KARLSTAD, Minn. -- Piles of multi-colored fabric several inches deep sit on Pearl Thompson's sewing table. Across the room, at the ready is her Singer sewing machine.
The sewing career of Thompson, 95, has been seamless for more than 80 years, beginning when she was a young girl and continuing through today.
"A treadle machine, that's what I learned to sew on," Thompson said. From clothing, to upholstery, to quilts, Thompson has sewn them all.
She recalls "taking in" sewing as a way to make money during the Great Depression.
"I used to make lots of coats," Thompson said, noting that she used material from other clothing to make new coats.
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She also sewed coats when she worked at an Arctic Cat plant in Karlstad.
Love of sewing
"I sewed jackets, pants, snowsuits, anything they had," she said. She also sewed snowsuits for her grandchildren.
If she wasn't sewing at the plant, Thompson was reupholstering furniture at home, said her daughter, Becky Johnson.
"I just remember her coming home from work after sewing all day. She would go downstairs and start sewing some more. She really enjoyed upholstery work."
Thompson taught Johnson her sewing skills and made sure she practiced them. Johnson recalls her mother sitting her down at a sewing machine and instructing her to start stitching.
"When she was at work, I had to get so far on a pattern."
Thompson's insistence that her daughter learn to sew paid off.
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"I enjoy it. I learned to upholster, too," Johnson said. "I guess she taught me you could do whatever you put your mind to."
More sewing
When the Arctic Cat plant closed, Thompson bought a commercial sewing machine and a Serger and focused on her upholstery business. She had customers from across Minnesota, Thompson said.
"They would bring me stuff that was ready to be thrown out and I would fix it up," she said.
"She did a beautiful job of it," Johnson said. Though, Thompson never advertised her upholstery business, she had all of the work she could handle.
"There were times there was furniture everywhere downstairs," Johnson said. "I'm sure there were hundreds and hundreds of pieces of furniture she's done, maybe thousands."
When Thompson retired from the upholstery business a few years ago and moved into Karlstad from the farm where she had lived for many years, the sewing machine came with her. The machine and her sewing supplies occupy one of the bedrooms of Thompson's two-bedroom apartment.
Thompson is sewing baby quilts these days. Her church group at Assembly of God Church in Karlstad send the quilts to Mexico. At nearly 96, Thompson is the oldest member of the church group.
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Besides making the baby quilts, Thompson also makes full-sized quilts for her 16 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"I've always been in good health and I like to work. I don't like to be idle," she said.
Reach Bailey at (701) 787-6753; (800) 477-6572, ext. 753; or send e-mail to abailey@gfherald.com .
