One might say that sewing is in Dorothy Mackowak’s blood.
Both of her grandmothers were hand sewers and held jobs sewing lapels and buttons on men’s suits. Her aunt was a professional seamstress, and her mother did knitting and crochet work.
So it was only natural for Mackowak, a 57-year-old Wheaton resident, to want to keep her hands busy in the same fashion. She spends about three hours a day making tiny stitches to create beautifully embroidered pictures, ornaments, jewelry, dolls and countless items using nothing more than fabric and colored threads.
As a member of the Illinois Fox Valley Chapter of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America, Mackowak is not alone in her love of sewing. Many others from throughout DuPage County spend hours a day working on quilts, pillows, purses, pictures and anything else that can be created using needle and thread.
Those women, and many others from across a five-state area, will display their pieces and attend classes during the 1996 Chicagoland Prairie Studio 22nd annual Great Lakes Region Seminar, presented by the guild’s Illinois Fox Valley Chapter.
The event is scheduled to take place Wednesday through April 28 at the Wyndham Hotel in Itasca. About 300 crafters will display their best work and immerse themselves in courses taught by skilled instructors from across the nation. (The event is not open to the public, though a boutique and a holiday display will be.)
“I plan on taking a class in silk and metal thread,” said Mackowak, adding that teachers will come from as far as California and New York. “These are ladies who know their threads.”
At the holiday display, members will be allowed to show one piece in the category of holiday stitchery.
For Mackowak, the show will give her the chance to show off a Christmas stocking that was displayed in the White House last Christmas. “That was the ultimate,” she said.
Mackowak said the White House contacted the Embroiderers’ Guild of America and the American Needlepoint Guild for stitchers to submit an ornament for the White House Christmas tree. “Two were selected from each state and from each guild, so there were 200 stitchers,” she said.
Using silk and metal threads and black wool, Mackowak stitched a picture of Socks, the Clinton family cat, napping with a mouse on a rug in front of a fireplace. She researched the White House decor and came up with an idea revolving around peace.
“I thought the ultimate peace would be a cat and mouse sleeping together,” she said.
She was invited to tour the White House in December to view her piece hanging on the White House tree. And though the Clintons kept her stocking, she decided to make a duplicate after returning home.
“It’s kind of fun because I have brought it to the different guild meetings and people enjoy seeing it,” she said.
Kathy Matthews of St. Charles, a 15-year member of the Fox Valley group, is looking forward to displaying her favorite Christmas picture.
“The piece I’m bringing is a picture of a Christmas tree with presents under it,” she said. “The presents are stitched, and the background is worked in a houndstooth check, which is a two-color plaid.”
Matthews said the show will display holiday ornaments, pictures, throws, samplers, quilts and bell pulls. “The only criteria is that they be made with a threaded needle,” she said.
During the seminar, Matthews plans to attend a four-day class that will teach eight different needlework techniques including blackwork (a counted thread embroidery that uses dark thread on light background), Florentine work (also known as bargello), whitework (using white thread on sheer fabric) and stumpwork (a three-dimensional type of embroidery).
The seminar will have classes for every level of ability, said Matthews, who is serving as co-chairwoman of the event. But it also provides for a lot of social time and interaction between the participants.
“These are people who could be anywhere from their early 20s to their 70s, and the friendships of all those needleworkers is special,” she said. “We really are very connected through needlework.”
Virginia Williamson, 73, of Elgin, another member of the Fox Valley club, said she has enjoyed quilting, embroidery, needlepoint and sewing for years. But her main desire is to learn more about threads, and she plans to add beaded work to the long list of applications she has mastered.
“I’ve learned a lot about needlepoint,” she said. “I have learned a lot about how many threads were available, which I had no idea were even manufactured.”
Dana Reichard, 44, of Des Plaines, a Fox Valley member, has been in the Embroiderers’ Guild of America for seven years and has attended one other seminar.
“What I come away with is having made new friends and having learned new stitching techniques,” she said. “I improve my stitching with the help of the instructor. It’s a time when you spend 99 percent of your day with people with whom you have common interests.”
Because the seminar is four days long, the attendees have a good chance of completing a project, whereas it may take weeks or months when trying to finish an item at home between hectic work schedules.
“Normally, you don’t have six to eight hours a day to devote to stitching,” said Reichard, who works full time as a nursing home administrator.
Learning new stitches is the name of the game for members like Frances Craig, a senior citizen from Elgin.
“I like learning and doing a variety of things,” Craig said. “There’s a great choice of all kinds of things to do, and we have wonderful teachers coming in.”
Besides the seminar, Craig said there are even more opportunities within each chapter to learn new things. Members can even learn new techniques and projects through correspondence courses.
“They send the directions and the project, and they critique it after we’ve finished,” she said.
The group, which draws its members from throughout the Chicago area, meets at 9:30 a.m. the second Monday of each month at the Mid-America Federal building in St. Charles. The meetings include workshops and time for members to work on projects.
The Great Lakes region seminar is open to people from Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. But the 18 faculty members will make even longer treks to teach their techniques. “We have one teacher who is coming in from Canada,” Matthews said.
Though some may not know how to stitch a lick, members of the public are invited to visit the boutique (hours vary each day), where they will find everything to get started, such as thread, canvas, fabric, needlework supplies and pattern books.
But whether they are novices or skilled instructors, seminar participants will find a lot to learn.
“The seminar is a great sharing experience,” Mackowak said. “You stitch, you talk stitching, you meet people from the Midwest, and you share experiences.”
———-
For information on the Illinois Fox Valley Chapter of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America, call 708-584-0479. To inquire about the boutique or exhibits at the Great Lakes Region Seminar, call 708-790-2725.
