People’s Choice Zone 2
6
Koenigsknecht can solve any sewing needs By SUE LOUNDS slounds@lsj.com
Pat Koenigsknecht started sewing when she was just six years old. “I started sewing for other people when I first got married,” she says, “so I was about 20” Forty plus years later she is still at it. And she is the 2010 People’s Choice for seamstress/tailor. “My grandmother was a dressmaker,” says Pat, “and my mother (Alice Hiebeck) sewed my entire life.” Pat’s basement is her sewing studio. And with her supply of at least nine different sewing machines, she can tackle just about anything. “I do everything from hemming blue jeans to redesigning a wedding gown,” she says. “Oh, and I’m now called the bag lady,” she adds with a grin. The bag lady moniker refers to the duffle bags she makes. “I make them in three different sizes and lots of different colors,” she says. “They are really popular graduation gifts.” Pat and her husband Dennis have three grown daughters. They all know how to sew, but don’t have much time for
it now. “My granddaughter is my seamstress,” she says and tells how the two of them worked together to create this year’s prom dress. “We did it over spring break,” says Pat. Prom time is very busy for Pat. “Prom weekend I worked on three different weddings and first communion,” she says. And of course spring is a busy time for weddings. Pat does a lot of alterations on wedding gowns and brides maids dresses, but she also has made wedding gowns from scratch. “I made three out of four of my daughters’ wedding gowns,” she says. “I’ve done between 10 and 15 over the years. For the last few years, it’s been more fixing than making though. Right now I have a wedding gown and four or five brides maids dresses waiting to be done.” But Pat’s work isn’t limited to wedding and prom dresses, or even to alterations. She also does lots of custom embroidery work. “I do sweatshirts, hats, polos; it’s all custom work. I have such variety, there’s no way I can get tired of this.”
And just in case she doesn’t have enough to do herself, she still teaches sewing for 4-H – something she has been doing for 38 years. “I believe kids need to learn the basics,” she says, “and I still enjoy working with the young girls, and I’ve had a few boys in my sewing groups too.” She has a couple sewing machines the young sewers use when they come for their lessons. Those machines, like the other seven scattered around her basement, have important purposes and are the tools of her trade. “It’s my own little factory,” she says of her basement. “It’s my own little world.” And when she puts those machines to work under her skilled eyes and gifted hands, she creates or transforms with a skill level few can match. That’s probably why she is the Clinton County News 2010 People’s Choice for seamstress. Contact Pat Koenigsknect at (989) 224-8105 for alterations, custom duffle bags and custom embroidery.
Right: Pat Koenigsknecht, voted People’s Choice for favorite seamstress, adjusts the bustle on Tara Thelen’s wedding gown.
Photo by Sue Lounds
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