Grace E. Marion

Local woman chases lifelong dream after retirement

Stephanie Stevens has been sewing her whole life, and after she retired from her job as a teacher, she made it her new career. Despite already having several degrees, Stevens returned to school once again to learn the trade of textile making. She transformed a spare room in her home into her workshop, using professional-level implements for textile production.

Stevens creates texttiles for interior designer Julie Montgomery. Montgomery chooses which fabrics will work best within her designs, and brings it to Stevens to craft into curtians. Although Stevens once produced curtians independantly, she said that she preffers her current arangements simplicity. This photograph was taken on March 25, 2019 in the Stevens home in Oxford, MS.
The fabrics Stevens uses arrive in rolls like this one. When she receives fabric, Stevens is responsible for examining it to find any mistakes in the threading and patterns. While she sometimes has used her own fabric choices to make clothes for herself and her family, she said that she mostly sticks to her work with curtains now. She has become so busy with this work that her husband takes his pants to another seamstress to be hemmed.
Stevens uses this large clamp to secure her fabric, guaranteeing that it remains straight and flat across her table as she measures and cuts it to be her desired proportions. Many of her creations require more than just a few stitches– she keeps a nail gun by her door to bind the curtain fabrics provided by Montgomery to her curtain liners.
Stevens’ work room contains not only her work table, but also several sewing machines. Each of her machines preform a different task. Some can be seen in the right of this photograph. Above her table, Stevens has an overhead steaming system for ironing fabric.
All of the curtains in the Stevens home were produced in the workshop in their home, in addition to many of the bedspreads and seat covers. This curtain, which hangs in Steven’ guest room, is one of her favorite creations. She designed it herself.

Stevens has requested that she not be contacted about services, as she contracts to a local interior designer rather than doing individual orders.