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Etsy Shop:

http://afterall.etsy.com

Blog:

http://afteralldesigns.blogspot.com

About Me:

I grew up in a large Victorian home on Chicago’s North Shore. It was my grandmother’s home, and her parent’s home before that, and so on. It was filled with heirloom furniture and art and many things of undistinguished ancestry. It was the upholstery and wallpaper that left their most indelible impressions on me, though, that and my grandmother’s penchant to paint almost any wooden surface a bright apple green. There was a crazy quilt – she never owned up to its history, and my mother suspected it might have been a rummage sale find – that combined fabrics of various prints, velvets, satins, and that quilt captured my imagination in a very strong way; when I napped under it I’d map it as I fell asleep, sure that I could teach my fingers with my eyes closed to sense the difference between red and blue, floral and stripe. It was there, literally at my grandmother’s knee, that I first learned to sew…to darn socks, to mend, and occasional little pieces of hand sewing. I learned to iron the table linens and hankies as well. These skills were learned amid her tales of shipwrecks on Lake Michigan, of early settlers and Indians, of family fortunes made and lost. I still dream in chintz.

It was by an accident of circumstance that I learned to sew anything else. I was in college, and aspiring actress, and a play came up in which I did not get cast. The theatre had become my new home, and I couldn’t sit out a production, so I volunteered in the costume shop, explaining I could sew on buttons and perhaps turn a hem, but that was it. An hour or two into my first evening there as a volunteer the costume designer told me more was needed of me, and in about 10 minutes, perhaps 15, she showed me how to use a sewing machine and cut a pattern. By the end of the night I’d fashioned a gold doublet.

My craft business now has its roots in those early experiences, and is inspired also by the beauty of the natural location we are fortunate enough to have surround our country home. I sew in essence because it is my chosen way to do what I love to do, surround myself with fine fabric. I believe fabric can have tremendous effect and appeal, and I have become a “fabric hound”, collector, aficionado…whatever. I find fabric in many places, and search long and hard to find just what I am looking for, even if I don’t know just what that is until I see it. Some of the fabrics I select are by contemporary designers, and I love to use fabrics designed by Vermont artists April Cornell and Susan Sargent. Many of the fabrics I select are out of print or vintage pieces, and sometimes I look months or even years to find a little someone had in a trunk somewhere. I work only in natural fabrics, right now in cotton only, but I hope to begin more work in silk and linen soon. Most of my fabrics are manufactured in the United States, with a few imported from France, and again I hope the coming months will allow me opportunity to find supplies of more French and particularly Provence fabrics, as well as fabrics from Africa, India, and Latin America. I am always broadening my line, and I am particularly interested in providing more articles for children.

Almost everything I do is one of a kind or nearly one of a kind, but I often have more of a fabric in stock so feel free to contact me about special orders. I am also interested in doing more work refashioning family heirloom textiles.

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Susan Mack/After All Designs's Blog

After All Designs Blog

My ongoing blog is located at http://afteralldesigns.blogspot.com

Please check it out, and leave a comment!

Posted on March 16, 2008 at 11:41pm —

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At 10:00am on May 27, 2008, Ms Lexia said…: Thank you, Susan. And thanks for sharing your story about your grandmother, your experience with acting, etc.

Best,
Norene