Elizabeth Paul had been sewing doll clothes for her Barbies for years before she first entered her creations into the Southwest Washington Fair in the early 2000s.
Her mom had been encouraging her to start sewing clothes for herself, Paul said, “And I didn’t want to. I just wanted to hand-sew doll clothes.”
But her second year entering handmade doll clothes into the fair, Paul saw a girl who was just a month older than Paul enter a plethora of her own human-sized clothes.
“I saw this girl’s stuff and thought, ‘Oh, I can do this,’” Paul said. “So I went home and started sewing clothes.”
Over 20 years later, Paul, 43, of Centralia, still sews clothes for both dolls and people, and continues submitting her completed projects to the Southwest Washington Fair Home Arts Department.
“Because that girl inspired me to start sewing and entering stuff in the fair, I always hoped that someone would see my stuff and be encouraged to make their own stuff,” Paul said.
Paul plans to submit 38 pieces to the Southwest Washington Fair this year, including hand-sewn and knit clothing she made for herself and her three kids, several hand-sewn doll dresses, and a project years in the making that needs some last-minute work.
“I’m hoping and expecting to finish a coat that I have been wanting to make for about 15 years,” Paul said. “It’s been sitting around waiting for me to make it for four years. I fit the coat, I knew I liked how it was going to fit, and then finally, this spring, I got it cut out and then I got it put together.”
As of Tuesday, July 30, Paul just needed to finish hemming the coat before it would be ready to submit for the fair.
“I’m going to spend the next week pulling out all the stuff from around the house that I finished in the last year, making sure it’s all clean and has all the threats clipped off,” Paul said. “My children have been running around the house seeing what I’ve made them recently to see if they could put it in.”
Paul hopes that her fair entries help inspire others to submit their own home arts projects to the fair, in whichever category they feel most comfortable in.
“I know a lot of people don’t like putting their work out there to be judged, and sometimes the comments can be harder to handle than others, but sometimes they can be very helpful,” she said.
The home arts department includes youth and adult categories for quilting, wall hangings, clothing, knitting, crocheting, weaving/spinning, household products such as baskets or pot holders, stitchery, baking, candy making, canning and table setting. There are also special contests with opportunities to win cash prizes, such as the PNW Cookie Company Contest for the best vegan and gluten free cookie, the King Arthur Baking contest for the best bagels using King Arthur flour, and the Country Cousin Contest for best canned products.
The 2024 Southwest Washington Fair runs from Aug. 13-18 at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds.
Exhibitors can submit their entries to the home arts department from 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at the Community Events Building of the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds.
For more information on categories and submission guidelines, visit https://southwestwashingtonfair.org/exhibits/entries/open-class-entries/.
