Crafter stitches up a winner

By Linda Shepard
C & G Staff Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Linda Shepard St. Clair Shores resident Lindsey McCorkle, the winner of the C & G Holiday Craft Contest, displays her red fleece poinsettia scarf Dec. 12 in her sewing room. Photo by Linda Shepard St. Clair Shores resident Lindsey McCorkle, the winner of the C & G Holiday Craft Contest, displays her red fleece poinsettia scarf Dec. 12 in her sewing room.

Sewing is back in style.

According to Pam Myers, the owner of Sew Many Things on Groesbeck in Clinton Township, the garment home-sewing market “skipped a generation,” and thanks to television shows like “Project Runway,” is newly popular to young people.

“Garment sewers are either retired or in their 20s,” Myers said. “People are tired of how ready-made fits them, and designers are coming up with quick and easy patterns. Semi-custom patterns make adjustments for fit.”

Lindsey McCorkle, the winner of the C & G Holiday Craft Contest, agrees. Her prize-winning red fleece poinsettia scarf is stitched together on a sewing machine and quilted, also with a sewing machine.

“I started making scarves a year ago to sell online,” McCorckle said. “My dad suggested I do something Christmassy.”

McCorckle, who lives in St. Clair Shores, said she finishes all her scarves with a distinctive machine-surged edge and hand beading.

Craft contest second-place winner, Elaine Cruz, of Hazel Park, created a hand-crafted football filled with a men’s fragrance set for her entry. “I use an actual football,” Cruz said. “They are really popular. People love them. I have a friend who works with me; we partner up. We want to do all the sports and racing.”

Third-place craft contest winner Reena Abraham of Rochester Hills incorporated a quilling technique to create her unique snowflake inside an ornament. She compares the project to making a ship in a bottle.

“You make all the shapes outside and insert them with tweezers,” Abraham said. “You need patience, but it is do-able.”

Quilling is the art of rolling, shaping and gluing paper together to create pictures. Abraham also makes Polish Stars inside Christmas ornaments.

Myers donated gift certificates to the three winners of the C & G Holiday Craft Contest. She said her fabric-store customers are craft-minded and are always on the lookout for new ideas.

“Scarves are all the rage now,” she said.

A butter-soft faux fur mobius scarf requires simple seaming and is a quick gift project, she said.

“Make and take” classes at Sew Many Thing are offered throughout the year, and a schedule of sewing and craft classes, and workshops can be found at www.sewmanythings.com.

“We take after our name,” Myers said. “We offer home decorating, clothing, quilting and more. We are always doing challenges. We hang them up and let the public vote on them.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Linda Shepard at lshepard@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1065.