Elkins Sewing Center creates 15-foot skirt
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The Inter-Mountain photo by Anthony Gaynor
The Capitol Christmass Tree skirt made by Elkins Sewing Center employees on display during the Mountain State Forest Festvial Quilt Show.
ELKINS -- A 63-foot-tall Norway Spruce isn't the only item hailing from Randolph County that will bring delight to visitors of the U.S. Capital this holiday season.
Making the trek to Washington D.C. alongside this year's Capitol Christmas Tree will be a tree skirt that the employees at Elkins Sewing Center have constructed. The 15-foot skirt will be placed in the rotunda of the Department of Agriculture Building.
Back in May, the Elkins Sewing Center was chosen by the U.S. Forest Service to make one of several tree skirts for Christmas trees that will be scattered throughout federal offices.
"They came in and asked if we wanted to do it, since the Capitol Christmas Tree was coming from here," project manager Kathryn Prentice told The Inter-Mountain. "They had sort of a vision of what they wanted, but they didn't know what we could do because they didn't sew. So we sat down with them and explained to them what we could do with our machines."
The theme for this year's U.S. Capitol Christmas tree is "Endlessly Wild and Wonderful," so the workers at Elkins Sewing Center, consisting of Prentice, owner Sue Pifer, Susan Lynch and Lola Collier, came up with the idea of using 18 scenes from around the Monongahela National Forest, where the tree will be harvested in Randolph County in early November.
Such places as Dolly Sods, Bickle Knob, Douglas Falls and the Forest Service building were photographed and downloaded to a special sewing machine that stitched the photos onto the dark green velvet fabric.
"This was a big project and something like this takes a long time to complete," Prentice said. "It takes eight hours for the computer to do what it needs to do and another two hours to stitch out and to color. Then we have to put it all together. So it's a very lengthy process."
Pifer, who first opened the Elkins Sewing Center in 1982, said she was happy that her business was chosen to make the skirt.
"We were very excited when they asked us and it's a huge honor," she said. "We have all poured our hearts into making the tree skirt. We were very happy to do it."
Prentice said the community support for the Sewing Center during its work on the tree skirt has been tremendous.
"Once people find out about this project, they get excited knowing that we put it together right here in Elkins," she said. "They all feel that it's really a big honor that the skirt is coming from our town."
A community event will be Nov. 4 in downtown Elkins where residents will get their first look at the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. The celebrations will feature a parade, live music and activities for children.
For more information on everything having to do with this year's Capitol Christmas Tree, visit uscapitolchristmastree.com.