I never thought my mediocre knowledge of sewing would qualify me to work with Diane Marvin, owner of Sew Nice in Norwich, but Wednesday afternoon I visited the store, located in the North Plaza, and attempted to help Diane teach a class, while learning a little bit about the business myself.
I arrived at the shop a little before 2 p.m., and although Diane had only one employee working in the shop, several of the tables in the back were occupied. Sewing machines were buzzing away as quilters worked on different colorful projects. “We think of this as a quilting playhouse,” Diane said of the customers sewing in the back. “Our quilt family knows, when there is no class, we still like to have the tables full.”
After taking a quick turn around the store and getting acquainted with the tools of the trade (and realizing how easy it would be to accidentally cut my fingers off), the members of the beginners quilting class started making their way in to the store.
As the class got their materials ready, Diane showed me the proper way to iron the fabric and set me up at a table with a ruler and a rotary cutter. “Be careful,” one quilter advised. “This is addicting.”
As I tried to avoid slicing my flesh with the razor-sharp blade, Diane explained her philosophy about quilting. “Quilting is all about how to comfort one another. We hear it called the women’s answer to ‘Cheers.’ Come in with your problems and start quilting, and your problems go away.”
Once I had proved I could cut strips of fabric, I followed Diane around the room where she stopped to help one student at a time. The ladies’ reasons for attending the class were all different. For some it was a lifetime goal, for others it was because they had a sewing machine and no idea what to do with it. “When I’d view quilts and see how beautiful they are, I always thought I would love to do that. I decided to make the commitment and give it a try,” said Bonnie Romano. Another student, Gene Iantosca, explained that while she had always wanted to quilt, she never had the time. Now that she is retired, Iantosca is taking up the craft. While some have been waiting years to learn, the youngest member of the class is getting an early start. Six and a half year old Sydney Swift showed an interest in quilting and her mom, Charity decided to support her daughter’s interest.
While Diane spent some time helping the youngest sewer in the group, I used my mediocre knowledge of sewing to try to help one student thread her machine, even though I didn’t do it entirely correctly. Luckily for me, Diane wasn’t far away and quickly corrected my mistake.
While I did more learning than teaching, I picked up a lot of tips on quilting and even more information on the people who do it. “Quilters are honest people,” Diane explained during one story to the class. “I’ve never met a quilter who wasn’t honest.”