Storibook Designs: It all Began with the Overalls!


There is one question every new customer asks me, "how did you get started in this business?"  I've been sewing since I was a kid, somewhat out of necessity I think and somewhat due to my mothers' love of sewing. 

  

I am the 12th of 13 children and apparently, as you can see in the photo above, it was pretty difficult to keep 13 children clothed!  That is only partially true though.  The photo is pretty funny - and the overalls ridiculous -  but the truth is..... I looooved them!  My mother kept trying to get rid of them and each time, I would find them in the pile of "must go's" and sneak them back up to my room.  Days later I would come marching down the stairs in this attire with a big grin on my face.  Finally, she grabbed them while I was at school and instructed my brother, "take this to Goodwill right now because if you don't, she's going to find them again".   Really makes me laugh; I had fallen in love with the fabric, and what's even funnier is that to this day, I'm still always drawn to red with yellow!

  

Watching my Mom sew, I decided I wanted to try it out myself.  (After my earliest life memory, from about the age of three, when I sewed my finger with my Moms' machine) I started with doll clothes.  I'm pretty sure I taped the fabric on this doll but it was a start!   See the little doll with the crazy yellow hair? I realize now I probably should have been more focused on making her a hat as a first project!  I loved that yellow-haired doll because she had a heartbeat.   Funny though, as much as I loved her, I learned how to use a seam ripper on her.  I NEEDED TO KNOW what made her heart beat and that little tool let me right in on the secret.  Poor thing.  My mending was not at couture standards back then so you can imagine, she was never the quite the same.  (You may notice the black toile chair in the background, that was my Mom's slipcover in process.... the apple didn't fall too far from the tree I guess.)

  

For all you young readers: yes, this "water graffiti" was before computers. But this is what we had to look forward to for fun.....that, or Shirley Temple Movies (which by the way, I loved!).  That is me on the right sporting one of the first of my many custom outfits, hand-made by my Mom.

So, without the ability to pop in a movie or hypnotize us with techno gadgets my mother got us sewing.  It was a great past time to keep us learning... and clothed (remember... 13 kids?). Pretty much everything I wore as a kid was handmade by my mother and from the 5th grade on by me. 
  
Back then we shopped at this tiny store, Landry's, that was overflowing with huge rolls and bins of fabric.  The fabric was sold by the pound! We'd leave with a heap of fabric and the sewing would begin once we got home. 

As the years went by, I continued to sew - for myself, my grandmother and my nieces and nephews - and eventually I made the transition we all come to... an apartment of my own.  And so it began, the evolution from clothing designs to home designs. So there it is... a little bit about me and how I got started. 

What about you? Whether you are in the design business or not, if you sew, who (or what) got you started?






8 comments:

  1. Sarah, I loved reading about how you started sewing, and the overalls photo is priceless! I wonder how many of us started with doll clothes? I know I did, we had a wonderful babysitter that would make us doll clothes, it fascinated me to watch her. She once made me a rabbit fur coat for my doll! This was before PETA of course.

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  2. Wow, a rabbit fur coat is pretty fancy!! After doll clothes, what was the first thing you made Nancy? Mine was a "smock" top... remember those, with the ties in the back. Stylin'!

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  3. Sarah I love how it all began! Great story and cute pictures - I remember you when!

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  4. I imagine you were cracking up looking at that picture of the four of us, Kate!! :-)

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  5. Loved it Sarah
    What a lovely story and a great start to a career.
    I also loved all the photos of you.

    Well done

    Penny x

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  6. Hi Penny,

    I just may have more to add; really wish I had more photos b/c I could post some real incriminating ones of some of the clothing I made myself!!!! OK, I guess its probably good I don't have those photos.

    I do also have some funny stories from my days in 4-H. Gee, now that I think of it, I could probably do a mini-series.. ha, ha

    Thanks for reading and for your lovely note Penny!!

    Appreciate it ~ Sarah :-)

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  7. This really is a fun post. I got started very young when my grandmother hooped an old tea towel and drew some x's in a row. My first lesson in cross stitch. I then progressed to and outline stitch as I needle-traced over little images of teapots and ducks she drew on the towel with a pencil. My mom kept one or two of those towels with my first stitches - my attempts at a freehand circle are quite Escher-like.

    When my mom passed away and we were cleaning out the house for sale, I found an old trunk that had hundreds of photos taken through the years. Mine were immediately recognized - they were of home dec projects I completed in every house and apartment I ever lived in! I even took a set of barkcloth living room drapes that my folks had replaced and camouflaged the ugly brown ripplefolds that covered my dorm windows. In a reverse Scarlett O'Hara move, I stitched these beautiful floral (and florid!) pinch pleat drapes directly to the ripplefold header!

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  8. Judy, what a wonderful story. I don't know how I missed your comment until now. My apologies for such a delayed response. And my thanks for sharing such a wonderful story and memory!! ~ Sarah :-)

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Did I ever tell you how much I love your comments? I really do love hearing your thoughts after reading posts? Lets me know people are reading and helps us keep the conversation going!! ~ Thank you!

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Craftsmanship: custom artistry by hand

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