Ann’s Story

My grandmother made quilts. When I was around eight years old she gave me some scraps of material that she could not use for quilting. I made my own patterns out of paper and using the scraps made doll clothes that I sewed by hand. When she passed away, I did not get any more material, so I put my dolls away and started to embroider for my hope chest.

I still loved to sew. During the war when my husband was away I lived with my in-laws. My mother in law made men’s hunting shirts out of wool. She taught me a lot about doing the shirts. She had an electric sewing machine, but at that time the machines did not make buttonholes.

That was my job, making the buttonholes by hand. The war came to an end and my husband and I moved into our own home. I would borrow his grandmother’s machine to make clothing but it became a hassle because she wanted to sew too.

My husband bought me my very own sewing machine and it did more applications that the older machines I had used. As my children came along, I made baby clothes for them and gifts for my friends who were having babies. I made pants and jackets for the boy and dresses and coats for the girls as well as my own clothes and coats. I branched out and made curtains and draperies. I even made a wedding dress and the attendants dresses of which I was very proud.

I designed and made coats for my dog and for my friend’s dogs. Several veterinarians said they thought they were very nice and asked me to make samples and put them in their offices for sale.

Judy and I teamed up to make some items for me to sell at craft fairs. The person I started to do the fairs with gave up so I talked Judy into doing them. This is how A La Cave Stitchery came to be.

There are two things I have not done and would have liked to do in life. One is to go to design school and be able to design ball gowns and the other is to design and make a baby’s christening gown.