Needle Brigade marches on

Walking into Peggy Petty’s Issaquah basement on a Tuesday morning, you feel like you’ve entered a happy version of a sweat shop. Up to a dozen women might be there, cutting, stretching, sewing and ironing, creating soft, lovely quilts and other items for the less fortunate.

They call themselves the Needle Brigade. Most of them met swimming at Julius Boehm Pool. Petty said they sort of inherited the project, but you can tell they love what they’re doing.

These foot soldiers of fabric create quilts, nightgowns for children, little hats for premature babies, hats for cancer patients and tablecloths for the Elks club for their banquets and free senior dinner each Christmas.

“If someone needs help, they call,” Petty said.

The group is set up as a 501c3 nonprofit. Most of the fabric they use is donated, except for fleece, which they use to back some of the quilts. The women keep their eyes open for coupons from Joann Fabric, and they are always open for donations of sewing items or fabric.

Nothing goes to waste. Any scraps of material they have leftover go to a lady in Centralia who makes pillows.

Most of the quilts and baby items are for Eastside Baby Corner, but the preemie hats go to Children’s Hospital in Seattle and the cancer hats are for Overlake Hospital and Group Health. They also make wheelchair bags for Providence Marianwood in Issaquah.

The personalities and stories of each of these women are unique and engaging.

Eloise Rouse is the oldest one in the group — she’ll be 98 in August. She lives in her own apartment at Providence Point, does her own housework, swims and plays bridge every day. She jets around in her Smart Car which she loves.

“I think a lot of it is attitude,” Rouse said.

Rouse has four daughters, 15 grandchildren, 32 great grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren. And she keeps track of them all.

Renate Bowerbank is the engineer in residence. Bowerbank is a retired vice-president of engineering who spent over 30 years as a top-level executive in high-tech. New to the group, she didn’t know how to sew, but she does know how to mend. With her business background, she streamlined the system to make washcloths and bibs from recycled material.

Myrtle Strader doesn’t really sew either, but she is a self-proclaimed expert ironer. It’s important that all the seams be pressed down, and with her state-of-the-art iron, which she was happy to demonstrate, she cranks out the work. Once the iron stops moving, it automatically lifts itself up off the surface. Who knew?

Elke Lott is also fairly new to the group. She was working on a serger, which finishes the cut edges of the fabric and seams at the same time. They use the serger on nightgowns, wash cloths, bibs and receiving blankets. She is retired from Farmer’s Insurance after 30 years, and really enjoys helping out with the brigade.

Petty said Lott and Rouse are also excellent knitters, but they mainly knit for their own families.

The basement workshop used to be a home office, Petty said, but the Needle Brigade has worked out of there now for about four years. Others in the group are Pina Mull (whose brother named the group), Judy Kenyon, Grace Elder, Betty Roberson, Lorella Haakenson, Joan Abel and Shirley Small.

If you would like to donate sewing goods, or even volunteer, call Petty at 425-392-8173.