Portsmouth sewing shop owner teaching RI history one stitch at a time
By Lynne Sullivan Providence Journal
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How does someone get involved in a massive project celebrating America’s 250th birthday?
In a state the size of Rhode Island, all it takes is answering the phone. At least that’s how it went down for Karen Katin, owner of The Stitchery sewing school in Portsmouth and now the state coordinator for the America’s Tapestry project, a coordinated effort among the first 13 Colonies to embroider a narrative tapestry depicting important moments from the founding of this country. Each state creates its own 3-by-5-foot panel, and when the tapestry is complete it will tour the country as part of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Conceived by artist Stefan Romero, the tapestry’s panels are each hand-embroidered by volunteers and artisans alike, with an emphasis on lesser-known events of the American Revolution, highlighting women and minority involvement. Katin, who, unlike other state directors, is not a member of the Embroiderers Guild, says “Stefan called, and I said I think you have the wrong phone number. I said, ‘I’m not a historian. I’m not even a guildist.’ And he’s like, ‘No, no, no, I think this is going to work out.’ So I said yes. And six months later, here we are.”
And for Katin, “here” is really a sprint to getting this massive project done by July, using volunteers at local “stitch-a-thons,” like one held in December at the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket – which often means guiding folks with no experience in embroidery.
Describe your vision for Rhode Island's portion of America’s Tapestry
It’s an entirely volunteer project. And so my approach to getting it stitched has been very different in Rhode Island than the other 11 or 12 states. My studio is large for what I do, but to also have the tapestry set up permanently for a year for people to access and work on, it’s just too small for that. So I came up with the idea of making the panel travel, because I didn’t think that even having it here in Portsmouth, people would come here, and I wanted to make it accessible to as many people as possible. It does come here and stay for a couple of weeks at a time. Honestly, the local people who are coming here are putting in the most hours and making the most progress on it.
When it goes to some of these other museums, it’s more like we’re showing it off and isn’t this a cool part of the 250? So I’m kind of going for most traveled panel award. It may be the highest number of different people working on it, because we have to keep track of who’s working and for how many hours at a time.
What challenges do you face in coordinating a statewide effort like this?
When we moved here 20 years ago, I learned pretty quickly that nobody drives and nobody crosses a bridge and having a business here on Aquidneck Island, nobody wants to leave the island for anything, let alone go and buy fabric for a class.
We’re scrappy and we make it work and we’re kind of at a disadvantage, I guess, compared to some of the other states in this project. But I think our panel might not end up being the most technically superior, but it’s beautiful, and I am so proud of how well it has built community, even just within the maker community of Rhode Island.
How are you getting folks to participate?
The other difference between me and some of the other states is that I want everyone who wants to participate to participate. So right now, the age range of recorded participants is 7 to 91, which is pretty great.
I think it’s so important to encourage all the next generations to at least be exposed to all of this. Whether they become a quilter or they become a fashion designer, that’s not really my goal. They become a much more informed consumer. So you can spot quality when you go shopping for your next pair of shorts or you appreciate things that you see in museums or that other people are selling at artisan fairs. I think it’s important to encourage all of it.
How is America's Tapestry bringing the community together?
When you have two strangers that come together in my space or over the panel, the first thing they start talking about is their sewing story, because everyone has one, like my grandmother made me a quilt, or my mom used to make my Halloween costumes, or my great-grandfather owned a textile mill, or you know, came from Italy with these skills. Everybody has stories like that, connecting them somehow to somebody in their world who sews. And they start with that, and then the next thing they’re swapping suggestions for where to go to get a good bowl of ramen.
Part of our panel is actually in Fargo, North Dakota. There was a Guild in Fargo that contacted the project and they were so excited about it, but they’re not a colony state. So North Dakota doesn’t get a panel, but they still wanted to participate. So we ended up giving them a part of our panel and they have been working on that and then they’ll mail it back hopefully by Feb. 1, and then we’ll put it back on the panel. I talked to a woman yesterday who’s in charge of that one, and she’s just so excited, so excited and happy to be part of the project.
If you could send one message to Rhode Islanders about why this work matters, what would it be?
I agreed to participate because it gets the word out about my shop and what we do. I think people do love that I’m teaching kids and there’s no home economics in school anymore. So there’s a whole lot that’s just missing in being able to pass along these kinds of skills to the next generation.
Also, I feel like Rhode Island’s involvement in the American Revolution was really not very well known. Seeing so many different areas of the state coming together in community is kind of what Rhode Island is about, right?
We really started sewing our panel that’s depicting the Battle of Rhode Island just steps away from the Battle of Rhode Island, which I thought was kind of cool.
If you want to join the stitching, the tapestry will be at The Stitchery, 14 Potomac Road, Unit 7, Portsmouth, (401) 662-2004,thestitcheryri@gmail.com.
