This installment of our member profile features Sharon
Coleman. When Sharon attends our
meetings, she almost always brings in a bag she has made in addition to
whatever quilt masterpiece she has been working on.
Sharon has been sewing since she was 7 years old. She was
enrolled in a sewing class with 4-H and it was all over then. When she
went to middle school and had Home Ec class, the teacher wanted everyone to
make an apron but she was way beyond that. She wanted to make a pair of pants
so the teacher called her mother to ask why she wanted to do this and she was
told that she had been sewing for a while. So she ended up making a pair
of burnt orange slacks from trigger. Those of you who know what that was have
been sewing since the 70’s!
She has two brothers and no…they don’t sew. One of her
brothers lives in NOVA and one in Harpers Ferry WV. Her mother knows how
to sew but her passion is cooking. She was trained in Switzerland and had
her own catering business until she retired about 10 years ago.
Sharon has been a garment sewer her whole life and loves to wear
original creations she made. She especially loves to make toddler sized
clothes – when Kailynn was small, she would go to daycare in a new outfit many
days of the week. She would walk in the front door and whip open her coat
and prance around in her new outfit. She loved the attention! She
still loves it when Sharon makes her clothes since she always gets a custom fit
and exactly what she wants.
Sharon’s mother in law bought a new Bernina Artista 200 and she
soon fell in love with it so had to get one herself and started embroidering
everything that didn’t sit still. She gradually moved into quilting and
really loves it now. She dabbled with quilting in the 80s when she took a
quilt as you go class and still has the unfinished quilt in a box waiting to be
finished. She also took a sampler quilt class which was pieced by hand –
too slow for Sharon so once the quilt was finished – she didn’t make any more
of those! She kind of got discouraged
because the teacher looked at the fabrics she choose and said, “we don’t make
quilts with polyester in them!” since then, she has learned to listen to her
inner voice and tune out the negative voices about her quilting.
She loves quilting mostly because she just loves fabric….she
likes touching, seeing the colors and how they play off each other and handling
them.
We recently had a FAMQG meeting at Sharon’s house and I for one
was stunned at her magnificent space.
She told us that her monster sewing room came about when she outgrew her
10x10 sewing room off the kitchen. At the time, the basement was
unfinished and her husband asked if she wanted him to finish the main basement
room and move downstairs. Of course she said yes! He even had a
custom made frame made to hold a sheet of laminate for her cutting table and
put wheels on it so she can move it around the room as needed. She loves going
into the sewing room and just looking at the fabrics and sometimes makes
excuses to go down there and pretend to sew. (It’s a great getaway – no
noise!)
Sharon’s favorite fabrics are batiks – she has always loved
them. They go well with her favorite
style of quilting/bag making in that she prefers more contemporary patterns in
fabrics and design. Her favorite notion
is her rotary cutter, and has recently purchased an Accu-Quilt which she is
playing with now. (Can’t wait to hear how she uses it!)
Sharon’s biggest challenge is one we are all faced with –
finding the time to sew! There are so
many distractions – especially that ‘work’ thing!
Sharon has a business called ‘Stitch Creative’ which you can
find on Facebook. It started out as an
embroidery business about ten years ago and now includes doing sewing for
others. She is also set up to teach others to sew. She loves to share her
passion with others and hopes to inspire them to be creative too.
