Published: June 05, 2009 12:45 pm      

Stitching together a mother-daughter bond

BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

Fabric creations based in fantasy and reality will be melded in a mother-daughter exhibit at a local arts center.

“Fabric Fantasies II,” featuring the works of Sally C. Fink, costumer, and Hilda C. Fink, quilter, will be on display though June 26 at Community Arts Center of Cambria County, 1217 Menoher Blvd., Westmont.

An opening reception will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. today.

This will be the fourth show for Hilda and her daughter, Sally, who had their last show at the arts center in 2005.

Both women have their own sewing studio in their Southmont home, where they can trade fabrics, threads and ideas.

They sometimes collaborate on Hilda’s quilts, with Sally designing or embellishing and Hilda working on the quilting.

Hilda also uses leftover scraps of Sally’s fantasy costume fabrics for her quilts.

While the two now share sewing secrets, their approach to fabric art is totally different.

Hilda started sewing in childhood, making embroidered blocks for a quilt when she was 9 years old.

She began some serious sewing in the 1950s when she took classes in fine-sewing technique such as tailoring, millinery and dressmaking.

Sally scraped through sewing in high school home economics and blossomed into a costumer in early adulthood.

“I picked up a lot from my mother,” Sally said. “I learned what good clothing looks and feels like. If it doesn’t fit, it’s not a good piece.”

Hilda has made hundreds of garments and hats for family and friends and has taught adult classes in millinery, dressmaking, tailoring for men and women, lingerie and other aspects of clothing construction.

“Until 1990, I made my own clothing, coats, hats and purses,” said Hilda. “I made some for Sally, too.”

Some of the hats from Hilda’s collection, which totals more than 100 head coverings, will be displayed at the gallery.

Quilting piqued Hilda’s interest in 1990 when she constructed a handmade quilt during a two-month, 7,000-mile trip through the Western states with her husband, Ray S. Fink.

Most of the quilts Hilda has completed recently are sewn by machine. At 86, the delicate, meticulous hand-quilting has become too difficult for her aging fingers.

Hilda’s portion of the exhibit, which is a 15-year retrospective, features 53 quilted pieces ranging in size from small wall hangings to queen-size bed quilts that incorporate both hand-sewing and machine-quilting techniques.

“I put up the quilts first and thought you wouldn’t know they were all done by the same person,” Sally said.

Hilda’s quilts also utilize embroidery and fabric origami.

“I don’t like to do anything twice,” Hilda explained.

Some of the quilts in the exhibition were gifts to relatives and had to be borrowed for the display.

Hilda is a member of the Salix Stitchers and the local chapter of the Red Hat Society.

While Hilda follows a pattern to the letter, her daughter, Sally, 58, always improvises a costume design.

“I don’t do detailed sketches anymore,” Sally said. “I let things happen serendipitously.”

Sally designed and created futuristic costumes for World Science Fiction Conventions, regional conventions and CostumeCons in the 1970s, with a focus on Star Trek.

She retired from futuristic costume competitions in 1988 as a master costumer, having won six major awards at the WorldCon level and numerous regional, CostumeCon and fashion design competition awards.

As a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Sally has turned to making historical costumes that would have been worn from Roman times to the 1600s.

When she returned to the world of science fiction-fantasy costuming in May after a 16-year absence, she was still an award winner.

“They were impressed at the convention,” Sally said. “I guess I haven’t lost it.”

Her costume, “Queen of Atlantis,” which is an interpretation of a friend’s design, won Best in Show in the fashion-show segment at CostumeCon 27, held in Timonium, Md.

Another costume, “Empress of Flame,” won Best in Show in the doll contest segment.

Sally also won the Paradigm Shift Award for her entry, “Drape Me Lacy” in the single pattern contest.

“We were all supposed to start with the same pattern and do our own interpretation,” Sally said. “What you wanted to do was not look like the original. On others you could tell, but on mine you couldn’t. They wondered if I actually used the pattern.”

All three award-winning costumes will be on display at the arts center, as will eight other fantasy and historical costumes and several art-to-wear pieces.