[NOV. 30, 2000]  The office of MediaOne cable television service will be leaving its 125 N. Kickapoo location for larger quarters at 1102 Keokuk St., next to Illinois American Water Company, according to Bill White, local manager. The new office will open on Dec. 18.

[to top of second column in this article]

Although the payment slot at the 125 N. Kickapoo site will be closed, customers will still be able to drop off payments at the box by the Kickapoo Street city garage, less than a block from the old location, White said.

[NOV. 3, 2000]  ^"A hobby that took over my life" is the way Ivy Koritz describes quilting. And she admits to being a "fabriholic." So it seems only natural to find her behind the counter at "Sew Many Friends," the quilt and sewing shop at 127 S. Kickapoo. The new store, which belongs to Ivy and her husband, Dick, of Clinton and Sue and Butch Bidwell of Lincoln, carries all sorts of quilting supplies, as well as 500 to 600 bolts of fine-quality fabrics. "But we’d like to have more," Ivy says. "We fabriholics want a bolt of everything on the market."

Click here for pictures from this business

A former health care accountant, Ivy started quilting in 1994 and became addicted. She was looking for a new career, and she and her long-time friend Sue Bidwell discussed buying or renting a building and starting a shop. Sue, formerly an employee of Lehn and Fink, went back to school when that firm closed and is now working on a master’s degree in clothing and textiles at Illinois State University.

With the help of Wendy Bell and last year’s Business Nexus, they took a tour of Lincoln. The two couples looked at the building at 125-127 S. Kickapoo, discovered it was for sale and went from there. Sew Many Friends opened Aug. 25, and the sales are "gently building," Ivy says.

The property includes two storefronts, with four apartments above. The Red Cross office will remain at its present location at 126 S. Kickapoo, but the area behind the office will be renovated for classroom space, office use and handicapped-accessible restrooms. The room behind Sew Many Friends will also be renovated for additional floor space, and the two couples are busy getting the apartments ready for renting.

"We all four bring special talents to the business," Ivy says. "Sue is knowledgeable about clothing and textiles and has some marketing background from her course work. She is an expert at smocking and clothing construction. Butch, who works for Decatur Electronics, has the necessary skill to organize the remodeling of the building and the apartments upstairs. Dick is an attorney, and I know quilting and have the accounting and business background to run the store."

Needlework has been a creative outlet for women since early times, Ivy points out, and before they could read or write, much less vote, women could express themselves in the quilts they made. It was even a way to let others know their political opinions, by making quilts like the Democrat Rose, the Whig Rose, the Union Quilt, or one called Fifty-four Forty or Fight.

[to top of second column in this section]

Before the Civil War, women let their opinions about slavery be known though a quilt called the Underground Railroad. One woman created her own version of a quilt pattern called the Radical Rose. She put black in the center of the rose because, for her, that represented the issue of slavery.

Old quilt patterns expressed many other things about people’s lives, including their religious beliefs. Biblical patterns include King David’s Crown, Job’s Tears, Bethlehem Star, Star and Cross, and Hosanna, a pattern of palm leaves. Occupations became quilt patterns like Carpenter’s Wheel, Chips and Whetstones, and Mariner’s Compass. Everyday sights like Maple Leaf or Rail Fence or Indian Trail became quilts as well. Even the weather was represented, with patterns like Snowball and Weathervane.

Old quilt patterns are still popular, but many women today like to create their own. "Some people want to make quilts or wall hangings that others have designed," Ivy says, "but I’ve always changed whatever I did to create my own patterns. This is an artistic expression for me, because I’m not a pen-and-ink artist."

A bright yellow and russet quilt hanging in the shop is an example of Ivy’s own design. She made it to commemorate her son’s achievements in sports at Clinton High School, where he excelled in track, football, basketball and cross-country. Pictures, reproduced on fabric by a Decatur firm, are incorporated into what started out as a traditional pattern, Aunt Fanny’s Favorite, but which Ivy adjusted to suit her project. She calls her son’s quilt Top Achievements. Another of her designs, this one a smaller wall hanging, features two Bible verses, a cross, and a map showing North and South America.

"Quilting is no longer just piecing bedspreads," she says. "It has become a total new form of art."

[Joan Crabb]

[NOV. 2, 2000]  ^"A hobby that took over my life" is the way Ivy Koritz describes quilting. And she admits to being a "fabriholic." So it seems only natural to find her behind the counter at "Sew Many Friends," the quilt and sewing shop at 127 S. Kickapoo. The new store, which belongs to Ivy and her husband, Dick, of Clinton and Sue and Butch Bidwell of Lincoln, carries all sorts of quilting supplies, as well as 500 to 600 bolts of fine-quality fabrics. "But we’d like to have more," Ivy says. "We fabriholics want a bolt of everything on the market."

Click here for pictures from this business

Customer Bobby Anne Bergman of Mason City is another fabriholic. "I’m thrilled that Sew Many Friends is here. They have great-quality fabrics, and I don’t have to drive so far," she says. Bobby Anne just retired from the Mason City National Bank and can do what she wants with her spare time, which is quilt. She’s working on a sampler quilt of her own design to enter in a Better Homes and Gardens contest.

"We’ve had many compliments on our collection of fabrics," Ivy reports. "Makers we carry that quilters will recognize include Hoffman, Moda, Marcus brothers, Northcott, RJR, Benartex, Thimbleberries and Jinny Beyer. We also have 1930s and 1860s reproduction fabrics."

Quilting is only one of the hobbies that brings sewing addicts to the store. Smocking (embroidering patterns on pleated fabric, often on little girls’ dresses) and heirloom sewing (creating items like christening dresses or satin pillows that will be used and then kept as mementos) are among the skills that will be taught in classes offered by Sew Many Friends.

Quilting and smocking instruction books, patterns for women’s and girls’ clothing, patterns for the popular hobby of making doll clothing, embroidery and regular sewing thread, and all kinds of sewing notions are available, along with the fabric. The shop also sells some ready-made items taken on consignment, such as children’s frontier shirts, sunbonnets and aprons, and appliquéd clothing like shirts and denim jumpers. Ivy will do machine quilting for customers, and she hopes to carry a line of sewing machines in the future.

[to top of second column in this section]

The classes to be offered will vary in length according to the skill being taught. Small projects may be taught in two or three weeks. Students who take on a big project, such as making a full-size quilt, will meet once a month for a year. A class in making Christmas ornaments will meet just once. Classes can meet either in the evening or during the day. Ivy suggests dropping in or calling her at 732-4527 for information about individual classes.

Ivy will teach the quilting classes, including machine quilting, and Sue Bidwell will teach smocking. Sallie Marcotte, who went to the Martha Pullen school, will teach heirloom sewing. Pullen is a nationally known teacher of that craft.

Beginning quilting classes usually do not start with a whole quilt but with a single pieced block that can be used as a wall hanging or other decoration, Ivy explains. A project will be big enough to teach techniques but small enough to allow the student to finish the project and enjoy it in a short period of time. Picking fabrics for a small project also gives students practice in creating their own designs.

Another project might be a sample quilt, using the same quilt block pattern and the same construction, but putting different fabrics in differences places within each block so each one is completely different visually.

[Joan Crabb]

[click here for Part 2]

Back to top

Top Stories | Sports News | Sports Talk | Area Athletes in Action | Out and About | TechLine | Weather | Elsewhere

A Day in the Life... | Milestones | Obituaries | Diaspora

Business & Ag | Organizations | Events | Good Neighbors | Honors & Awards

Ombudsman | Law & Courts | Rural Review

Crosswords | Games

The Arts | Home and Family | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Teaching & Learning | Book Look | Movies & Videos

Still Waters | The Hallway Buzz | What's Up With That? | Where They Stand | the em space
How We Stack Up | By the Numbers

Letters to the Editor | About LDN | Corrections | Happy Ads | Quick Coupon Clip-Outs