eugenie torgerson
I work in our framing room on a high table, carpeted to protect frames and glass. Standing up to sew is as natural to me as standing at an easel or bending over a drafting table.
The framing/sewing room and my studio are on the lower level of the old elementary school we live in. Built in rural SW Michigan in 1931, it is perfect for two artists – space, light, eccentricities, and spirit.
about my work
I have always made things.
In my professional life as an artist I have been a printmaker, worked in mixed media, and made book objects. In each of these fields I have been a sort of editor of materials – putting things together, moving them, and changing them.
Over the years my desire to work with textiles and to sew always crashed on the rocks of garment fitting and the tyranny of darts and ease. Things began to change when I challenged myself to make hats. One measurement, right? Circumference of a head. What could go wrong?
Not much, it turns out. Once I became able to attach a strip to a circle, the headband to the crown, I was able to outfit a crew of friends with fine hats. The kufi-style I refined was perfect for gorgeous, high-end upholstery materials.
In the early days of the Corona virus pandemic, I made scores of masks and dozens of scrub hats for health care workers at a local hospital. I loved the pattern mixing, the repetition, and most importantly the construction of flat pieces. I could see a lot of cross-over in the process of mask making and bookbinding.
I needed t-shirt material for the straps and ties of masks and caps, and a dear friend sent me t-shirts that had belonged to her husband. After his death, those blue t-shirts held special meaning, and I decided they would be better used by making them into a quilt for my friend. No, I had never made a quilt, but the internet can teach you anything. The quilting world and its passion for passing on information is vast, so I started learning.
I sew when I can, and my process is quite organic. I build the elements of a quilt or a throw in much the manner of a mixed media piece – with an idea, an intention, and a high degree of improvisation.
I love making the decisions of color, pattern, and scale. I am deeply at home with both the tension and the repetition of measuring, cutting, and sewing. What a gift.