816-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 26, 1991 No Patterns Needed By 88-Year-Old Seamtress BONNIE BRECHBILL Franklin Co. Correspondent McCONNELLSBURG (Fulton Co.) — When a woman in Florida needed a wedding gown recently, she had a friend draw a picture of the dress she envisioned. She sent the sketch and her measurements to a seamstress in McConnellsburg. When the bride came north a few days before her wedding, she tried on the com pleted dress. “The only alteration it needed was an extra ruffle on the bottom,” said Yvonne Metcalfe, the 88-ycar-old seamstress who created the pink gown. Metcalfe regularly creates fin ery for weddings in southcentral Pennsylvania and northern Mary land. Often, the bride and her attendants come to Metcalfe with pictures tom from a magazine or catalog, and she reproduces the dresses exactly. She cannot explain how she can take a piece of fabric and cut out the correct shapes for an elaborate gown without an exact pattern. “It just comes natural to me,” she said. “I just do it.” Sometimes she uses a pattern from another gown, and varies both the shape and size for the dress the customer has in mind. She occasionally sews from purchased patterns, which cus tomers bring to her when they want a specific garment. All this creativity lakes place in a small, neat room in Metcalfe’s home. Thirty or 40 garments in various stages of completion hang on racks. Pegboaids on the wall hold hundreds of spools of thread. Pinned to the curtain beside the sewing machine are pictures of dresses that customers want her to duplicate. The small, well-dressed woman grew up watching her mother make clothing for her large fami ly. Metcalfe made her first article of clothing at age 15 -- a dress for herself. “My mother put the sleeves in for me,” she said. After graduating from high school she went to work as a filter at a clothing factory in Hager stown, Md. “I’ve been sewing ever since,” she said. She operated her own tailor shop for a few years after she left the factory. Twenty years ago, she and her For Your Information The most popular variety of cheese with Americans is chccklar. Unfortunately, u is also one ol the highest-fat cheeses Around 659 r ol the calorics m a onc-mch cube of chcddar cheese comes Irom fat. oLifts University Diet and Nutri tion Letter, April 1990} According to Uic N.monal Traffic Safely administration, car crashes arc the leading cause of worker absenteeism. By the time today’s child turns “seventysomething”, hc/shc will have spent a lull seven years in front of the television, flufts Uni versity Diet and Nutrition Letter, July 1990) On the average day, Americans spend 52,021,918 on home exer cise equipment and 510,410,959 on potato chips. (Tom Hey man, On an average day, Ballantinc Books. 1989) husband, -who are childless, moved to McConnellsburg to be near a niece. Metcalfe decided to quit sewing. After her husband died, however, she decided she needed something to keep her busy. The sewing business has amply fulfilled that need. “I’m sewing more now than I ever did,” Metcalfe said. She starts sewing about 10 o’clock in the morning and continues until 10 or 11 o’clock at night. “I don’t do anything else, though,” she added. “I have a heart condition, so I have someone to do my housework.” Metcalfe has never fell the need to advertise her services. “I have more business than I can do now.” “My family fusses me for doing it,” she added, “but they don’t know the happiness I get out of it. I’m lucky to have good health, and I’m blessed with good eyesight.” While she feels she “shouldn’t lake the time” to go to the local senior citizens center once a week for a noontime meal, she admits that it’s nice to get out occasional ly. Metcalfe is not lonely by any means, though. “People arc in and out of here all the time to pick up and drop off clothes.” She has sewn the clothing for three weddings since May, while keeping up with the numerous alt erations she does on men’s clo thing. “They weren’t all complete weddings, though,” she added. “Some were just the bridesmaids and the flower girls.” She esti- TO: LESLIE J. LANDIS & FAMILY Quarryviile, Pa. On The * Completion Of Their Double 5 Milking Parlor And Holding Area! TRIPLE H Construction 430 Springville Road Ephrata, PA 17522 Custom Builders of Dairy, Horse, Storage, Residential And Commercial Buildings Yvonne Metcalfe, 88, creates wedding and prom gowns for customers In two states. Photo courtesy of PUBLIC OPINION. mates it takes her two days to make a gown from start to finish, if she worked only on that project. “I have four weddings (sche duled) through next June,” she said. “And prom dresses (arc needed) at the same time. I’m going to be busy next spring.” A Special Thanks!.., See Us For Your Next Building... L * A bride recently sent Metcalfe a picture of herself in her mother’s wedding gown, which Metcalfe had made many years ago. Met calfe located a photo of the origi nal wedding party and observed, “These dresses look ‘homemade’ to me now.” 717-738-2142 HBOOl-TRIPLE-1 , ; %** *•«**» ♦ tit**' %%■ WKt ' «L 'Au*V ,^' This Facility Features: • Grooved Concrete Floor In Holding Area For Better Footing. • Non-siip Aggregate For Better Cow Footing in Parlor. • Hardener To Increase Concrete Life. • Glasbord Walls For Longer Life And Easier Cleaning. • insulated Block Walls. • Trusses 4’ O.C. For Heavier Snow Loads i* Fabral Strongrlb Aluminum Roofing. * *W While Metcalfe’s favorite pro jects arc the prom and wedding gowns, she docs “a little bit of everything,” including Halloween costumes and high school band uniforms. Her most unusual pro ject to dale was a pair of pants for an incontinent dog. \ $1 I Ov',
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