Couture Quilts

Sept. 21, 2008

Kathleen Glynn has always loved to sew. Both her mother and grandmother loved to sew, and Kathleen was no exception. By the time she was eight years old she was using a sewing machine to make her own clothes. As a young girl, she would go to the library and read “how to books” on knitting, crocheting and anything relating to fashion and design.
“Just touching my sewing machine has always had a calming effect on me,” says the talented film producer from Antrim County.
Knowing that Kathleen had a flair for wearing vintage clothing, Glynn’s grandma once gave her a mink collar from one of her coats. Glynn promised her that someday she would wear it down 5th Avenue in New York City. Years later, she kept that promise.
After the success of her husband Michael Moore’s film, “Roger and Me,” which she co-produced, he told her she “could have anything she wanted.” She told him she wanted “a new sewing machine!”

SEW WHAT?
There were only two quilt shops in the New York City borough where she and Moore lived at the time, and one of them was only a block away from her apartment. One day, while browsing through some books in the shop, she came across a book on couture quilts written by Judith Montano, and her passion for quilting began.
“I always thought I knew everything there was to know about quilting,” she says, but the quilts in this book, were not your grandmother’s traditional styles. They were made in a wide range of fabrics and featured vibrant colors. Embellishments of beads, buttons, ribbons, lace and more provided accents throughout the quilts. Done in crazy quilt designs, Glynn describes her work as having “bling.”
She began creating her own quilts and is now locally-known for her beautiful work, which could be described as haute couture. In 2006 she stitched a quilted bra for the regional Art Bra Exhibit that was used as a fundraiser in the fight against breast cancer.
Glynn is also a member of the Jordan River Arts Council, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, and she also teaches workshops through their Rare Threads Program.

TELLING A STORY
“My method, or attitude when teaching, is based on writing the story in your head. Each quilter has their own unique story to tell,” she says.
It is customary for the creator of a quilt to place her name on the finished piece. There are quilt labels that one can download off the Internet, with the person’s name printed on them, but Glynn believes “the quilter’s own signature, embroidered on their quilt is the best label of all.”
Glynn is busy preparing for the “Jordan River Arts Council Rare Threads Exhibit” which began on September 14 and runs through October 12 at the Jordan River Arts Council, 301 Main Street in East Jordan. Glynn calls it the “crown jewel of exhibits,” and has several works in progress.
One of her works is a “Torch Lake Quilt,” which she is creating in shades of vibrant blues. She describes another work as a “story dress.” The red velvet dress, ala John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Madam X, features a hot pink lining, on which a story of passion is written.
“Just enough of the lining will be revealed to show what the lady wearing the dress would really like to be doing,” Glynn says. “The message being, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
Glynn will conduct a one-day work-shop, “Extraordinary Embellishments”
on September 28 at the Torch Lake Township Hall, as part of the Jordan River Arts Council’s Rare Threads Workshops. For further information on the exhibit or on all of the workshops being offered, go to www.jordanriverarts.com.