Feature: Faye Labanaris
By Janet Esch
Faye Labanaris has a sparkle and intensity about her that immediately makes a great connection. Her laugh is infectious. All the qualities that create a great teacher are evident: articulation, composure, friendliness, good will, sense of humor energy and of course knowledge. To hear Faye's story is to believe in the inevitable. She began as a teacher - high school science, I wonder if those students realized how fortunate they were? As a teacher, she had summers to pursue interests: she says "crafts, all kinds of crafts" so it was natural for her to join a co-worker in 1975 in an evening class of quilting; Faye made a Dresden quilt. However, she was taught to use a hoop with the quilt stretched so tight that "you could bounce a dime on it and it would hit the ceiling. She decided this was not something that she enjoyed. So she made knotted quilts, red, white and blue for the bicentennial. She had 3 children soon after and made tied baby quilts. Later, she would learn from another acquaintance that indeed she could quilt without a hoop. Faye immediately went to her quilts and removed the ties and quilted them and she was hooked on quilting.
Born and raised in New Hampshire, on one quilted in her family, but her mother made clothes for the family and Faye learned to sew. - dolls clothes. When she began quilting, she became involved in the local guild and was drawn to appliqué, "piecing was too precise. I do hand quilting, but machine quilting is hard work." She had left her career as a high school teacher to take care of her family and locally she began teaching quilting and especially appliqué. She was, she says, "an adoring student" of Elly's and had been captivated by her and her work since she had seen her at the Vermont Quilt Festival, taking classes from her. Elly included some of her quilts in her books. . Her guild decided to do a quilt show with Baltimore as its focus and brought Elly Sienkiewicz to New Hampshire as the guest speaker. Faye was her hostess. While she was driving Elly around during this visit, "I can remember it clear as a bell," Elly turned to her and said, "You need to teach nationally." Faye was overwhelmed; she had planned possibly to return to high school teaching. However Elly offered to write letters to The Lancaster show and Quilting By the Lake a quilting retreat which is near Syracuse, NY, and 30 years ago both were top quilting events. Based on Elly's recommendation both hired her.
Although Faye had not taught anything that directly pertained to design and quilting, her science background led to her interest in realistic flowers. She loved her gardens and garden books; her travels to England and visits to English gardens inspired her - roses, looking very closely at the flower, 5 piece roses seeing what direction the stamen grows, roses outside of Anne Hathaway's cottage and more. Her creative designs and work soon won quick recognition. In 1992 or 1993, she entered a quilt, a tribute to Cecilia Thaxter in the Great Baltimore Revival Contest. There the quilt won 1st place; her New Hampshire guild also entered a group guilt in which members picked their own designs and used the 4 seasons in the borders. It too won an award. There she received both awards, but "when I stood to received the Honored Teacher Award Nationwide, I could hardly stand; I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Faye's smile shows her pleasure at the memory. The group quilt has since been donated to the New England Quilt Museum.
At The Great American Quilt Festival in New York City she met with more success. There editors of the AQS Magazine asked her to do a book. She felt that she simply didn't know what to do. On a walk with Elly during that event Faye told her about the offer. "You can do it!" Elly gave her many hints about how to proceed. Later an editor from AQS Magazine was visiting her daughter near Faye's home in New Hampshire, called her and asked Faye to write a proposal. "She practically stood over me while I wrote it." And Faye's friend said, "Pretend that you are talking to someone." In 1994 her first book was published. Her second book, Quilts with a View, published in 1994, was the result of an original design contest. With this book, Faye followed the idea of cutting up one's own pieces of fabrics to inspire the designs. While "the book is no longer around, the concept is." Many quilters at BAS have completed one of these designs. Near the bicentennial, Faye was drawn to the past, our ancestors. Up to this point she had made original design. Pre and post Baltimore Album quilts used simpler designs and Faye put them on floral backgrounds; it was a garden adventure. Her book Garden Adventure had a short shelf life, perhaps because the designs were large and used perhaps 4 pages to get the pattern. Tulips on a floral, using the lovely fabric available, "It was such fun." Another book was planned. I was supposed to submit a proposal with little flowers; but nothing was happening. I called my editor and said, "I can't do it; but what I would really like to do is a rose album." Within hours AQS called and said O.K. Over the following week end Faye had done 45 blocks out of the final 48. "Two weeks later I had all of the blocks stitched." She made a 7 inch format so that each design takes only one page. "Appliqué Rose Garden is going like crazy. It just flowed."
Published by American Quilter's Society, PO Box 3290, Paducah, KY 42002-3290, for $22.95. ISBN 1-57432-884-0
When Faye talks about slowing things down, it still sounds like a locomotive full steam ahead to me: doing tour groups to Lancaster and Paducah and a quilt show in Hawaii in the summer, planning to teach in Houston and other shows. In August, she had only 3 blocks of the country roses finished. She had 2 and 1/2 quilts to make. "We're going to have to have a miracle to meet all the deadlines. "I did not know where the time would come from." She slipped on an acorn and broke her ankle - there was the time because she was totally housebound for 2 months. In those months, she completed the quilt tops and quilted them.
Now, "I've slowed everything down. It is good to be home more," Faye says. But when I asked her about future plans, she laughs and says, "Oh yeah, we are out of control." There will be another flower book, "as many as I can get into it." October 2007 More Blossoms By the Sea will be in book stores. And the following year another book still under wraps will be coming out. Each block is individually created.
Teaching is her love. "I enjoy teaching, period! I believe that you can teach anyone anything. And I enjoy making something simple enough even if it is complex so that people can do it. Teaching is making people believe that they can do it. That's the exciting thing with Quilts with a View"; everyone is making their own designs."
Faye's quilting techniques are direct: needle turn appliqué, raw edge turn, sometimes a line on the background; sometimes on the piece. Her goal is to have maximum sewing time. "I am not heavy into preparation. No starch or iron or freezer paper. If you can see the design in your mind, you can place the pieces on the background that pleases you."
There is no need to wonder at Faye's efficacy. Her goals are clear; her methods, efficient and the results, prolific.
Copyright Baltimore Appliqué Society