July 4, 2004
NORTHERN PEOPLE
New life for old ties: Not just for necks anymore
By Margaret Thompson
TRAVERSE CITY - Consider the necktie. As a clothing accessory, it's available in a variety of styles, colors, and fabrics to accent a favorite outfit.
But no matter how fashionable a necktie may be, the only way to wear one is around the neck, tied in a decorative knot, right?
Wrong. Give Frances Krupka a few neckties and she'll design jackets, vests and other apparel, then finish off the design using a traditional sewing technique.
Frances Krupka is a quilter.
"I started quilting in high school," she said. "But I didn't get serious about it until my husband and I moved to this area."
Krupka lived on Old Mission Peninsula in the 1980s when her husband was transferred there by his employer.
"Sue Arnold, a local quilter, was giving classes," she said. "I enrolled, and got hooked on quilting."
Later, when her husband was transferred to Illinois, Krupka started teaching classes at a sewing center in Barrington, IL. She also arranged and taught wearable art retreats for quilt shops and quilt guilds in Illinois and Wisconsin.
The couple spent the last three years of her husband's employment prior to retirement in London, England.
"England is a beautiful country and London was a nice place to live," she said. "But we liked Old Mission. After retirement, we moved back. We weren't born here, but we feel as if we've come home."
Krupka has made plenty of traditional quilts and wall hangings through the years, including a wedding quilt for her daughter and a retirement quilt for her husband. But her passion lies in designing and quilting wearable art.
"The first piece I made was a crazy patch vest," she said. "I spent a whole day working on it."
She started using neckties when she read that fabrics and designs used in neckties would be a good choice for making quilts. Using recycled neckties along with other fabrics, Krupka has since designed and created several styles of wearable art along with handbags, wall hangings and traditional quilts.
One of her designs, a skirt she calls "Black Tie Affair," won the Viewers Choice Award at the 2003 International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX. Another design, "Mother of the Bride," took third place in judged shows in 2002.
The annual International Quilt Festival, sponsored by sewing machine manufacturer Bernina of America, attracts more than 50,000 people who exchange ideas and products related to the art and craft of quilting. Krupka was recently selected for the festival faculty and will be teaching a class about dimensional appliqu at this year's week-long event. She'll also be guiding students in the creation of one of her handbag designs, and will demonstrate how to recycle neckties for use as functional, quilted art.
Quilting was not her first teaching assignment, though.
"I taught high school mathematics but took time off to raise a family," she said. "I started teaching quilting classes and enjoyed it so much I never went back to mathematics. I started my own company with the goal of providing quilters of all skill levels the opportunity to create and enjoy wearable fabric art.
"I do custom work for people who want something unique. But I enjoy teaching, too."
Through Franceska Creations, Krupka teaches other quilters how to make some of her designs and quilt patterns. Several of her patterns appear on her Web site, www.franceskacreations.com. She has also displayed her work in local quilt shops and will be teaching at Renee's House of Quilting in Williamsburg this month, as well as at Boyd's Sewing Center in Traverse City.
Krupka will be busy in the fall, too. Besides the Houston festival in early November, she'll be participating in Fiber Festival 2004 sponsored by the Leelanau Community Cultural Center in Leland Oct. 8 and 9. The festival showcases work by artists who use fiber as their medium.
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