ELEMENTS

Sewing throughout time has been not only to clothe our bodies but also a creative statement—artistic expressions of who we are.

A Stitch in Time A grandmother’s legacy treasured. BY DAynA DEl VAl | PHOTOGRAPHY BY TErrI FErrAGUT

I Cynthia McGuire Thiel seated in her sewing studio is a master at creating custom garments for her clients. She enjoys sewing classic pieces using high end finishing techniques. Upcycling existing garments is another aspect of her business she enjoys.

48 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

come from a long line of remarkable women. I come from immigrants, homesteaders, single mothers, highly and lowly educated women and problem-solvers—and that’s just the ones I know about! My maternal grandmother, Genevieve Carss Bowman, is the one I am most often likened to, and I take the comparisons as a great compliment. She was wicked smart, beautifully creative, a true trailblazer (in the 1920s, she demanded—and was allowed—to take shop class in junior high because she already knew how to cook and sew) and didn’t suffer fools lightly. But there’s a place where my grandma and I dramatically diverge—she was a stunning knitter and seamstress. She was more artistic with thread and a needle or knitting needles than anyone I have ever known. Every Christmas, we received exquisite homemade Christmas ornaments, pieces I still fondly admire and hang up every year. She made clothes for my mom’s Barbie that brought new meaning to “micro couture.” I still wear a sweater she knit my dad, part of a trio she made for my parents and me when I was very little. INSPIREDHOMEMAGAZINE.COM