About

10th May, 2010 - Posted by cmwhitten - Comments Off

How it all began…..

My grandmother, Ramona Herrera, taught me how to sew when I was about 12 years old.  I remember sitting in her bedroom watching her sew for hours on her Singer Treadle machine.  One day she asked me if I wanted to give it a try and that was the beginning of what would be a beautiful journey.  I was hooked.  I would go to her house where she would patiently teach me how to pin, trace and cut out dresses, shirts and pant outfits.  She encouraged the perfect (or near perfect!) seam allowance. Oh, and she was so sweet to show me over and over again how to thread the machine and fill the bobbin with thread!

Over the years she taught me how to insert zippers and buttons into our creations.  We would go to fabric stores together searching for the perfect fabric for the most current project.  My grandma was truly talented.  She could see a dress on a mannequin in a shop window then go home and cut a pattern out of newspaper and sew it all in the same afternoon.  She is famous within our family for wearing her “home-made” suits to the White House and sitting in the Rose Garden with Jackie O (my grandfather was a World War II Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, hence the White House visits).

Grandma was also known for her considerable “fabric stash.”  She had a huge walk-in linen closet that had floor-to-ceiling shelving.  Two sides of that closet were jammed with the fabric she used for making clothes.   I sewed with my grandmother through high school but then took a prolonged break during college and thereafter to pursue a career.

I started quilting in 1999 when I was pregnant with Rachel, my first child.  I have been quilting ever since and began designing and selling my own patterns in 2004.    If you are a grandma, aunt or mother reading this story, I hope you are encouraged to continue the tradition of teaching someone significant in your life about the love of fabric, sewing and creating.

I am fortunate to have inherited so much from my grandmother – her love of fabric, the sense of satisfaction that completing a project brings (even a small pillowcase).  I am so lucky to experience the absolute thrill that comes when someone shares a picture of a quilt they have made using one of my patterns.  I am also blessed with a family that encourages me to keep creating new designs and that is very understanding and patient as I spend hours in my studio following my dream.

I lost my grandma in January 1991 — before I started quilting and long before I started my design business – but I know that she is with me each and every day, showering me with love and encouragement.  I no longer sew on a treadle machine!  I have graduated to a Husqvarna Viking.  I have now begun to teach my daughter how to sew – and we are mastering the ¼” seam.  Long may the family tradition endure!