Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, March 30, 2008
Story appeared in SCENE section, Page L5
In a few hours, four =
little
girls will be sitting at the sewing machines in this tidy backyard studio i=
n
But right now, Anne C=
ardosa
– sewing educator, seamstress and proprietor of this growing home-bas=
ed
business, Simply Sewing – is talking about the creativity women use in
coming up with ways to make money while staying home with their kids.
"Women are very
talented, if they look inside themselves," says Cardosa, 47. "To
build a business out of things they have a passion for is the ultimate.
"When I started =
Simply
Sewing, my thought was, 'I have to work, so what do I love to do? I love to
sew. I've sewn since I was 12 years old. None of my friends sew. So why not
teach other people and give other women and girls and boys that
opportunity?"
Yes, why not?
Out of the four
after-school classes she teaches now, only one involves grown-ups, though s=
he
also gives private lessons for adults. Most of her students are kids, inclu=
ding
one bright and very enthusiastic boy who couldn't wait to get his hands on =
the
sewing machine.
Their moms wanted the=
m to
learn a skill that somehow skipped a generation.
"I'm hearing a l=
ot of
women say, 'My mother or grandmother made all my clothes, but I never learn=
ed
how to sew,' " Cardosa says.
S= ounds familiar.<= o:p>
"And I say, 'Did=
n't
they ever say to you, "Come sew with me"? '
"
No, they weren't all that patient. But that's how she first learned, si=
tting
by her mother's side.
Frankly, the rest of =
us
couldn't wait to get out of the homemade clothes and into the more
sophisticated little items we bought at department stores. And as a culture,
we've moved past the days when girls routinely learned to sew in home-econo=
mics
classes.
Like guys couldn't ha=
ve
used that knowledge, too.
What's been lost is a=
certain
thread connecting the generations, not to mention the basic ability to mend
clothes and hem skirts.
But hey, isn't that w=
hat
tailoring businesses are for?
Cardosa accepts
alterations, too. Of course! Anything to keep her sewin=
g and
keep her home with her four kids, who range in age from 6 to 22.
Simply Sewing is actu=
ally
her second home-based business. The first was Frame Wright, a small framing
service she ran out of her garage after she had her first child.
"My thought was,=
'You
know what? No one can raise my kids better than I can,' "
she says. " 'If I can make it, I'm going to stay at home and
support myself.' "
It worked. By the tim=
e she
and her husband, Bob Cardosa, sold Frame Wright last fall, it had grown int=
o a
large, successful custom-framing business with offices in Natomas.
Her husband has since=
gone
to work for the state. And Cardosa has returned to the studio in their leafy
backyard, in a former garage remodeled by her husband.
Here, I should tell y=
ou
that the tools of the sewing trade have become really, really cool since the
last time we watched our mothers sprawl down on the floor, laboriously pinn=
ing
flimsy patterns onto cloth, losing a few straight pins in the carpet.
Alongside each of the=
four
sewing machines are magnetized pin cushions, which all of us should have in=
our
homes, simply because they're so fun to play with. There are rotary cutting
mats and rotary cutters lined up on the tool board, great little gadgets.
Cardosa already has a
schedule of 11 weeklong classes scheduled for the summer, and she has big p=
lans
for more. (Go to www.simply-sewing.com
for more information.)
"I'm trying to g=
et a
boys' class together," she says. "We can make tool belts and tent=
s.
"I wish we could=
get
over the stigma of sewing only being for girls and women. Some of our best
designers and tailors are men. It's just a societal thing, I guess."