Positive Yarn

The Medina Needlework Guild’s 28th annual Needle Art Show at the Brunswick Library is currently under way, and I think it’s going pretty well. Both my girls took first place in the junior category — although I must admit, they were the only entrants this year in the junior category. I won a third-place ribbon for my over-one pincushion rendition of a day lily, so I’m pretty psyched. Evidently, the round robin that a fellow EGA member entered won second place, and the judges decreed that all six of us who participated in a stripe of the final sampler will get a ribbon, too. Photos coming soon, I promise.

I had to get up early this morning to be a hostess with two other members, Jeanne and Jan. When I left the house, the rest of the family was sound asleep — even the cat. (The dog awoke to “walk me to the door,” but my hunch is that she, too, soon after drifted back to her natural state: zonked.) But Hubby and the girls came to the library right as my shift ended to take a look around, take in the fact that both girls are official blue-ribbon stitchers, and then take me to lunch.

Over Happy Meals, I asked my husband if it was OK for me to drive up I-71 to Cleveland to explore the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo going on at the IX Center. I think he was just glad I didn’t ask him to go with me! So once again I was on the road, ready to absorb the new trends and techniques going on in the sewing world.

The show did not disappoint. While I am woefully limited in my machine sewing skills, I found plenty of hand sewing-focused vendors to suit me. And the aisles hawking all that the Janomes, Berninas and Husqvarna Vikings, just to name a few, got me feeling pretty inspired, too.

Because classes were signed up for in advance, I didn’t get to check out any of the seminars. I did, however, get to see a stunning New Designer fashion show, as well as a display of 2008 Hoffman Challenge Dolls & Clothing, “From Knock-Out to Knock-Off: Gorgeous Gowns from the Silver Screen,” “5 x 4: Quilt Artists Meeting Their Challenges” and Robert Kaufman Quilt Quest 2008, among other fantastic sights. These displays travel to all the Sewing Expos around the U.S.: Atlanta and Tampa, FL have already taken place, but coming later this year are programs in Worcester, MA; Chantilly, VA; Kansas City, MO; Minneapolis and Chicago.

I also met some really wonderful people, such as Judy and Peggy at Shaffer’s Countryside Quilting, Sue and Honor at Sue’s Sparklers, Cindy and her team at Quilter’s Fancy, and Barb and Joe at Barb Originals.

More about my experiences at the expo, as well as photos of my make-and-takes, are coming later this weekend. Right now, though, I’m signing off from my computer to play with all the cool things I bought! (OK, photos coming of that, too!)

One of my favorite benefits I receive in return for helping The National NeedleArts Association with some of its marketing endeavors is getting the “scoop” on its news.

For example, TNNA sent a press release this afternoon discussing one of its members, Jen Funk-Weber of Funk & Weber Designs in Anchorage, AK. In 2007, Funk-Weber created a program called Needle and ThREAD: Stitching for Literacy, which encourages needle artists nationwide to stitch bookmarks to donate during Children’s Book Week to their local schools and libraries. Naturally, she encourages stitchers to work with their local needlework shops to coordinate their community’s program.

Needle and ThREAD’s 2009 Bookmark Challenge started today, and continues through May 7 (Children’s Book Week is May 11-17). The bookmarks can be done with any pattern, any material, any technique. Funk-Weber wants it to be a marketing opportunity for independent shops, and notes on her blog that most participants collect bookmarks year-round.

So, remember how I was bemoaning the fact a couple posts back that I wasn’t sure which direction I should take my local Embroidery Guild of America’s “charity project”? Funk-Weber’s bookmarks have got me inspired. Now granted, since no local shops are participating (!), at least to my knowledge, we will likely take our time and collect them all for our September meeting. I also told members that I’m equally happy to coordinate any other projects that catch their fancy, such as cool ties for soldiers or — as some other EGA chapters have done — Habitat for Humanity samplers.

But if you as a shop owner haven’t heard of Funk-Weber’s program and are looking to jump into spring with a quick and easy project for your classes, I highly recommend Needle and ThREAD. If nothing else, it might get your customers to use up their stash — and they’ll feel so emboldened by it, they’ll simply have to celebrate by coming into your store to replenish their supplies! As a bonus, what could be better for your local media than a feel-good story about a local shop and its loyal customers doing something positive for their community?

On a final note, I just wanted to shout out to Bonnie Dillabough, founder of the Warm Fuzzy Brigade (find a ton of projects just waiting to be done up and be helpful to those in need by clicking here). Bonnie, if you’re reading this, I owe you an email — and it’s coming soon.

I attended my local Embroidery Guild of America chapter yesterday afternoon and embarked on a sewing experience the likes of which I’d never seen before. I knew we were going to have a class on “hairpin lace crochet,” but I had no concept of what that was.

At the last meeting, I was told to either purchase a hairpin lace loom or fashion one out of a coat hanger. Since I had no idea how to do the latter, I opted for the former (it set me back about $4, so I figured it was one of my cheaper forays into new techniques — many of which, unfortunately, have me scurrying back into the comforting arms of counted cross-stitch).

During our “Show and Tell” segment, several members passed around shawls, blankets, lace-edged hankerchiefs and other pretties that were made from this technique. To be fair, a couple of members brought some examples last month, too, and while I admired the handiwork then, it was really being brought home to me at this month’s meeting because I knew I was going to learn it as soon as our business meeting ended.

The interesting thing is that the history of hairpin lace is very, very old — some believe even during Shakespeare’s time, the loom was the common folks’ way of making lace, which was a sign of wealth back then. Experts site Victorian-era patterns that refer to the technique as “Old-Fashioned.”

Our members brought in books from the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, and some of the older ladies distinctly recall making afghans this way during the salad days of being newly married or on their own. They brought in hairpin forks, as opposed to my more modern(?) loom. Stitch Diva has a great description and photos comparing the two types, although my budget-conscious version is from Coats and Clark, the Susan Bates Hairpin Lace Loom.

Our teacher is convinced it’s poised for a comeback — as evidenced by the range of lessons available on YouTube. So does Kate Pullen, a guest author on BellaOnline, and evidently some of the manufacturers out there creating modern patterns (or at least photographing vintage patterns with modern models), like the aforementioned Coats and Clark, Wrights, and Berroco.

I enjoyed learning how to create hairpin lace very much, and while my efforts today ended up becoming “Drake the Snake” for my fourth-grader this evening, I am definitely ready to do some more.

I’m interested in hearing from folks in the industry, though: Is the hairpin lace the equivalent of “comfort food” needlework in trying times, as it is comparatively inexpensive to get into, and is a quick and easy way to use up one’s stash? Do you see it making a comeback? Let me know in the comments below, or email me at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com.

So here I am, ready to take Gooch & Gooch (my half, anyway — my husband can keep on plugging away) into a new direction and focus on helping people in a field that I love. I’m scared to death, but I just got back from a COSE conference and feel emboldened.

Based in Cleveland, COSE is an acronym for the Council of Smaller Enterprises. I’ve just spent two days with some fantastic small-business owners from all over Northeast Ohio. We’ve done a lot of talking about new media and how to harness it. Now it’s time for me to file the business cards away, quit talking about what I want to do and start doing it.

I’ve spent 13 years in business-to-business media, the majority of which has been spent on covering the professional pest management industry. But as great a group as the pest controllers are — Joe the Plumber seriously pales in comparison when it comes to being down to earth, loyal, patriotic and er, licensed — I want to shift my focus toward things that interest me personally. I want to write about, and help publicize, professionals who design with and/or supply the pretties I love so much: beads, yarns, threads, fabrics. What can I say? Sites like Etsy.com and IndiePublic.com were practically designed with me in mind!

Business Directions Owner Sherry Mulne, an absolutely fantastic person and a marketing communications consultant for The National NeedleArts Association, took a chance on me last year as her part-time assistant. I am delighted to report that working for Sherry has been great, and has been a wonderful introduction to the business side of the needle arts (defined as crochet, knit, embroidery, counted cross-stitch and needlepoint; tattoos are merely a matter of personal preference). While I hope to continue fulfilling assignments for Sherry, I want to start taking on additional clients involved in needle arts and related crafts. I want to help build a brand for an independent retail shop. I want to spread the word about some wonderful patterns someone has designed. I want to get someone’s handmade item into everyone’s Christmas stocking.

Want, want, want. I guess I should first pull back and identify the needs.

That’s where you come in. What can I do to help build your business, and in turn, help build mine?