Bessemer Women's Club vintage quilt, fashion show, tea party

BESSEMER - It was a busy day Saturday for the Bessemer Women's Club as it hosted a vintage quilt show, tea party and fashion show.

As part of the Smithsonian's "The Way We Worked" exhibit, the Bessemer Women's Club put together this event to highlight women's fashion and work in this area.

Months of hard work collecting and organizing each of the items that were on display and in the fashion show paid off, as organizers called the day a success.

The day began with a vintage quilt show in the Bessemer City Hall meeting room.

Sue Abelman, president of the Women's Club, said both club members and non-members from around the area had "very generously" loaned all of the quilts to the club.

There was a mix of both vintage and modern quilts on display, including a lace tablecloth more than 100 years old and still in pristine condition.

With each of the quilts on display, there were descriptions of when the quilt was made, who made it and/or owns it, as well as the story behind the quilt.

One set of quilts, owned by Charlotte Knaack, were an original and a replica of the same quilt.

Marie Knaack made the original in 1967 for Charlotte's first son, a gift from Grandma Marie.

Charlotte then made a replica of the quilt for one of her first grandsons, continuing the gift of a quilt from grandma.

Also present for the quilt show were members of the Northern Lights Quilt Guild, as artists-in-residence at the show. Donna Brown, Jeanne Walston, Sherry Quigley and Joanne Liimakka demonstrated their craft throughout the day.

A group looking at the quilts and chatting with the artisans from the guild called the women "artists with fabric."

The event showcased how women of the U.P. use fabric to create art for everyday use.

Tea with fashion

Also part of the Women's Club events for the day was the tea party and fashion show held in the City Hall auditorium.

Co-chairman Joanne Pihlaja said the women's club wanted to do a project with the Smithsonian exhibit when it met back in November.

"It has been a long time in the making," Pihlaja said.

All of the clothes on display around the auditorium and the ones that were modeled during the fashion show were from collections of people in Bessemer, Pihlaja said.

"We have 61 outfits that are going to modeled during the show as well," Pihlaja shared. "And we have several wedding dresses that are on display. One of the reasons is that some of them are very fragile and also because some of them are very tiny."

That was one of the challenges Pihlaja, and other co-chairman Sharon Matrella, faced when trying to find models petite enough to fit several of these very small garments.

Sharon Matrella had the idea to marry the tea party and fashion show for the Smithsonian exhibit.

"We always do a tea to honor seniors every year. And in 1984, when Bessemer was 100 years old, we had a vintage fashion show, so we talked and we put the two together," Matrella said.

The tea sets at the tables were loaned from members of the club, and the accompanying handmade doilies were from the members and their ancestors.

People had their choice of green tea, black tea, black chai, chai vanilla and some spicy ones, not to mention coffee, too. There was also pink sparkling sugar at every table.

The fashion show took place during the tea party and the clothes that were modeled were what "many of the area's women have worn over the decades for both work, play, marriage and so on," Pihlaja said as commentator of the show.

The tea party and fashion show were enjoyed by a full house.

The proceeds will be donated to the Downtown Art Place and the Bessemer Women's Club Scholarship Fund for Gogebic Community College.