My love and interest in textiles goes back to my Roman Catholic grade-school days. I discovered my first love ~ Crochet ~ at age 9 in a private Boarding School in upper state PA where mandatory in-house stay was from September to June each year. Before us girls could leave for Summer vacation, we had to all crochet a doily for presentation to the Mother Superior. Lessons were given by students higher up in the chain of command and sanctioned by the Mother Superior, who took upon herself the vast lesson of teaching the art of crochet to the girls, which was then handed in directly to the Mother Superior, for critique before leaving for vacation. My first endeavor, strangely, turned out to be a hat as I was woefully unable to crochet my doily so that it lay flat. However, this first brush with textiles created a love within me for crochet, which would then be followed by knit and the art of weaving, many years later.
My love for crochet blossomed as I began making hats, beanies, and scarves, both crocheted and knit, while still living in my home town. Several friends, who purchased and wore my hand-mades from me directly, suggested that I contact area stores to see if anyone would be interested in accepting my goods for sale. This led to some success with me obtaining several stores in Philadelphia which sold my goods. I also found luck after my first purchase of a small weaving loom and enrolled in classes which a local store gave. I soon was able to pick up the wonderful art of hand-weaving and had my creations exhibited at this same store – tapestries in this instance followed by linen and brushed-wool shawls accompanied by crocheted hats and scarves – placed in other local stores in the downtown area. With these modest successes, I planned to broaden my knowledge of textiles by attending a local college. This did not occur, however, until I relocated here to sunny California, which enabled me to broaden and cultivate my love of hand-made items while attending both the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in downtown L.A., and afterwards, Brooks College, in Long Beach.
Using the knowledge gained from these schools, I have learned to express my love of design with crochet, weaving, and machine-knitting, as many of the products on this site are inspirations from my schooling in and my love for textiles designs.
THE VERSATILITY OF CROCHET!!
Crochet, I find, is the most versatile of all the textile designs. The mode of crochet enables one to create designs that are easily molded by the one making them. Crochet stitches loop in such a way that the garment or item being made never loses its shape through wear and tear, or cleaning methods. Crochet stitching enables one to stretch and resize the product in as many ways possible, and easily holds adornments such as fashionable decorative buttons, as seen here below, crocheted flower appliques, or even stitched in gemstones and other beads. Crochet is my first love, and I must admit to being a bit biased as it holds my favorite childhood memories. One can find pure love in just crocheting the many stitches and loops which are not only beautiful and decorative, but also creative, functional, and durable.
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