You read that title right, needlework is an art just as much as painting or sculpture. Far too many people think of it as a practical skill; mending shirts, hemming pants, etc. Where as they see fashion as an art, they think crafts like quilting, smocking, embroidery, and tatting can be done by machines and don't need a creative hand. We're far too polite to use the word we want to describe how wrong that it, but trust us, it is.
Just last week we had a customer in the store who created beautiful baby doll dresses that used all sorts of techniques such as hand embroidery, lace insertion and ribbon embroidery. She truly makes beautiful creations. But she bemoaned that no one seemed to value her work. Although she spends hours creating it, people don't want to pay anymore than they would for a mass-manufactured clothing item from Wal-Mart, thinking it's the same thing.
Trust me, kids, it's not.
If clothing, fashion, and home decoration is an expression of who you are, what do you express by purchasing the same outfit or quilt that a hundred of your neighbors have? That's why the personal creation of garments and quilts will always be a better expression of who you are as a person, and expressing oneself is the very soul of art.
The art of needlework begins with the selection of materials. Sure, you can buy a smocked dress from a store, but it simply won't have the same quality materials as will a hand crafted item. To withstand the industrial size machines that churn out dress after dress, they must use coarse fabrics and harsh threads. This practically flies in the face of what smocking really is. Smocking is a delicate art that uses fine materials to make dresses for babies, young girls, and dolls. How can you make a delicate thing with tough materials?
Just like a painter carefully mixes colors to evoke an emotion, hand crafters carefully choose threads, fabrics and patterns to evoke feelings in their work. It's not always as easy as just choosing the right color from the store. Often true artisans will dye their fabrics to match the perfect color for their creation.
There are machines that can replicate heirloom sewing, but the whole point of an heirloom is that it's passed down your family, from your ancestor who made it. Machines aren't ancestors.
And when it comes to art, nothing quite expresses a person's creativity like a quilt. This is where the selection and assemblage of fabrics truly allows a person to pour their souls into a cohesive work. Quilters can do some really amazing things with fabric and needles, and that's why it's so common to hang a wonderful piece on the wall.
We'll be highlighting many of what we consider to be the lost arts of sewing that need to be cherished in upcoming posts. The Sewing Studio does all it can to promote and preserve the heritage of American artistry in needlework.
