My passion for textiles began at the age of 10. From that age I knitted, crocheted, and sewed for my large collection of dolls, and then ultimately for myself. I particularly loved sewing for my Barbie dolls – commercial patterns were widely available for these dolls, and also, to my delight, were tiny sewing accessories such as buttons and zippers. I made costumes for them all, including the almost obligatory bride doll, with her Ken husband, and Midge bridesmaids and Skipper flower girls. I found making these minuscule garments enthralling – and still occasionally indulge in this delightful pastime today!
My mother was an accomplished craftswoman and an exquisite embroiderer. I only ever reached a fairly basic level of this latter skill, but still enough to do some basic embellishments from time to time. It is an art that I also enjoy, even though not one I perform particularly well, it is still fun to play from time to time! The beautiful silk ribbons and embroidery yarns are so enticing!
Up until 1982, I had mostly worked at, and taught garment making.
Most of my sewing was bridal and women’s wear for individual clients, and I also made many tailored jackets and pants for myself, and once even a 3-piece suit with co-coordinating silk shirt and tie for my life partner at the time. (I did NOT make his underpants though, I had to draw the line somewhere!).
Stretch sewing was a big thing at the time. “Knitwit” was very popular and packing classes, but I used the “Kwik Sew” technique and taught hands on classes in stretch sewing including swimwear, lingerie, foundation garments, baby wear, t-shirts and every kind of day or evening wear made of knit fabrics. Our school could not provide enough classes and at one stage our little 2 room, 4 instructor sewing school kept us busy running 8 classes a day, 5 days per week. It was a great deal of fun and very rewarding, and I discovered that I had a gift and a love for teaching – I never had butterflies, even for my first class. It came naturally, and I loved the people (mostly women but not always) that I met.
I also had the challenge of teaching beginners (one of my specialties) and for one term, the challenge of teaching stretch sewing to teenage boys and girls from juvenile offender homes. This really forced me to hone my teaching approach. How to ensure a positive outcome for kids with NO sewing experience, using the tricky medium of stretch fabric? I reckon I learned way more than they did. I did this for a couple of 10 week terms, but then Government funding ran out for this particular initiative.
In 1982, while on a return trip to visit friends in northern USA, I opened a Family Circle magazine, and discovered patchwork!
I was smitten! Somewhat over-confidently, having made ONE patchwork quilt, I decided to offer patchwork classes at the sewing school where I worked. But, it took off, and I must admit it was a joy to be working again with deliciously crisp and easy to handle 100% cotton fabrics! Not so much the wadding though, as back in the day the only thing available at first was the very thick polyester wadding, which often had to be split to be more easily quiltable, and which broke down eventually to virtual dust. My first quilt, a Storm at Sea, which I made in 1982 was padded this way, and now it feels like just 2 layers of fabric. Making the quilt tops was the fun part in those days, the quilting was often a struggle if not done by hand. We had to spend hours to pin or baste our ‘sandwiches’ to squish them up to quilt them on our domestic sewing machines. Or, we devised ‘quilt as you go’ techniques – a lot of extra work!
Long arm machines were virtually unknown in Australia at that time, but once they showed up on my radar – it was a revelation!
In 1999 I purchased my Gammil long arm quilting machine from the US and spent the next 20 years learning and improving my quilting skills – I quilted hundreds of client quilts, specialising in custom work inspired by the style of the quilt top and the fabrics used in its construction. Nothing is better than making a living doing something that you love, and for this I am ever grateful. During my years as a professional long arm machine quilter, I also designed and sold many quilt patterns locally and internationally, and had many projects published in Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine. My lovely ‘Glenelg Tree’ spent some time with AP&Q and did a bit of travelling around Australia without me! It’s still one of my favourite pieces, and holds special memories for me.
In 2010 I started the Facebook page ‘Australian Machine Quilters’ to collect and share information about our Aussie style of approach to all aspects of creating and quilting our quilt tops. The page was well received and I passed its management over to a wonderful fellow professional in 2020, when I sold my own beloved ‘Pauline the Machine’, my dear little Gammil Premmie.
My current textile passion is…
Although I loved ‘Pauline’, and she supported me and my children for many years, I do not miss her, and I know she’s gone to a good home. My current textile passion rests back now with creating with crochet hook and knitting needles, using natural fibres as much as possible; and trying to encourage the sustainable use and re-use of textiles. I prefer to use my hands rather than a sewing machine whenever possible. The sewing machine still feels good though and often pops up to make a cute bag or gift for someone; or to repair, alter, or add a pocket to something. Confession: I love pockets big-time – drives me crazy that men’s garments always have them – women’s not so much!
This has been my story so far, and now along with my continued textile love journey, I hope to devote more time to this little blog and its associated Facebook Page. Thanks to you all who have joined me for the ride!
Di Mann Povey, November 1, 2024.