Sewing is a matter of passion and practicality for Greta Johnson, a grandmother of two in Larsen.
"I come from a fairly large family, and there wasn't always a lot of money for clothes," she said.
The result: In high school, she made many of her own. Those skills, plus the ones she'd developed as an art major specializing is sculpture, came in handy a year ago when her search for a certain gift came up empty.
"Last Christmas, I wanted to buy one of the type of hats my grandson had had when he was little," she said.
His 3-D penguin cap always had drawn raves when she took him out anywhere, she added, but now that she wanted something similar, she couldn't find it.
"I knew there was a niche out there," Johnson said.
She began creating patters—"Usually I have to make maybe three, four or five templates before I find one I really like," she said—and now offers more than a dozen styles of dual-layer, sculpted fleece hats and matching mittens. In her designs, caterpillars, monkeys, seals and more perch atop little heads.
The timing of Johnson's venture proved perfect. "I had actually lost my job in February so it was more of do something you love and make a little money, too."
And, as she put it, she loves to sew. |
