Textile arts occupy a special place in my heart — I love sewing apparel for myself and I’m always interested to learn about how other creatives use fabric.
When I noticed a new artist on the Morgantown textile scene, I was eager to hear her story. So, I sat down for coffee with Carolyn Janet Helenski (cj.sews.wv on Instagram).
CJ makes coats, vests and fanny packs out of quilts and has recently expanded into making dresses as well. She started her sewing business just in the last few years but had learned to sew as a young child.
“My mom learned [to sew] from her mom,” CJ said, going on to tell how when she was eight years old, her mother took her to a mommy and me sewing class. CJ loved sewing from the start.
“I got back into it in college,” she said, when scrunchies came back into style in 2019. She made some for herself, and it grew into a little side hustle when friends saw her wearing them.
When the pandemic hit, she stretched her sewing muscles again and made face masks for health care workers.
Last August CJ took a class on making coats out of quilts at A&J Sewing Studio in the Seneca Center.
Again, similar to how her scrunchie business grew, people started asking about her coat when they saw her wearing it.
From coats, she expanded into making vests and fanny packs out of quilts. She’s used thrifted fabric for the first few dresses she made, and now plans to make some using quilt tops.
So far CJ’s business has mostly been through social media, but she is doing a pop-up at Nellie Rose’s shop in Thomas for the next Arts Walk and plans to participate in other markets later in the year.
She’s using quilts because she finds the tradition of quilting feminine and empowering. CJ never uses new quilts — only secondhand ones.
She said she thrifts them and has been gifted quilts in exchange for her handmade quilt apparel. “That’s been my favorite way to source quilts,” she said.
Once CJ has found a quilt to use, she brings it home and takes a few moments to decide what feels right to make from it.
Next, she lays it out and looks closely for rips or stains and lays out her pattern pieces to avoid any blemished areas.
After assembling the garment, CJ soaks and strips the fabric to clean it before adding snaps and her favorite part — the tag. She said another local artist designed her logo, which makes the branding on her tags particularly special.
CJ sews most days. She said she likes that it makes her slow down and becomes almost meditative. She also loves the network she’s finding through this creative business.
“I’m a transplant to Morgantown,” CJ said, adding that this creative outlet has “really been allowing me to connect to the community in a way that makes me feel cared for.”
Something that struck me while we were talking (our conversation veered a few times to earth conscious topics) was that CJ’s craft is in the spirit of the heritage of quilting. Quilts used to be made from old clothing or any other cloth worn out in places, to make something new, beautiful and useful from the scraps.
CJ’s work has a poetry to it — taking the good remaining parts of worn out quilts and turning them into useful and beautiful clothing is a lovely twist on the quilting tradition, bringing it full circle.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County. Email columns@dominionpost.com.
