Who taught you needlework skills and when did you first start learning?

Some of the teachers who will be teaching at the SAGA Convention in Winston-Salem answer that question.

Judith Adams teaching at a SAGA event.

Judith Adams:

I have some pieces of petit point that I worked when I was 10 or 12 but can’t really remember much about them.When I lived on an Australian Air Force Base (my husband was the Senior Dental Officer at the time ) we had a USAF exchange officer and his family living there and I was taught by the officer’s wife. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time (1984) and loved smocking and bought a pleater immediately. 

Kathy Awender, left, helps a student at a SAGA event.

Kathy Awender:

My mother, aunt , grandmother all taught me different things. My mother always sewed for all five of her daughters, and I was very excited when she finally taught me how to use the sewing machine just before seventh grade. That is when I started making my own clothes. My grandmother taught me to embroider and an aunt taught me to knit and crochet.

Jeannie Baumeister (right) with Susie Gay

Jeannie Baumeister:

My Mother taught me to sew using her Featherweight Sewing Machine (it is now my Featherweight Sewing Machine) and my favorite color is always Blue!

Tess Ellenwood on the right

Tess Ellenwood:

 As a child, I was surrounded by grandmothers, aunts, and a mom who could sew, knit, crochet, and tat.  Even my dad was accomplished at picking up dropped knitting stitches.  My earliest sewing memory is from when I was little more than two.  My mom had cut the feet from my pajamas because they had gotten too short. I got up in the night, found a needle in the sewing box (it must have been already threaded), and attempted to sew the feet back on.  I’ve been stitching ever since.  

Cindy Foose:When I was about five-years-old, my Aunt Carrye decided it was time for me to learn to do simple embroidery. She believed that every home should have embroidered cup towels and/or fingertip towels. Her long suit was lazy daisy flowers, French knots, and stem/outline stitches all of which graced many items in her home. Guided by her early, gentle instructions I found a lifelong passion. My construction skills have evolved over the last sixty years by applying what I describe as “The Three Ps” – patience, practice, and perseverance. Successes coupled with failures have bred an ongoing determination to improve and hone all my needlework/sewing skills. This quest keeps me awake at night!

Susan O'Conner, centre, teaching at a SAGA event 

Susan O’Conner:

My mother taught me basic embroidery stitches when I was a child. As I really enjoyed embroidery I then learned other stitches and techniques from books and classes.

Vanue Pierce, centre, teaching at a SAGA event.

Vaune Pierce:

For VERY basic embroidery – self-taught with Simplicity embroidery transfers onto a chambray shirt (this was in the 70's).
'Heirloom Embroidery' - the first class I took was Bullions from Julia Golson and made lots of nice grubby worms.  The embroideresses in Madeira on the two times I visited, along with Lillie McAnge were instrumental in the embroidery that I do now.

So who taught you to sew?

Meet Katherine Diuguid

Katherine Diuguid will be teaching a pre-day class at the SAGA National Convention in Hampton, Virginia. The class information is available in the brochure which you can download from the SAGA website (www.smocking.org). Katherine will also be giving a lecture at the Opening Reception.

SAGANews conducted an email interview with Katherine to find out a little about her. Here are some of her answers to the questions. (You can read the full interview in SAGANews Volume 37 Issue 2 which should be in the mail any time soon!).

SAGA Pre-day Class -Giverny Haystacks

Who taught you needlework skills and when did you first start learning? I honestly cannot remember a time when I was not stitching.  When I was little, my grandmother, who lived up in New York, would come and stay the summers with us.  She was an avid crocheter and was always making something and my mother used to do a lot of needlepoint.  Both of them taught me different needlecrafts and stitching.  In the summers, my grandmother and I spent our time either cooking or stitching and watching classic movies.  As I watched the movies, I became very inspired by both the costumes and stories and that sparked a desire in me to learn more about the many artists and designers creating the costumes.  I have notebooks filled with sketches of costumes from different classic movies.  

  What inspires your designs? 

My main inspirations come from nature and history.  I love gardening.  I find it a wonderful stress reliever and I especially love watching the plants change from season to season.  I also enjoy visiting large gardens and taking photos of all the colors and textures.  I also find a lot of inspiration from history, especially stories of women in history.  I read a lot of women’s biographies growing up and still enjoy reading them.  I am especially interested in royal women and 19th Century American society women.  The Industrial Revolution or Gilded Age time period I find fascinating because so much changed so quickly.  

Do you attend classes and workshops as well as teach at them? 

Yes I love taking classes.  There is always something new I want to learn and I love being in a learning atmosphere.  I have met so many wonderful people through courses I have taken and I just really am addicted to learning. 

Moss Bow Tie

Do you belong to a sewing guild of any kind? 

Yes and no, I belong to the Embroiderers Guild of America but as a member at large.  I had joined SAGA the year before last and need to re-up my membership!  I would really love to find a local group of stitchers to stitch with.  I just have not found that near my home yet.  There is a lovely group of ladies that are part of the EGA that I have met with a few times informally on the eastern part of the state.  I love seeing other people’s projects and what they are working on.  It’s great to share your work with other people too.  It is not a guild, but many of the ladies that I stitch with in the UK and have met in the US have blogs and are on Facebook.  I’ve found it is a wonderful way to keep in contact with them, get feedback and share our work with each other.  It is really amazing actually how socially media aware a lot of the stitchers I know are and how there is such a vibrant virtual community of stitchers.  

  What is your most favourite sewing tool? 

I have several I think!  I’ve collected a bit of a stash as I am sure many of the SAGA members can understand!  If I had to pick just one I would probably say my barrel-clamp embroidery hoop.  I have taken it so many places and I love that I can clamp it on to practically any table. 

 

Conseulo Gown-the subject of Katherine's lecture

What is the biggest enemy to your creativity?

I would say second guessing myself and being tentative to start a project sometimes.

You can see more examples of Katherine's work at her website:

www.katherinediuguid.com .