Spokane Valley sewer places third in state Make It With Wool contest

Spokane Valley resident Holly Vittetoe recently tried her hand at making a wool dress for a competition and ended up taking the third runner up position in the adult division of the Make It With Wool competition sponsored by the Washington Wool Growers Auxiliary and the Washington State Sheep Producers.

Vittetoe said she saw the winners from a previous competition listed in a sewing magazine and thought it might be fun to enter since she’s entirely at home with a needle and thread.

“My mom taught me how to sew when I was young,” she said. “I really enjoy it. It’s my happy place.”

There are a lot of benefits to making your own clothes, she said. “You can make things you can’t find in the store, plus they’re of higher quality,” she said. “Plus, they’re a perfect fit.”

She once ran a sewing business out of her home for a while, but soon gave it up because it didn’t feed her creative needs.

“The money came from alterations and alterations are boring,” she said.

She’d never entered a competition before, instead focusing her efforts on making clothes for herself and her family.

“I have this one shirt pattern, a button-down Hawaiian type shirt, that they all love,” she said. “I’ve made a lot of those.”

Vittetoe, who teaches middle school, said sewing in her basement sewing room is an important way for her to decompress. She said she tries to get in a couple nights a week and a few hours each weekend. “It’s easy to go in and work on something for 10 minutes,” she said.

She won a district Make It With Wool competition before advancing to the state competition. Entrants had to model their clothing for contest judges and then participate in a fashion show at the annual Washington State Sheep Producers Association convention in November. The first place winner advanced to the national competition.

“I was pleased,” she said of the results. “I really had no idea what to expect.”

According to the Make It With Wool website, the contest has been promoting wearable wool since 1947. Contestants of all ages sew, knit, crochet, weave or felt wool garments. In Washington, six districts throughout the state hold state qualifying contests.

Vittetoe’s royal blue strapless gown features personal touches all over it. There are seven musical notes, which represent her family, plus a trumpet, dancer and cello to represent her children. There’s also a whale tail to memorialize a family cruise to Alaska and a crab reading a book, since reading is a favorite family activity.

“I made little tubes of the fabric,” she said of making the various symbols. “It goes all the way around the dress. It blends right in but it has meaning.”

Contestants are allowed to make anything they want as long as the fabric is at least 60% wool. After a false start with fabric that didn’t have the wool percentage advertised, Vittetoe said she picked out something that is 100% wool. She said it was only natural for her to make an evening gown.

“I love wearing dresses and evening gowns and dressing up,” she said.

The award for her placement in the contest included 2 1/2 yards of wool fabric, which Vittetoe plans to turn into something for next year’s competition.

“I chose a plaid, so it will be totally different,” she said.

She plans to make a shirt and skirt set for next year. “You have to wait until January to start it,” she said. “In my head I have my outfit planned out.”

Vittetoe notes that not a lot of people make their own clothes anymore. But those who do are online and she’s a member of a Facebook group devoted to sewing. If she ever gets stumped she goes there to ask questions.

“You get lots of great information from there,” she said. “Then you get to see what everyone is making and it’s fun.”

Vittetoe is pleased that a couple of her children have expressed interest in sewing and are working on making quilts. “Sewing, just the basics, is such a good skill in life,” she said. “I wish we required it in schools.”