Annaka olson by Freestyle Academy

A Common Thread Written and Designed by Annaka Olson

Dedication This book is dedicated to all textile workers and hobbyists who have ever felt their work has been devalued.

Table of Contents Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Intoduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Chapter One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chapter Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Chapter Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 5

Foreword When I was first assigned this documentary project, I was hopelessly at a loss; I knew

I wanted to pick a location that was not only visually engaging, but also a place that had an interesting story to tell. I also wanted to be able to connect that story to a larger narrative. What I didn’t know is that eventually I would choose to do my project on a story that involves over half the population on Earth. I chose to do my project on the Makery not because I had had many personal experiences with sewing, but I chose to focus on the Makery because of a watercolor I’d seen three weeks prior. In the painting, a woman is depicted holding a laundry basket filled with a first aid kit, clothes, groceries, and cleaning supplies. The text next to the painting read, “Stop the Devaluation of Feminized Jobs”. That phrase echoed through my mind when I thought of the location on which I would base my project. This project has been challenging from the beginning, from picking a topic, to learning to use InDesign. However, the process has been extremely rewarding. From this project I have gained a greater appreciation for not only the Makery, but for all other institutions and stores that respect and appreciate traditional “women’s work”. Women’s work is important to me because of the countless stories I have been able to hear and hopefully accurately retell through the creation of this book.

Introduction

the 1990’s, sewing stores have gone somewhat out of fashion hen you think of a in mainstream society. They are sewing shop, what do you picoften seen as dated, boring, and ture? Most people think of old unimportant. This has not always attic smell, mothballs, pastels, and been the case, and currently the ancient grandmas. When you popular opinion of sewing is walk into the Makery, a Downchanging. In order to expand on town Los Altos sewing store, all these ideas, in subsequent pasyou can see are bright rainbow sages I will compile reasons why fabrics, shiny new equipment, sewing is important, craft a short and hordes of young eager saleshistory on how the popular opinpeople. The store is full of natuion on sewing has changed, and ral light, and with merchandise explain how the Makery actively that catches your eye in every combats negative stereotypes surcorner of the store. It is immedirounding sewing. ately apparent that this sewing An underlying current that runs store is relevant, engaging, and through all my research on this just plain fun for the modern project is that sewing helps peohobbyist. ple tell personal stories through The significance of the store’s ap- cloth, particularly women’s stopeal, however, is often lost. Since ries. When women’s voices are

heard, they can be given value. However, if the medium by which they utilize to communicate with is devalued, then their voice becomes devalued. In other words, when sewing is not seen as something that is cool, the people who enjoy sewing are not seen as cool, and subsequently their work loses value and meaning. The Makery plays an important role in reestablishing traditional women’s work (sewing) as an important and valued means of expression.

Chapter One: Sewing by the Decades Sewing is a highly engag-

ford brand name clothing but she ing activity when examined by its wanted to still be stylish and fit changing popularity. The popular in. Sewing provided the “cheaper outlet(s) for clothing” she needed. opinion of sewing has changed She also describes attitudes todramatically over the past few decades, and many of the reasons wards sewing during the 70’s as negative because “It wasn’t cool to as to why popular opinion has sew, there was a period of time changed relates directly back to feminism, economic necessity, and when it wasn’t so cool” (Zensius). There is an interesting discrepnew technology. ancy here. Zensius needed sew In the 70’s, sewing was still ing because stylish clothing was a necessity for some in order to expensive, and she wanted to be make affordable clothes. Karen accepted and fit in with her peers Zensius, a local sewing blogger clothing choices. However, beand Makery customer, describes how during her high school years cause she sewed her own clothes her peers looked down on her. during the 70’s “you didn’t have theses cheaper outlets for cloth In the 80’s and early 90’s ing (warehouse style department Becky Fuchs, a local volunteer clothing stores), so I sewed my sewing instructor and Makery clothes”. Zensius sewed out of necessity because she could not af- customer, describes how “it was out of fashion it wasn’t that cool 10

(to sew)”. Sewing was still seen as a hobby without prestige, even though individuals found joy in sewing. In school, Fuchs “had sewing in 7th grade and it was really a fun class,” which helped change her opinion of sewing. Even though the popular opinion of sewing was negative at the time, Becky was able to have fun with the activity. Becky now is a sewing hobbyist and teaches free sewing classes to young women in the community so that they too can realize sewing’s potential as a relevant and entertaining activity.

Karen Zensius, The Makery customer in her sewing room 11

kind of way in an over the top way.

Karen Zensius believes that one of the reasons why sewing has become much more socially accepted today than it has been in past decades is because, “now Ive seen it where it’s with all these blogs and Pinterest, now kind of cool to sew and to I don’t know, those kinds of skills make things for your kids and have kind of you can show it off on your blog, but we didn’t have have blogs and we didn’t have the internet”. The internet has allowed for a massive amount of information about-

blossomed but in a different

sewing to be shared, and new patterns and ideas can be shared within seconds. Sewing is able to be seen as something exciting and engaging again. The Makery is

“Pinterest on steroids”

often described as

by the strong way that they are influenced by the internet.

Chapter Two: The Importance of Sewing

Why is sewing still impor-

tant? For the past century sewing has been industrialized in First World countries, so it seemingly makes little sense to regress to doing an activity by hand when it can be done more efficiently by a machine. However, even when sewing was first starting to be industrialize there were still people who resisted the transition. For example, when England first began to industrialize, there was immense backlash. Despite the fact that these new machines made sewing easier, people strongly disliked them, and some even went as far as to destroy some of the new inventive machinery. In her book Textiles, Beverly Gordon explains, “According to a speech Lord Bryon made to the House of Lords In 1812, the Luddites saw ‘the migration of control of the weaving process from human workers into the hardware of

the machine’ as a literal transfer of a piece of their bodies” (193) (Gordon). Sewing was still important to these English citizens. Despite new technologies, they chose to try to fight for traditional sewing because sewing had figuratively become “a piece of their bodies”. An important question we face today as a society is whether or not traditional hand sewing and even sewing on a personal sewing machine is really worth it. Do people still feel that sewing is a literal part of their beings? For the employees and patrons of the Makery, their answer is a resounding yes. Myriah Zaytoun, the Makery’s Director of Textiles, stated, “I don’t think everyone needs to know how to make a three-piece suit, but I do think that everyone—man, woman, child—needs to know how to sew on a button”

(Zaytoun). Everyone has different things they enjoy, and sewing for a lot of people is simply a begrudgingly performed chore like having to “sew on a button”. Sewing may not play a huge role in everyone’s life, but for others, it is their life. For Zaytoun sewing is her livelihood, as she worked at the Institute of Fashion and Design prior to her employment with the Makery and she has sewn daily for the past 10 years. Sewing is important to individuals for different reasons, but in the end, sewing is important because it not only allows for personal expression, it also brings people joy.

For Becky Fuchs, sewing is important because it is something that connects her to her youth, and something that she can share with younger generations. She loves sharing the excitement she feels when she sews with young women in the community. She describes how “the younger girls they really enjoy doing it (sewing) because they never learn it at home and its something new and different”. She also describes how for her there is no economic incentive to sew as, “it definitely is cheaper to buy it (finished tex-

tiles/clothing) over the counter or ready-made”. Like the Luddites during the industrial revolution in England, she shares the belief that sewing is a figurative extension of herself, and the fact that it is cheaper to buy “over the counter” clothing and other textile products is of little importance. For her the appeal lies in being able to share her sewing skills; also, “it’s a creative thing, a creative outlet” (Fuchs). The Makery is a space that embodies these views. Although it would be cheaper to sell “over the counter” clothing and

textiles, they choose to sell products that have a higher overhead cost. These goods are more expensive, but they allow patrons to make and create their own products, and because of that, the cost is worth it. Sewing is so important that economic sacrifices are made in order to keep it a living art form in today’s society.

“It’s a creative thing, a creative outlet” Becky Fuchs

Chapter Three: Combating Negative Stereotypes W

hen asked to describe the Makery, Becky Fuchs comments: “It is a nice store...usually a lot of the fabric stores are dives, but it’s a nice one...the Makery has a lot of the cool stuff ” The Makery is definitely not a “dive” (Fuchs). With the entire store flooded with natural light from the front windows, rows of colorful fabrics, and helpful employees, it’s hard to picture the sewing stores of yesteryears. With help from state-of-theart sewing machines, clean design, and brightly colored merchandise, the Makery is a relative rockstar in comparison to the rest of the local sewing stores. Many new sewing stores are trying to appeal to the younger generation, while still providing the same quality merchandise you would expect from a more traditional store. The Makery has also tapped into the resurgence of interest in sewing by younger individuals through new and inventive ways (Teo). They

do not only offer goods, but they also teach sewing classes. What makes their classes special is that a lot of them are focussed on beginning sewing, in order to grow our local community’s interest in sewing. They also offer textile design classes, which incorporate sewing basics, and are also are another fun way to incorporate the benefits of sewing while putting a fun twist on it. The Makery’s classes show that just because sewing has been associated with expert older seamstresses, doesn’t mean that a younger generation isn’t interested in learning these same skills. Karenna Olson, a local 7th grader, got interested in sewing after making an account on the popular online pinboard Pinterest. After discovering the projects she wanted to make, she found that she was “... able to do projects from Pinterest because of all the supplies at the Makery”. Her interest in sewing started because of the internet, but

the Makery helped that interest transform into a hobby. One reason why the Makery is so on top of trends and appeals to both younger and older generations is because they use the internet as an important resource. As Karen Zensius explains it, through the internet the Makery has “an audience that can now tap into how we (local seamstresses) are playing with fabrics, whether we are sewing, or knitting, or doing handicrafts with fabrics”(Zensius). The Makery is able to gain inspiration from a myriad of online resources in order to stay current, such as Pinterest and popular sewing blogs. The Makery offers a myriad of different textile resources, and it shows through their selections how current this store truly is. The Makery actively combats the stereotype that sewing stores are boring by hosting cool classes, maintaining a clean visually pleasing store, and by following internet sewing trends.

“The Makery has a lot of the cool stuff” Becky Fuchs

Conclusion The Makery is significant

women. Without locations such tional”. These harmful associabecause it actively combats nega- tions diminish both women and as the Makery, these women’s the work they do. Traditionstories would not be told. tive stereotypes about sewing and sewing stores within our lo- ally feminine work might be cal community. Sewing is an im- less needed economically today portant way of communicating, than it was in the past, but ultimately, sewing still remains, it is an engaging hobby, and it is a form of creative expression. as Lord Byron put it, “a piece of their [all people’s] bodies”. We More than anything, sewing is are a society that uses cloth in highly depreciated in our techso many different ways, from nology driven world. Sewing is language with roots in sewing seen as little more than a craft terminology to how we clothe for bored housewives, or something only grandmothers enjoy. ourselves. Sewing is so incredPast chapters have stated the ex- ibly important, yet individuals treme swings in public opinion insist that it is of no importance. The Makery protests this devalof sewing, the importance of sewing, and the role the Makery uation, from its interior design to the individuals who work plays in trying to keep sewing there. They are creating a haven appreciated and respected. for creative minded women trySewing is a female-dominated ing to express themselves in a activity, so it is unsurprising society that tells them that they that it is associated with the same harmful stereotypes associ- are too boring and unimportant to ever accomplish anything ated with women. I have heard of importance. Sewing can act sewing referred to as “boring”, as a tool to give importance to “unimportant”, and “”too tradi21

Works Cited “About: Craftivist Collective.” Craftivist Collective About. Craftivist Collective, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. “Artspan Contemporary Art.” Fiber Arts. Artspan, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. Fuchs, Rebecca. Personal Interview. 17 Mar 2013. Gordon, Beverly. Textiles: The Whole Story. New York: Thames & Hudson, Print. Olson. Karenna Personal Interview. 14 Feb 2013. Willmington, Lizzy. “Craft + Activism = Craftivism.” STIR RSS. STIR, Apr. 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. “Saco Valley Fiber Artists Home Page.” Saco Valley Fiber Artists Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. Teo, Niuniu. “Los Altos Town Crier.” State Street Retailer The Makery Strives to Reintroduce Arts and Crafts to Los Altos. Los Altos Town Crier, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. “Wi Journal.” Wi Journal: Sound Moves. Wi Journal, Mar. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. Zaytoun, Myriah. Personal Interview. 14 Feb 2013. Zensius, Karen. Personal Interview. 14 Feb 2013.

A Common Thread Annaka Olson

Annaka Olson is currently a Junior at Freestyle Academy. She is the second oldest of four siblings, a resident of Los Altos, and the proud mom of Lola, her rescue chihuahua puppy. Prior to this project, Annaka had never sewn a stitch in her life. Her hobbies include songwriting, classical singing, and loitering in bookstores. Her goals for the future include attending college for audio production and starting a Zine distribution service.

A Common Thread Written and Designed by Annaka Olson