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Love at First Stitch Think a crafty home is out of reach? Think again. Just take it one stitch at a time!  Image courtesy Jessica Marquez Ever wonder what it would feel like to be able to (honestly) take credit for having created a crafty contribution to your home? An embroidered tablecloth with matching napkins, a frilly apron, colorful quilts and hand-sewn pillowcases garner as much sincere admiration as needles, fabric scraps and unnamed tools elicit confusing gazes trying to figure out what goes where and for how long. Take a deep breath – you can’t finish a baby blanket before you even know how to start one. Pull up a chair and get ready to learn how to become the crafty friend, the creative sister and the go-to sewer. Buttons everywhere will thank you. “Sewing is very much like cooking,” says Heather Ross, a New York City-based textile designer, teacher, illustrator and author. “You become better at it over a period of time. You have to be patient.” Ross’ first book, “Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009) is a compilation of sewing projects that run the gamut from requiring a couple hours to a couple days.  The necessary tools: Get ready to tackle any craft with an arsenal of tools and tricks. Be prepared for any fun project – from embroidery to sewing. Image courtesy “Weekend Sewing” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009) “I don’t remember not knowing how to use a sewing machine,” Ross says of her childhood and adolescence in rural Vermont. Her high school was intensely focused on preparing young women for the real world, and that world involved sewing, cooking and every home-economic related task. Ross and her classmates were taught to approach their homesteads “with thrift and ingenuity, like you were running a business.” Her mother and both grandmas “lived by the needle,” and with no TV, a dirt road and 20 acres to roam, Ross found her calling. Through her book and the classes she currently teaches at Purl Patchwork in New York City, Ross aims to help guide a generation of women who never had to take Home Ec courses find their crafty counterparts. “Start small,” suggests Jessica Marquez, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based visual artist, photographer and crafter. “Pick a project that you like and that you can finish in a day or weekend. I think sometimes we want immediate satisfaction and become frustrated and discouraged when the pieces don't immediately fall into place.” Marquez’ Miniature Rhino business is a line of handmade goods, including embroidery, books and pins. “I've learned everything I do by trial and error and I make mistakes daily. I just have to remind myself that making things by hand isn't about perfection. For me, it's about making things I enjoy and sharing them with others.”  Image courtesy “Weekend Sewing” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009) Ross’ Fat-quarter Napkins project (see sidebar) is a good project to start with, but if that’s still too advanced, start with the very basics. Sign up for a local sewing or craft class and start the “humbling practice,” as Ross calls it. “Sewing is a nuanced expertise that develops over time,” but it can’t start developing if you don’t start practicing. “I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I look at the things I make,” Marquez says. “There is excitement in the challenge of creating something new and pride in having completed it. I enjoy the process of stitching. It's something that takes time. You see a piece develop slowly, stitch by stitch and it becomes meditative, even addictive. I'm often finding myself saying, ‘just one more stitch’ and another hour has gone by.” |
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