About

My love affair with the sewing machine started way before I could sew myself. My grandmother introduced us when I was a small girl. I had six brothers and sisters, so shopping for new clothes was quite the rarity. Instead, I would wear my older sister Martha’s cast offs, or better yet, the clothes my grandma made for me.

Grandma and I had a special connection and I knew this for a fact because she made more clothes for me than any of my siblings. Each season would bring me four or five new outfits, and a snapshot of me posing in each one. She would sew pantsuits, shorts, blouses and nightgowns. But none of those could make me giddy with excitement more than the new dress she would make for me every Easter. Actually, she would make two. One for me, and a matching one for Martha.

The year I turned 10, she patiently gave me sewing lessons on her old Viking sewing machine. The first outfit I made was terrible, but I proudly wore it to school anyway. I was not deterred by mediocrity, and my skills improved with every garment I stitched. By the time I was in high school, I made the majority of my wardrobe and my classmates were paying me to sew for them. When I was 18, I won “Best of Show” in the Multnomah County Fair sewing division. I had found my calling.

Now, I am making shoes and caps, and I love it. Every item is sewn by my own two hands and no matter how many I make, I never grow tired of them.