Close-knit group stitches together a bit of comfort

Colorful pillow cases are donated to Ronald houses

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Photo courtesy of MARY CORSARO Members of the Itchin' to Stitch group include Cindy Olsen, left, Jennifer Simmons, Sue Knower, Bev Steadman and Leanne Edlund. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Photo by JOANY NAZDIN Bev Steadman works at the sewing machine at the recent Itchin' to Stitch pillowcase-making event.

The members of the Southern Maryland chapter of the American Sewing Guild, the Itchin' to Stitch group, have a lot of reasons for getting together to sew.

Mary Corsaro of Waldorf, the neighborhood group leader, said that while it is good to sit home and sew, getting together in a group is better.

"It is a way of bonding with people who have the same interests as you," Corsaro said. "You make friends with people who talk the same language as you. And sewing is a good way to relieve stress. Another plus is it helps you to lose weight. You can't eat and sew."

Sue Knower of Waldorf agreed.

"Sewing is one thing that stays done when you do it," Knower said. "You wash dishes and they get dirty again. You cook and someone eats it. When you sew something, it stays done."

The group got together last week at the Charlotte Hall library to turn the library's meeting room into a pillowcase assembly line.

"We hope to make 100 pillowcases," Corsaro said.

As their national service project, which the American Sewing Guild sponsors every year, the women came to their monthly meeting carrying sewing machines, irons, ironing boards and bolts of fabric to make pillowcases for the Ronald McDonald houses, for families of hospital patients, in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

"We do way more pillowcases here when we get together then if we sat home and did it," said member Cindy Olsen of Golden Beach. "Some of our pillowcases will go to the local Ronald McDonald House, but some of them will go to New Mexico, when we have our national American Sewing Guild Convention in Albuquerque."

The group has only eight members, but what they lack in numbers, they make up for in enthusiasm.

"Last year the service project was making anti-ouch pouches for women who had experienced a mastectomy while fighting breast cancer," Olsen said.

"The Maryland chapter turned in around 350 pouches at the national convention. Our Itchin' to Stitch group made 224 of those."

The group stitched together bright, cheerful fabrics to make child-friendly pillowcases, taking about 30 minutes to complete each pillowcase.

"I know what a difference a little thing like a colorful pillow case can make while a child is hospitalized," Corsaro said. "When my son was 4, he was hospitalized at Children's Medical Center in Washington to get ear surgery. While he was there, he picked out a little puppet that someone had made and donated to the hospital. That puppet made a big difference in the next year of his life while he was undergoing the surgeries. It made being there more pleasurable for him. It was something nice for him to concentrate on, even though his mom and dad were basket cases. When you have a long stay, it is important to make it feel like it isn't a hospital."

Corsaro has had experience making pillowcases before the project.

"I made Cub Scout-themed pillowcases for my grandsons with glow-in-the dark thread," Corsaro said.

Knower, who donated 60 yards of fabric for the pillowcase project, hasn't done pillowcases before, but makes her son a new set of pajamas every year.

"For Christmas Eve every year, I have made my son a new set of pajamas, and he is 12 now," Knower said. "I was able to donate a lot of the fabric because some of the patterns were ones that he has grown out of."

Bev Steadman of Chesapeake Beach spent some of her time ironing the pillowcases after they were assembled.

"I have been coming to the group meetings for the last two or three years, and it is exciting every time I go," Steadman said. "Not a lot of people have an interest in sewing anymore, and it is nice to be able to talk back-and forth to someone who likes it."

Jennifer Simmons is the newest member of the group, having just joined last month.

"I have been sewing for years, even making coats, but it is nice to get together with a group," Simmons said.

Not all of the projects the group does benefit humans. The Itchin' to Stitch group is also making dog harnesses for the Puppy Mill Project, which rescues dogs from puppy mills.

The Puppy Mill Project, which is based in Harford County, is a no-kill shelter that spends the funds it raises housing, feeding, rehabilitating socializing and spaying and neutering the animals it rescues.

While sewing, the group members spent time talking about their July meeting, where they planned on making dress molds out of duct tape.

"You wrap three layers of duct tape around a black T-shirt, which conforms to your body," Corsaro said. "Then you cut it off, and you have a perfect dress mold. There was a couple in Ellicott City who made their prom dress and tux out of duct tape, and a young girl who goes to Chopticon High School who made her prom dress out of recycled materials."

"Duct tape isn't boring anymore," Corsaro said. "It even comes in pink now."

To learn more

For more information about the American Sewing Guild, go to www.marylandasg.org or e-mail maryland@asg.org. The national Web site is www.asg.org. Those interested can also call 301-871-2128 for more information about the local chapter.

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