Sew in Love With Needle and Thread

"She who dies with the most fabric, wins!" That's more than a bumper sticker on Carol Kelly's car. That subtle challenge is her mantra. This captivating, divorced mother of four is a jack of all trades who has mastered the sewing arts. Her legacy is built on a love for sewing. It propels her to the ranks of those who embrace the craft for its therapeutic attributes, empowering statements and cultural tenacity.

But Carol is not alone. Undeterred by Martha Stewart's legal troubles and the intimidation of too-perfect-for-life Bree on Desperate Housewives, sewing enthusiasts are popping up everywhere.

If you belong to the American Sewing Guild, you likely view sewing as a hobby, perhaps even a business, but rarely a chore. The Guild, launched in 1978 by the trade group the Home Sewing Association, a not-for-profit since 1920, is in cahoots with enthusiasts to keep America's sewing wheels spinning.

The effort appears to be paying off. For thousands of Americans, sewing is much more than a hobby, it is a lifestyle. And now it has its very own month! September is National Sewing Month, according to the Home Sewing Association, which touts sewing as the "alternative yoga."

There are new books, magazines (Cutting Edge published by SoHo Publishing featured retro designs in its winter debut issue) and a gazillion Web sites devoted to sewing. You can also purchase videos and DVDs on how to sew online. Sewing Patterns.com has videotapes for beginners that range from $19.99 to $39.99, as well as patterns that can be delivered to your front door.

A growing number of teens and tweens are causing the latest surge in the current 35-million home-sewing enthusiast count. In 2004, the Home Sewing Association and the Family, Career and Community Leaders Association launched a now eight-state, yearlong sewing and design project and Web site, Sewtrendy.com, aimed at getting high schools and their communities involved with sewing. (To reach students at schools currently not participating in the Sew Trendy program, the Home Sewing Association is launching Xtreemsewing.com, which will become live in a couple of weeks.)

Carol Kelly Inspiring us all to keep those wheels spinning

In reaction to the trend, several retailers, such as The Gap (GPS Quote - Cramer on GPS - Stock Picks) and Land of Nod, are offering do-it-yourself, party-style sewing kits targeting children ages 7 and up.

Increasingly, men are getting into the act -- or the stitch. Thanks to the arrival of the metrosexual, as well as "manly shows such as TLC's Trading Spaces and While You Were Out, men are more comfortable and more confident with who they are, and unlike the past, they are not beholden to stereotypes," says Karen Koza, spokesperson for the Home Sewing Association. "In shows like Trading Spaces, you see both men and women on the sewing machine. There is a firehouse in San Francisco [where] they sew on their downtime."

As for Kelly, she sews and crochets almost anything and everything, and the evidence of her handiwork encroaches every inch of her Germantown, Md., home. She makes curtains, duvets, potholders and aprons that look store-bought. No bathroom is spared the dainty doll whose ballroom gown she crafted to discreetly drape a spare roll of toilet paper that no one ever uses.

« Previous Page

1 2 3

Next Page »