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Gabe Schall: Michigan is better known as the mitten state for it's geographic shape and cold winters. But for one mid-Michigan mom, she hopes her love for making mittens puts her on the map for keeping hearts warm, as well as hands.
WCMU's Tina Sawyer recently visited the home-based business owner, to learn first hand how her outerwear is helping families through grieving.
Tina Sawyer: In a two-car garage nestled behind a home close to downtown Shepard, Michigan, sits a magical workshop of sorts. But unlike Santa's workshop, there aren't any elves or toys.
TS: Well, hello. You're Dawn.
Dawn Vanesste: I am.
TS: How are you?
DV: I'm great. Welcome to my garage.
TS: Just a smiling and creative stay-at-home mom named Dawn Vanestte. Dawn owns Lumberjanes Mittens, a mitten-making business that she runs out of a small room filled from floor to ceiling with thrifted sweaters and fabrics and faux furs in the back of her garage, a craft she's been honing for about 8 years. But she says she hasn't always been into mittens or a seamstress for that matter. She says originally the idea came from an unlikely source at her son's school.
DV: We saw a stop and chat with our crossing guard on the corner and her name is Sue...and I noticed she had a pair of mittens on that caught my eye. I thought 'those are fun' so I hurried and got Charlie to school and we would usually stand on the corner and chat for a bit and I asked her about her mittens and she said, 'I make them. They're made out of sweaters.' And I was curious and I thought, I wonder if I can do it. And I dug my sewing machine out and I made patterns out of like cardboard boxes and cereal boxes. I made a couple pair and... I couldn't put my hand in them. They were awful, but I just kept at it because I was so intrigued by it.
TS: Originally, it was created to make just a little cash for family vacations, but turned into something more meaningful when one of her customers had a special request.
DV: She and her husband came... he had lost his father, and they had one of his old flannel button-up shirts. It wasn't wool. It wasn't anything special, but it was special to them. And they brought it to me and asked if I could turn it into mittens. And I thought, 'I'll try'. And the reason they asked me, they had, I guess they had asked his mom what she missed most about their dad. And she said, holding his hand....It about gets me every time I tell this story.
TS: Dawn has made memory mittens out of flannels and old sweaters, worn out T-shirts with cigarette burn holes, and even military uniforms.
DV: I had a lady out in Saginaw. She had her husband's Vietnam uniform and her father's World War II uniform. They'd been in a garbage bag in her basement. They were getting musty, and she thought, 'I'm going to do something with these. Each pair of mittens, I think I made eight pair, had a piece of both gentlemen's uniform on it.
TS: In this instance, the family members did give full permission to use the uniforms. And according to U.S. military organizations, most clothing items issued to enlisted personnel become their property after the initial use. As long as uniforms are not used in a fraudulent way, they can be repurposed for any type of personal use.
DV: One more.
TS: How much thread do you use?
DV: For a full day, I'll probably go through three bobbins. It brings people into it, and I hear stories. And I've gone from just doing the memory mittens, I give them their mittens, they go to, I want to know about this person. And so I put together photos, yeah, kind of more of a tribute to them.
TS: As a 20-year veteran of being a teacher in special education, she says making adaptive mittens is another facet of her business that she cherishes.
DV: My favorite population was the severely multiply impaired. Because of cerebral palsy and hands and getting kids dressed for the winter, it can be quite difficult.
TS: And there is no ego in the mitten-making business. Dawn says she is very open to her customers' ideas.
DV: I call them Lumberjanes enthusiasts. I have a group of followers. It's kind of like an AA program. ..for mittens owners, they have more mittens than me! And every time I tell them, you don't ..you only have one set of hands. But it's fun for me to see other people's visions come to life versus just my own.
TS: Dawn says she may stop making mittens when her son graduates high school in a couple of years. But until then, she'll be behind the sewing machine making "THUMB”-thing special for people to wear for years to come. I'm Tina Sawyer, WCMU News.
