Lemke’s skills are tailor-made for a wool ambassador

By TIM KING The Land Correspondent

WATKINS, Minn. — Henry Lemke had a plan.

“I love to show sheep,” the high school sophomore said, “so I wanted to make something that I could wear while showing them.”

The western style three-piece pants, shirt and vest ensemble Lemke made does look just right in the show ring. The judges at the national “Make It With Wool” contest in Fort Worth, Texas thought the outfit looked pretty sharp too. Out of 22 entrants who had won their state’s Junior Level contests, Lemke’s ensemble took first place at the national competition.

“Henry also won the first place award for Exemplary Construction,” Glenette Sperry said. Sperry is the director for the Minnesota “Make It With Wool” contest since 2006. “Henry’s sister Gretta also did well at the national contest as she was in the top ten in the Senior Class competition. Marcella Matthys, from Marshall, Minn., was the fourth runner-up in the nation for the Adult Class.”

Although Minnesota has had more than a dozen national award winners during the 75-year history of the contest, Henry Lemke is the first male national champion from Minnesota, Sperry said.

Henry, who has been sewing for six years, credits his mother for being both his teacher and his design partner.

“My mom is an avid sewer and she taught me how,” Lemke said. “One of the hardest parts of this project was the yoke on the shirt. My mom and I worked together on that and I designed the pattern.”

To create the design for the threepoint western style yoke, Lemke and his mother studied the construction of a number of shirts the family had. After they’d studied and taken measurements, Henry created a pattern.

“Then we cut out a mock-up using muslin fabric,” Henry said.

After making adjustments to the muslin mock-up, Henry finally cut out his fabric, which was 100 percent wool made by Pendleton Woolen Mills.

Henry took the same approach with the 100 percent wool pants.

“The difficult part with the pants is the crotch,” he said. “You have to make it comfortable — not too tight or too loose. The nice thing about wool is that it doesn’t stretch like synthetic knits do.”

This was the fifth year Henry has been a competitor in the Minnesota “Make It With Wool” contest. Each year, as his sewing skills advanced, he has taken on a more challenging project.

“Next, I’m thinking of making something from start to finish; from raw fleece to finished garment,” he said.

It’s that kind of creativity and appreciation for wool fabric the “Make It With Wool” contests intends to inspire, says Sperry.

The objective of the contest, according to the Minnesota Lamb and Wool Producers Association web site, is to promote the beauty and versatility of wool fabrics and yarns and to encourage personal creativity in sewing, knitting, crocheting, spinning and/or weaving wool fabrics and yarns. The Association sponsors the annual Minnesota contest.

“It’s held at the Minnesota Lamb and Wool Producers Association’s annual meeting,” Sperry said. “In 2022 we met in Alexandria and had 17 urban and rural contestants from age 5 to 77.”

“We like to encourage young people to sew and everybody who enters is a winner,” she said. “Each entrant gets a piece of Pendleton wool.”

The Minnesota contest has a number of categories including preteens, ages 12 and under; juniors, ages 13-16; seniors, ages 17-24; and adults, ages 25 and older. Entrants can make their entry for themselves or for somebody else (such as a child), but the person it’s made for must model it. Preteens, juniors, seniors and adults must select, construct and model their own garments.

See LEMKE, pg. 17

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