Yesterday, our great nation celebrated 234 years of independence.  And my oldest child celebrated 15 years on this planet.  Our nation’s bicentennial has an awful lot to do with the rebirth of sewing and quilting back in 1976, and my child’s birth has an awful lot to do with my embracing craft and sewing as I got older (more on both those topics in a future Anthropology of Sewing post).

What better way to celebrate than a quick trip to see Mom, have some apple pie (well, birthday cake, but still), and splash about in the lake?

Fantastic weather, great time with family, and a delicious birthday cake (decorated by her younger sister) to fete our eldest on her quinceanera.  Such a wonderful holiday weekend, with so many things to celebrate and be thankful for.

While we were growing closer as a family, our Whipstitch family was busy expanding, too!  I announced our massive Quilt Market autographed prize pack giveaway a couple weeks back, and y’all have been BUSY.  With no further ado, the FIVE WINNERS ARE:

Online winner: Susan McKey

Flickr winner: Barefoot Mommy

Facebook winner:  Laura Forestner Boyd

In-store winner:  Bunny O’Keeffe

Newsletter winner: Ellie Roberts

Congrats to all of you!!  For those of you whose email addresses I already have, an email has gone out announcing your winner-ship.  If you don’t hear from me, drop a comment, and I’ll get your prize pack out to you ASAP!

Thanks to everyone who fanned us on Facebook, posted images to the Flickr pool, signed up for the newsletter, and visited us in-store and online the past two weeks.  I’ve got so many cool ideas for new things at the shop, and all the ladies are bursting with plans for the coming months–stay tuned, and happy summer, y’all!

Looking back, I am absolutely horrified to discover that the first post in this series went up in July OF LAST YEAR–how quickly this year has FLOWN by! As promised, I hereby give you Post #2 in our Anthropology of Sewing series. Read on through to the end to see the winner from the first post, and then leave a comment to qualify to win a FREE YARD of designer cotton fabric* from our shop!

Today’s topic: Why hand made, and what’s it got to do with the economy?

Seems as though everywhere we look these days, “handmade” is popping up. The tremendous success of Etsy** and of shops like Beehive Co-op** are reflections of this.  There seems to be a greater value placed on handmade goods these days, a recognition that the effort and love that go into creating something from scratch is worthwhile.  But, don’t we all think that ALL the time?  So where is the relationship between a “downturned” economy and a new respect for handmade?

I would argue that during times of economic belt-tightening, we are reminded–whether consciously or subconsciously–that there is a chain of events that leads to any object you hold in your hand, and that regardless of how openly we acknowledge them, there are emotions associated with those events (not to mention repercussions to them).  When I purchase a t-shirt from a chain department store, it began in a nation far away, made by hands I will never meet, anonymously, perhaps under undesirable conditions.  When I wear it and walk down the street, I may pass someone wearing the exact same t-shirt, or a dozen people wearing it.  When I wash it, I don’t take exceptional care of it, because it’s disposable and has an ephemeral nature, as if it never was intended to be something I treasure.

If I buy a more expensive shirt from a boutique, do I feel differently?  To a degree.  Because it likely cost more, I probably take better care of it.  And perhaps because of the boutique cache, I might feel that I’m less likely to greet the same shirt passing me in the opposite direction.  But it was still, almost certainly, made by someone far away, indifferently, with no thought to me as the recipient.

When I buy handmade, though, from a small seller who has touched each t-shirt individually, who has thought about who would buy it and wear it, who has taken the time to make it something special, I feel that.  It comes through the fabric, somehow, and translates itself into how I walk and how I care for the garment.

When I MAKE handmade?  That takes it to a whole ‘nother level.  Knowing not just that I’ve made it, but who for and with what materials and where I was when I made it and what I was thinking as I took each stitch, all that gets put into the project.  Even if it’s a quickie project that costs pennies and isn’t meant to be an heirloom, even then I get a feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment out of taking each stitch and seeing the finished product, as if a part of me is fed by the act of creating something new.  I know, it sounds crazy, but it’s totally true, and I think ultimately the reason that when the economy forces us to examine what we buy and where we put our precious resources, we turn to the handmade is this: because a handmade object is a relationship between the maker and the made, and between the object and the user.

Human beings, regardless of their cultural background or nationality, are about relationships. It’s how we are made, and is at the heart of all we do, when you get right down to it.  Relationships between us and other people, between us and the world around us, between us and the work we do, between us and ideas.  Those relationships change form depending on the circumstances, and I believe that when our backs are to the wall and the wallet is bare, we choose the relationships that have the deepest value to us, and the ones that have the most power to outlast.  Handmade does that, in spades.

According to some sources, the United States has experienced 12 recessions since Great Depression, and all have led to a return of handmade. What does that say about us as a society?  That we spend huge amounts of time spending money on things that don’t matter until we’re forced to step back and evaluate our choices?  Well, yes.  I think that’s exactly what it says.  That is, in some ways, a basic part of human nature: that we tend to take the easiest route until it is blocked off, at which point we reach deep inside ourselves and find reserves of character we might not have known we had.

I, for one, am delighted to see so many folks taking time in ways we haven’t, possibly for decades.  I revel in the moments when I sit down and stitch slowly, deliberately, by hand.  They remind me of what I am doing and where I am going.  I don’t multitask, unless you consider that as I create, I talk and listen, so that as I build relationship with what I’m creating, I build relationship with those around me.

I sure hope handmade is here to stay.  It brings out the best in us, no matter what shape the economy is in.

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In the first post, I asked for comments giving your story of how you learned to sew. The random winner of that comment drawing is Courtney:

Courtney said…

I definitely fall into the category of my mother made every stitch of clothing her closet and mine too when my sister & I were little, and when she tried to teach me as a tween, I was not at all interested. I “helped” her make my college dorm duvet (read: picked out the fabric and watched TV in the same room she sewed in). It wasn’t until I bought my first house at age 27 that I really wanted to learn how to make my own drapes and pillows, so that’s when I finally asked her to teach me and she did. Fast forward 5 years and I love love love to sew, still drapes & pillows and now I’ve even graduated to wearing clothes I’ve made! In public! Thanks to taking, oh, about 7 of Deb’s sewing classes. I am amazed at the time that I now realize my mother must have put into making outfits for me, my sister and our Cabbage Patch Kids.

Congratulations, Courtney! Contact me in the comments or via email to collect your code for FREE SHIPPING in our shop.

For the rest of you, leave your comment below telling us how the current economy has or hasn’t affected your attitude toward handmade goods: have you always loved them? do you pay more attention now that “handmade” seems to be a buzzword? do you think handmade is inferior to store-bought? I’d love to hear from you! Random winner from all the comments received will have their choice of ONE YARD of fabric* from the Whipstitch shop.

*Free yard may be selected from any of our cotton fabrics, up to an $8 value.  Shipping costs not included.

**Full disclosure: Whipstitch Fabrics sells through both these venues, and we freely acknowledge there are piles of places outside of them to purchase handmade, local design.

Mr. O helps tidy up selvage bits in the studio.

Whoopee!  My husband recommended his favorite blog repair genius to go through the scripts inside the bowels of my blog and discover the errors–this is the same miracle worker who rescued my husband’s blog from oblivion when it up-and-vanished one night.  Not only was Ben Cotten able to figure out what was wrong, he was able to tell my why it went wrong, and then both fix and improve it!  Knight in shining armor, indeed.  Took less than 48 hours, and he was an absolute peach the entire time.  I can’t thank–or recommend–him enough!

Which means, we’re back!  I have over 40 new posts drafted and outlined, and we’re ramping up publishing over here at Whipstitch with the hopes of giving you a brand new post every day in February.  Look forward to features on flannel, more Anthropology of Sewing, a peek inside Anna Maria’s voiles, plus some color theory and a rousing discussion of the joys of solids.  Yum!

In the meantime, feel free to browse the shop and check out the sale section, where I’m adding the very, very last bits of flood fabrics and some new bundles.  We have some HUGE news coming in the next few weeks–coinciding with a massive blog design overhaul–and we’re clearing space to make room for all the excitement.  Can’t wait to share details with you all!  We’ll be here, tidying up the studio, even the littlest ones.

P.S. Have you signed on for the 2010 Goal Setting?  Check it out and leave your comment!  We’re putting together a whole new page and program to last all year long–and we’d love to have you there…

During my interview with Fox-5′s Good Day Atlanta, I mentioned The Craft Gap. It’s my theory of why crafting–and sewing specifically–seems to suddenly be everywhere all the time: blogs, the news, street fairs, online shops, all over.

I’d love, love, love to hear your input as I go along, and answers to the inevitable questions that come about from asking these kinds of questions in the first place.

To start with, what made YOU want to learn to sew? Leave your answer in the comments, and a randomly selected comment will receive a coupon code for free shipping in the Whipstitch Etsy shop!