemade. I feel like myself and a lot of my girlfriends are re-embracing that.”
Donna Whitsett, 31, a research analyst and post-doctoral student, is a prime example.
“What I’ve noticed is, up until three or four years ago, if I said I knew how to sew, people were very shocked and surprised,” said Whitsett, a social psychology student at the University of Washington. “Now I have a couple of friends who (recently) bought sewing machines.”
Whitsett, who reupholstered her sofa for $80 in fabric and made a pillow to match, is such a devotee she keeps her sewing machine at the ready at all times. For a while, she had both a sewing desk and a computer desk but space got tight and one had to go.
She kept the sewing desk.
A highlight of her week is getting together with four to eight of her fashionista friends — women who work in architecture, psychology, the environment and high-tech — and watching the latest TiVo-ed episode of “Project Runway.” (New episodes air at 10 p.m. Wednesday.)
They’re part of the demographic that has made Seattle the No. 1 audience for the series, which pits aspiring fashion designers in a race against time — and each other — as they vie to complete their assigned garments. One recent show challenged contestants to create clothing from Hershey’s candy paraphernalia.
The show is so hot, one major fabric manufacturer, the Robert Kaufman Co., is about to unveil two new lines that will carry the “Project Runway” name.
“We really think ‘Project Runway’ played a big part in getting people interested (in sewing),” said Judith Neukam, senior technical editor at Threads magazine and its year-old spinoff, Sew Stylish, a newsstand quarterly aimed at the young, hip market of beginning sewers.
“It shows the possibilities of designing,” Neukam said. “You see them struggling through their project. I think that’s part of the fever.”
Erin Donnellon, 30, who works in sales, counts herself as a wannabe. She recently stopped by Stitches, a Capitol Hill fabric boutique, to choose fabric for a skirt. A friend has offered to stitch it up for her.
“Whenever I see ‘Project Runway,’ I wish I sewed,” Donnellon said.
The sewing revival isn’t happening in isolation. It’s part of the vast craft renaissance that has flowered recently as younger women reclaim domestic arts once shunned as housewifely.
“There’s no stigma anymore,” said Diana Rupp, author of “Sew Everything Workshop,” one of the new crop of how-to books. “I think people have reached a point where they say, ‘Oh, feminism is (about) doing what I want to do.’ ”
Rupp, who has family roots in the Puget Sound area, was in Seattle last month to teach a workshop at Stitches, which caters to new-generation sewers — or “seamsters,” as she calls them.
Rupp’s New York-based Make Workshop offers classes in everything from shoemaking to letterpress to soap-making. Right now, she sees sewing overtaking knitting as the hot new craft.
“I teach all the knitting classes at Make,” Rupp said, “and it’s really dropped off because everyone knows how. People have kind of mastered it, and they want the next thing. It’s crazy how many people want to learn to use a sewing machine.”
In Seattle, sewing is less established and even its fans admit it has some inherent limitations: It’s less portable than knitting, it requires more investment in equipment and there still aren’t a lot of hip, indie fabric stores.
Even so, sewing classes are taking off fast as the post-home-ec generation tries to master Grandma’s old Singer — or springs a new racehorse of a machine with digital functions.
Cubbage said, “When we first started, we only had two or three classes a week. Now we have a class going on all the time, and they’re usually filled.
“I try to keep them like a party,” she said. “People come here to have fun. It’s their safe haven.”
Around the country, sewing lounges are injecting a lively, social element into what used to be a solitary pursuit.
One of the best known is San Francisco’s Stitch Lounge, an urban, drop-in lounge that opened in 2001 to serve as a modern-day sewing circle. Classes, fabric, workspace and sewing machines are provided on site.
In Seattle, at least two stores, Stitches and the Quilting Loft, are trying to replicate that, making workspace and sewing machine time available — at little or no cost — when classes aren’t in session. It’s a boon for space-pinched condo dwellers and dabblers who aren’t ready to spring for the cost of their own equipment.
A good, basic sewing machine typically runs around $300. Embroidery machines, which add custom embellishments to jeans, pillows and the like, can cost $400.
Some machines, such as Singer’s $800 Futura model, do both. It has a USB cable that connects to a laptop or PC, letting sewers download stitch designs and literally walk away as the machine whips it out.
Pfaff’s new Creative Vision machine, unveiled in September (Martha Stewart got the first one), has cutting-edge features that include a high-definition touch screen that displays three-dimensional designs.
Despite its staggering $8,500 price tag, Pfaff initially was swamped by the demand. On its Web site, a grateful company executive terms it “the greatest product introduction in the history of sewing.”
Pattern-making has gone high tech as well, with products like Bernina’s My Label 3-D Fashion Pattern Software, which comes with 20 built-in patterns.
Enter detailed body measurements plus your choice of fabric and trim and view the result on a digital mannequin. Hit “print” and your computer will spit out a paper pattern.
Bernina Northwest has sold more than 20 copies of the $499 software since its September launch.
For hobbyists with cash to spare, Neukam recommends investing in a good iron to press seams open and shape garments. A pro-quality “ironing system,” complete with a specialty table that suctions out steam or floats the garment on air, can cost more than $1,000.
“You spend more time at your iron than the sewing machine,” Neukam said. “It’s the key to good sewing.”
Glitzy gear aside, you can have just as much fun with thrift-shop equipment and a creative spirit. Sewing’s Zen-like quality may be the biggest attraction of all for a career-minded generation longing to reconnect with tactile pursuits.
“It’s a form of meditation,” Rupp said. “You’re able to be just in the moment. It’s like being back in kindergarten, coloring in your coloring book.”
New Look’s ’50s-style pattern creates a hip, retro look. Sewn by Ellsworth.
Stitches owner Amy Ellsworth fashioned these toys from 32-cent felt squares.
Silk sundress by Skolfield, made from surplus designer fabric.
Hemp blouse by Jaime Skolfield, Stitches instructor, tops a Japanese print skirt by Amy Ellsworth.
COMING UP
SEWING & STITCHERY EXPO
WHAT: Nation’s largest sewing show, with 32,000 attendees from around the world, more than 100 seminars daily and more than 400 exhibitors
WHEN: Feb. 28-March 2. Gates open: Thursday-Saturday 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Shopping begins: 9 a.m.
WHERE: Western Washington Fairgrounds, 110 Ninth Ave. S.W., Puyallup
TICKETS: $10 at the door, $9 advance registration; 866-5548559 or sewexpo.com
SEWING RESOURCES
BOOKS
- “Sew Everything Workshop,” by Diana Rupp (Workman, $26.95). Basic how-to’s and 25 projects, including a doggie sweater, unisex boxer and the Naughty Secretary Skirt. Includes 10 printed patterns.
- “Sew Subversive: Down and Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista,” by Melissa Rannels, Hope Meng and Matthew Carden (Taunton Press, $14.95). The co-owners of San Francisco’s Stitch Lounge offer 22 projects with an emphasis on “refashioning” and customizing.
- “Amy Butler’s In Stitches: More than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects” (Chronicle, $24.95). Butler, one of the hottest designers around, gives how-to’s for a floor pillow, apron, handbag and more.
- “Sew Fast Sew Easy,” by Elissa K. Meyrich (St. Martin’s Press, $22.95). Includes patterns for simple pillow, skirt and tote bag.
- “Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide To Making Your Own Wardrobe,” by Wendy Mullin (Bulfinch, $25.99). Includes three exclusive Simplicity patterns — for a shirt, skirt and pants.STORES AND CLASSESPacific Fabrics & Crafts, Northgate Village, 838 N.E. Northgate Way, 206-362-0111; outlet store 2230 Fourth Ave. S., 206-628-6237, plus other locations. pacificfabrics.com . Wide selection of fabric and many sewing and craft classes, including how to make a bridal veil.
- Stitches, 711 E. Pike St., 206-709-0707, stitchesseattle.com. Stylish fashion fabrics and sewing classes (machines provided). The public is welcome to use the Pfaff machines at no charge if no class is in session. Bring your own scissors, pins, etc.
- The Quilting Loft, 2601 N.W. Market St., 206-706-0445, thequiltingloft.com. General-purpose sewing store specializing in cottons. Offers project-oriented sewing classes (make a handbag, tote, skirt, halter top, trench coat, etc.). Has an open sewing lounge: $10 for two hours on a Bernina machine, no charge if you tote your own machine.)
- Nancy’s Sewing Basket, 2221 Queen Anne Ave. N., 206-282-9112, nancyssewingbasket.com. Known for its woolens, cashmere suiting, bridal and formalwear fabrics such as silks and velvets, plus large selection of ribbons and buttons.
- Bernina Northwest, 540 N.E. Northgate Way, Suite D, 206-523-4739, berninanorthwest.com. Offers classes on sewing and on sewing-machine operation (including the basics of all brands).
- reprodepot.com.Vintage-reproduction broadcloth (pre-1800 through 1980s patterns) and Japanese patterns.
PI reporter Cecelia Goodnow can be reached at 206-448-8353 or ceceliagoodnow@seattlepi.com.
Quilting Basics, How-To Techniques, Reference Charts, Favorite Blocks, Color Schemes, Note and Graph Paper 
Brenda Dixon is a well known artist in Alice Springs and is the younger sister of the very famous Aboriginal artist, Clifford Possum. In this piece, she depicts the bush foods around the waterholes and nearby areas that Aboriginal women go in search of. The concentric circles in the middle represent a waterhole and the U-shaped motif represents a woman. Next to that are digging sticks and colamon to store and carry the bush food.
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When it rains heavily, vast areas of land are flooded and in some places rivers are joined with each other to form enormous masses of water, known as a “super river”. This event is represented dramatically in Polly Wheeler’s painting.
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