If you don’t think people are sewing anymore visit the American Sewing Expo at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi through Sept. 27.
‘Children, beginners, advanced and expert sewers will find classes, demonstrations, hands-on projects, fashion shows, contests and exhibits,’ said Janet Pray, who is the producer of the Expo — that has been called the largest independent consumer sewing show in the country. ‘Experts and teachers from apparel and costume designers to art quilt makers will share the latest looks and trends for all things sewing.’
Among the youngest fashion designers to be featured on the Expo’s runway is Katie Tuttle, 9, of Shelby Township. Tuttle’s original design for a beaded dress and jacket are among the designs that will be modelled as part of the ‘Innovation Generation Fashion Show Competition,’ sponsored by Baby Lock and Coats & Clark.
‘I don’t like modelling. I just like sewing,’ said Tuttle during an interview from her studio or what her family likes to call the dining room.
Sitting on the dining room table was a sewing machine and the drawings that Tuttle created more than a year ago. For two years, she and her grandmother, Lynn McCabe of Commerce Township have attended the Expo, as spectators. McCabe, who has been sewing since bellbottom jeans and peasant dresses were the hottest fashions and earned her bachelor’s degree in fashion design before family life sidetracked her artistic career — taught all of her grandchildren to sew. Even the boys joined in grandma’s Sunday afternoon sewing classes but Tuttle is the one who showed the most promise.
‘I loved it,’ Tuttle said. Not only because of the craft itself but because it allowed her to make clothes that no one else had. ‘I taught my best friend to sew too.’
However, it’s always been a hobby, until last Christmas.
Bored and looking for a way to cheer up her grandmother — busy taking care of her cancer-stricken husband — Tuttle sat down in her studio and came up with her own idea for a dress and jacket. ‘I drew this,’ Tuttle said, producing a colorful sketch of a dress and jacket along with all of the accessories including a hairpin and shoes.
When she finished with the drawing she mailed it along with a letter explaining the design to McCabe. ‘I cried when it arrived,’ she said. Not only because it showed her that all of her lessons were having an impact and that her granddaughter inherited her artistic but because it gave her something other than cancer to think about.
‘It is a m-i-n-t green dress with waves made out of beads,’ Tuttle said, being sure to pronounce every letter in her description of the color — so as not to confuse it with any old green.
How important was the color in terms of the design? Ask McCabe.
Once the two decided to enter Tuttle’s design in the ‘Innovation Generation Fashion Show Competition,’ for 8 to 18 year olds who know the sewing process and have made their own garments — she spent months hunting down the fabric.
‘I found a couple I thought would work but Katie didn’t agree,’ McCabe said.
Even with McCabe’s connections — having worked at Haberman Fabric in Royal Oak for so many years before retiring — it was a mighty task. Eventually they found the fabric they needed and on the day grandpa Dick passed away Tuttle began work on her design.
‘It’s perfect,’ Tuttle said, of the mint green fabric that occupied her grandmother’s attention during a terrible time. As are the colorful olive, sage, turquoise and aqua blue beads and Tuttle’s first attempt at a zipper. ‘It’s a beautiful dress,’ McCabe said, proudly of her granddaughters’ design – which will don the expo runway on Sept. 27.
‘I don’t care about winning,’ said Tuttle. ‘I just want to show off my design and what I can do as a designer.’
The American Sewing Expo will also feature celebrities and show instructors including optical illusion quilt designer, Kathleen Andrews and the fashion sewing expert from ‘It’s Sew Easy TV,’ Angela Wolf. Not to mention hundreds of vendor displays, take-home-project workshops, classes, seminars and exhibits.
‘The expo is the perfect weekend getaway for mothers, daughters, sisters or friends to learn to quilt or sew, test-driving sewing machines and be inspired by ‘sew’ many possibilities,’ Pray said.
The Suburban Collection Showplace is at 46100 Grand River Avenue between Novi and Beck Roads in Novi. For more information on hours and ticket prices visit AmiercanSewingExpo.com
