What Do You Call Someone Who Sews?

If you sew, what do you call yourself? Here’s my take on the terms I’ve found while out and about blogs, magazines, books and classes.

Sewer: Not fond of this one. It looks too much like, and in fact is exactly like, the word for underground waste pipes. Yes, it’s pronounced differently, but when I run across it in print, it conjures the pipe thing.

Sewist: This appears to be an attempt to update “sewer” and I kind of like it. Short and sweet, has a nice snap to it, and does say “someone who sews.”

Sewista: Probably a combination of sewist and fashionista. I like its dash. It’s fun to say.

 
Seamstress: An older term, but also exact. She is someone who makes seams, so it’s hard to apply this to male sewists. I guess they could be seamsters. Could apply to the gals, too. Did I just invent a new one? I like it!

Tailor: Doesn’t quite apply, as this is someone who sews clothing with lots of inner construction that some sewing does not require. Doesn’t apply to me at all, but it could work for others.

Threadbender: Several years ago, when I was more into knitting, crocheting, and tatting, I called myself this. I thought I made it up, but have seen it elsewhere now. I like that it has action to it.

Fiber artist: This is what I say instead of quilter when someone asks me what I do, because I make wall art more than bed coverings. But it sounds kind of high-fallutin’, like I’m looking down my nose at someone who makes bed quilts. Bed quilts can be artful, too.

So, I’m back to wordstitcher or just stitcher when I’m working with fiber instead of words. Have you found other words for stitching that I could add to my collection?

A new finished project...

After spending an evening with my writing group, I look forward to reworking a piece of writing to make many (most!) of the changes they suggest. In other words, they make my writing better.

The same goes for my stitching sisters.

 

One day my friend Sue http://arrasheiress.blogspot.com/ emailed a photo of a set of gorgeous blocks she had finished. She had arranged them on the floor. They beckoned me, saying, "You. Make. Now!" So, I made one block to try the partial-seam technique involved. I loved the block and made four more. I decided five blocks would make a fine table runner.

Now, every quilter knows that once you get your blocks sewn together and sandwiched with batting and backing, you have to decide how to quilt the piece. This time I challenged myself to go beyond "stitching in the ditch" (stitching along seamlines where pieces are sewn together). I am quite pleased with the way it turned out, especially that the angle of the quilting is not exactly 90 degrees from horizontal, which habit screamed I should do. No, I said, that’s too easy. What would happen if I rotated it a little more? I tried it on one block and liked it so much I kept going.

That done, I had to face another issue.

Because I had only one block with red in it, I had played with adding a little red interest elsewhere; such as prairie points, tabs or streamers; but had yet to come up with something I liked.

Enter another stitching sister. I had taken the table runner with me to a sewing/quilting retreat in Sisters, Oregon. Naomi http://home.earthlink.net/~howl-moon/ suggested I put some red in the binding. I liked the idea, but didn’t know how to plan the binding so the red would end up in the exact places I wanted. So, I "guestimated," sewed two sections of red into the binding strip, and let them fall wherever they ended up. I found out that it wasn’t that crucial where they were. What was important was that they were there.

Each time I look at this piece, it reminds me of good times and good friends. And pushing myself. That’s what stitching sisters and writing groups are for.

The Wayside

Lately, my writing has gone by the wayside. Though writers are often told never to use clichés, I’m using one, because it works. Phrases become cliché because they provoke the exact image we want. Why should we avoid them like the plague?

Anyway, the time I used to spend writing has been taken over by another passion. I’m not complaining. No one has let this happen but me. Manipulating fabric for textile art calls to me more than writing does right now. I can’t wait to get the have-tos done (laundry, exercise, housecleaning) so I can play with fabric.

I even love to watch videos of other artists creating with fabric. The other day, on The Quilt Show http://www.thequiltshow.com/, I saw an inspiring interview of art quilter Patty Hawkins, who said, “Simplify, exaggerate, and repeat.” I went straight to my design wall and saw how the small quilt I am working on can benefit from her advice. I could use the same lines and shapes, perhaps simpler versions, made by the piecing of the quilt top, for the actual quilting-together of the layers.

The writer in me, who has not left the building entirely, realized that Patty’s advice can help in creating a story, too. Simplify (focus on one, maybe two, story lines or themes), exaggerate (fill out characters, dialog, and scenes to emphasize), and repeat for rhythm and poetry.

Often, while I stitch, my writing is waiting in the wings.

My Writing Group Rocks!

I stacked all of the books published by members of my writing group, better known as the Peeps. I like this visual proof of all we’ve accomplished!

The three books with no titles on their spines are Wombat Chow of the Damned, Festival at Naval Headquarters! and How to Report a Coal Mining Problem by Donovan Reves. These are collections of short fiction and poetry: www.amazon.com/Wombat-Chow-Damned-collection-fiction/dp/1448644984. 

In Making Do, Liz Hilvers wrote about growing up in the Los Angeles area during the Great Depression: http://www.amazon.com/Making-Do-Liz-Hilvers/dp/1453751556/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332180688&sr=1-1.

Martha Sargent, with Smokin' Joe, was the rare Peep to publish fiction: http://www.amazon.com/Smokin-Joe-Martha-S-Sargent/dp/0982523009.

Memoir from Carol Bosworth titled Born Breech Into Covenant:

http://www.scribd.com/Xlibris/d/56133234-Born-Breech-Into-Covenant-The-Experience-of-Mother.

I wrote Dusty Boots, a biography of my dad that I like to call an American story, one man's story, a love story: http://www.amazon.com/Dusty-Boots-Dakota-Cowboy-Dad/dp/1448623308.

Bill Upton wrote Pizza and Mortars, a memoir of his service in Viet Nam: http://vietnammemoir.com/index.html.

Sadly, I found no links to The Epic Tale of Fred & Max by Ken Fraundorf. This is the book that started it all, and the writer we miss still, since his death from cancer in 2005.

Look for more books coming soon from the Peeps!

Friends can be good writers

For years I have been meeting with a group of fellow writers who help me improve my writing. They say I help them, too. Something has been working, because six of us have now published books, three this year. Most have been self-published, including mine, something I never would have considered a few years ago. The publishing business is changing. I no longer believe that all self-published books are "vanity" books and poorly written. I have read books published by "real" publishers that were poorly-written and poorly edited.

Each book should be considered on its own merit. Books that have been written by good writers with functioning critique groups can be good reads, very good reads, indeed. I recommend these:

Smokin' Joe by Martha Sargent (a novel set in central Oregon)
Wombat Chow of the Damned by Donovan Reves (quirky short fiction and poetry)
Born Breech Into Covenant: The Experience of Mother by Carol Bosworth (nonfiction).

Chapter 2

The topic today is book publicity. It's harder than book writing for me. I guess that's why people pay professionals to do the publicity part. So, it looks like a paid ad or two coming up!

Writing is a hard way to make a living, but a good way to make a life.

Happy reading!