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closeKept in stitches
A dream that started in the 1980s continues with the Sewing and Stitchery Expo at the fairgrounds
Joan Cronk / for The Herald
Ronald Reagan was President of the United States when Joanne Ross began to dream of a sewing expo. The year was 1984 and Ross was working at Washington State University as a faculty member when she came up with the idea that sparked the Sewing and Stitchery Expo.
At that time Ross headed up a large group of volunteers called Clothing and Textile Advisors.
“They taught kids to sew and people kept asking why we couldn’t get some of the high powered sewing stars to teach us,” Ross said.
What started out as “a nice little sewing show,” as Ross described it, ended up becoming the largest sewing event in the nation. The first three years they held the expo at the Tacoma Dome in the Convention Center, but it wasn’t long before they were bursting their seams and had to find a larger venue for the event. The whole shebang moved to the Puyallup fairgrounds and has been there ever since.
The fairgrounds site allowed the show to grow slowly. Now there are approximately 260 vendors in 450 booth spaces selling their wares. There are also 100 seminars and seven style shows that take place each day.
WSU sponsors the event and it is staffed by more than 200 volunteers.
“Volunteers are all trained by WSU and they take tickets and process tickets and help us run style shows,” Ross said, explaining they couldn’t do the expo without them.
And those involved come from across the county.
Even though Rita Farro lives in Iowa, she is very involved with all the folks here in Puyallup. Farro is the publicity person for expo. She also does lots of writing, editing and news releases and deals with the media.
Farro got her start with the expo in the early 1990s when Ross called and asked her to come speak on a subject she knew a lot about -- sewing for plus-sized women.
“You don’t see many women parading around in a size 22,” she said.
Farro said her seminar was called “How to dress with style when you feel like Cher and look like Roseanne.” The tickets sold out in four days and she found herself speaking to more than 1,200 folks over the course of the show. She really didn’t know what to expect.
“I was terrified. I guess I didn’t ask enough questions,” she said.
The seminar was a huge success and Farro has been enthusiastically on board ever since. She has also written the book “Life Is Not A Dress Size.”
There are more than 30,000 people who attend this expo every year, Farro said. She thinks that women sew for personality, making something very uniquely personal. Sometimes you know just what you want and then, “Good luck finding it.” But if you can sew, you can solve that problem.
Folks don’t see what goes on behind the scenes, and how the planning for this expo starts the day after it ends every year. Vendors pay their own way here, stay in hotels and drag all their product to the fairgrounds. It is a huge commitment and yet they show up, year after year, right here in downtown Puyallup.
South Hill’s own Pacific Fabrics participates in the expo each year.
Annette Millard, marketing and web manager for Pacific Fabrics said, “We have one of the largest booths there and are thrilled with what the WSU folks are doing with this show.”
Pacific Fabrics will be presenting two seminars, one on sewing knits and one on using some of the new fabrics like soy, bamboo and even corn. Pacific Fabrics is also offering, free of charge, a party of sorts, a “free make and take,” said Millard, at their store on South Hill. It will be hosted from 7 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Millard said they hope this encourages folks to stay at the expo for more than just one day.
Ann Sagawa is the speaker coordinator for the event and works at WSU as well. She has been working on the expo for nine years and is also a trained clothing and textile advisor.
“I feel very privileged to be working in the field of my study,” Sagawa said. “I’m very passionate about this project.”
Sagawa said the hands-on classes are the most popular. Hands-on classes include actually sitting at a sewing machine and learning how to use it. Heirloom classes are also wildly popular, and Sagawa encourages folks to sign up for these classes and seminars as soon as possible. The hands-on classes last for a couple of hours. Another option is 45-minute presentations, which consist of a lecture to about 150 to 200 people. Free style shows will be taking place on the second floor of the Pavilion and in the ShowPlex area there will be a free stage where you can hear a speaker all day long on different topics.
The possibilities are endless.
“If you come to Puyallup you’ll see the newest stuff before anybody else in the country,” Farro said.