Teaching art one dress at a time

In a clean, well-lit basement outside of Sugar Camp, Lynne Williams sews miniature Batman costumes and dreams of changing the way people think about clothes.

This is not your average seamstress’ tale.

An L.A.-trained patternmaker, designer and tailor, Williams also teaches self-paced sewing in Nicolet College’s community education program.

She and her husband, Chuck, have managed to carve out a living by straddling the line between commercial and fine art and enjoying every minute of it.

Lynne Williams first learned to sew at the age of three. By five she was sitting on phone books and working a treadle machine.

After a love affair with theater through high school, Williams recognized her gift as a seamstress and costume designer.

She trained at the Fashion Institute in Design and Merchandizing (home of Project Runway) in Los Angeles and dove headfirst into the fashion and film industries.

Williams made costumes for “Conan the Barbarian.” She sewed doll clothes for “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” action figures. She created a 30-ft pant leg for “Honey, I Blew Up the Kids.”

But Williams never loved the industry life and found herself following her first husband to the Northwoods. Since moving here, she has raised a daughter, remarried, started a series of businesses, and shared her knowledge with local students.

Her self-paced sewing class encourages students of all ages and skill levels to push their abilities as far as they can.

he class meets Fridays and every other Saturday at the Northern Advantage Job Center.

“Nicolet has provided a wonderful space for us to work in,” Williams said. “It’s well-lit. There’s internet access. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere to sew in. It’s stress-free because I'm there to walk you through anything you come across.”

Williams’ students do everything from quilting to leatherwork to dress-making. She has learned that to make a living in the Northwoods you have to be willing to do a little bit of everything. After running a childrens’ clothing store in Land O'Lakes called Rat Fink in which she created everything, she now tailors dresses out of her home and runs a costume design business.

Her latest design project has a retail application. In a fitting room in her home she points to a tailored woman’s coat that looks vaguely Alpine and explains the way she wants to help people help themselves.

Williams explains that fabric stores have closed and fewer schools teach sewing. The result is people are forgetting how to make their own clothes.

“What we’re seeing in the industry is fabric stores all over the country are closing and it’s just a shame,” Williams said. “There’s nothing like making something to make you feel good.”

Williams wants to create a line of fabric patterns and market them in stores that carry the materials for quilting.

“Being originally from California and having more of a city aesthetic, when I moved here I realized the coasts are already taken care of,” Williams said. “But there’s this huge part of the country whose tastes aren’t met and aren’t elevated. It’s just Wal-mart. That’s what you get.”

The fabric would be sold in kits, pre-lined, with careful instructions to avoid the frustration most people have with creating clothes that fit.

It’s a business plan but it’s also a mantra.

“I would be thrilled if people would purchase less clothes and get what works for them,” Williams said. “ Do you really need 20 pairs of jeans?"

Williams enjoys shows like “What not to wear” because she thinks people are gradually settling into oversized clothes that hide their bodies.

“We don’t even know what a proper fitting garment looks like anymore, because we don’t see it anymore. Everything's gotten oversized. Women in particular feel the frustration because they can't find something that fits them and why would it? It’s a size that's base on an average,” said Williams.

For Williams –– who gravitates towards period costumes and exotic ethnic fabrics – clothes should be a way to celebrate individuality.

“There isn’t a single woman that doesn’t stand in my fitting room and say they don’t like the way they look,” said Williams. “It’s a tragedy. Dressing well will make you feel better about yourself, no matter how what you have happens to be distributed on your frame.”

William’ message is not preachy. It’s the sort of hard-earned value system that lifelong artists earn by doing what ever they have to do to make ends meet. Success has come to her after years of struggle.

One of Williams' dresses was featured in the September issue of “Threads” magazine and another of her creations landed in stores all over the world last year.

After she helped her husband with a Quixotic endeavor to create a perfect replica of Adam West’s original Batman costume, DC Comics discovered Lynne and contracted with her to sew the original prototypes for their replica dolls, including Heath Ledger’s Joker from “The Dark Knight.”

The experience showed how fine the line between art and commerce can be.

“It signaled my second childhood,” Chuck said. “What was out there wasn’t good and I thought I could make it better.”

Chuck sculpted a fiberglass mold and asked Lynne to sew the costumes. They were so good that they drew attention from collectors. Eventually, Mark and Sherry Hardeman–– owner's of one of only two surviving original Adam West costumes–– worked with Chuck to get the replicas perfect. Now Adam West owns one.

“For me it became the project that never ended,” said Williams. “It’s like the wedding dress you have to keep re-making because the bride can't make up her mind.”

Next time you see Green Arrow on the shelf in the toy aisle, think of Lynne.

Sewing and dress-making are exhaustingly detailed, time-consuming processes. If Lynne Williams has a message for her sewing students, it’s to enjoy the process of creating something.

The highest and lowest aspects of art collide when someone takes a simple project and elevates it.

“I always tell my students to enjoy the process because we often get in such a rush to finish that we stop enjoying what we’re doing,” said Williams. “I stress the satisfaction of making something. Maybe sewing doesn’t turn out to be their thing but they may take the pride and satisfaction and turn it into something else.”

To learn more about Lynne Williams’ “self-paced sewing” class visit the class blogsite at www.sewingcafewithlynne.blogspot.com.