Customer lends a hand, becomes a friend at Thread & Needle Creations

Seamstress Karen Call didn’t know Susie Hall when the Burnet resident brought one of her two broken sewing machines to Thread & Needle Creations in Marble Falls last March.

“I was on the verge of closing my shop. I was too sick to work,” Karen said. “She saw me in distress and said, ‘It looks like you need help.’ I did, she has, and she still is.” 

It wasn’t as easy as Karen makes it sound. When Susie walked through the front door, Karen was into month 18 of long COVID, trying to keep up with her alteration and embroidery orders while breathing through a nasal cannula. 

“I walked in and saw this place was piled higher and higher with alterations and repairs, and here was little ol’ Karen dragging an oxygen tank with her,” Susie said. “I said, ‘You need help, and I’m happy to help you.’”

Karen, who actually is small in stature, said no, and Susie left. Ever tenacious, Susie soon brought in her second broken sewing machine and saw the situation had not improved. She renewed her offer. This time, Karen considered it.

“I’d never had anyone in the shop working with me,” Karen said. “I told Susie I’d have to test her.”

“You would not believe what she put me through,” Susie said of the test.

“Now that’s just wrong, bringing that up,” Karen quickly responded in a way that highlighted the camaraderie that has grown between the two. 

Karen tasked Susie with alterations for two unique men’s jackets that she knew would be a challenge, even for a woman who had been sewing her whole life and had run her own marine canvas business in Minnesota. Susie sewed sails and upholstery for sailboats and yachts, including one owned by a Minnesota governor.

“She made me redo them and redo them again,” Susie said of the two jackets.

Karen interrupted Susie’s retelling.

“I told her, ‘I’m not doing this to be mean,’” Karen said. “I have my name on everything that comes out of here, and everything that comes out of here has to be up to my standard.”

Susie agreed with that assessment.

“I’m not complaining, because I want it to be up to your standard, too,” she said to Karen before turning back to her interviewer. “I said it before, and I will say it until my dying breath: She is a magician when it comes to alterations. She is not afraid to tackle anything. Everybody who comes in here is more than satisfied when they leave.” 

One recent satisfied customer, who is married to the manager of musical superstar Carlos Santana, was so happy with their work on her formals that she gifted Karen and Susie VIP tickets to the Santana concert in August at the Moody Center in Austin 

“Some people are in tears when they walk out because Karen made them so happy,” Susie said. “I’m talking about brides, mainly, with all the anxiety about getting just the right look. Then they see themselves in the mirror and beam.” 

Karen always tell nervous brides: “You’re going to have the day you dreamed of, and we are going to make it happen.”

Formals and menswear are favorite projects for the seamstresses, but they are proficient in all alteration needs, from jeans to leather jackets. Karen has 14 machines in several rooms at her business at 911 Ninth St. Some have up to six king-size spools of thread, two threads for each of three needles. 

A large embroidery machine shares space in a room with sewing machine repairman Floyd Casey of Marble Falls. At 82, he has worked with Karen, 67, for 15 years. Susie is 71. 

“We are in the prime of our lives,” Karen said, adding that she doesn’t plan to retire. “Running this shop Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 5 is my idea of retirement.” 

On the day of this interview, the embroidery machine was stitching a logo for Best Little Pawn Shop, a Marble Falls business and longtime customer. 

Karen also handles all the patches and alterations for police departments in Marble Falls, Granite Shoals, and Cottonwood Shores, the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office, and various local fire and emergency services. A little known fact about that work: She doesn’t charge first responders. 

“I never charge a police officer or any service person,” she said. “It’s my way of putting back into the community, giving to people who give so much to the community.” 

Both women moved their families to Central Texas years ago. Susie and her husband moved to Burnet from Minnesota 14 years ago, following the career paths of their three grown children, who are all now Texans. 

Karen has one child, a son she adopted when he was 7 days old. He is now 41 and lives and works in Marble Falls. 

“I have always been a housewife with a dream of a child,” she said. “All I did was sew and keep house, so that’s what I did to stay at home with my kid.” 

She lived in Houston but spent time in Marble Falls with friends, which led her to finally move to the area full time in 1996. 

Another shared trait: Susie and Karen both learned to sew from their grandmothers. 

“I learned to blind-stitch on a school bus,” Karen said. “My mother made us wear dresses below our knees, and I would hem a dress on the school bus for a quarter and made it so you could pull it out with one tug, and it would be the right length when you got back home.” 

Susie learned “at my grandma’s knee.” A high school home economics teacher took her to the next level, teaching tailoring, patterning, and making formal wear. 

“She really sent me on a path,” Susie said. “I already loved to sew, but she really piqued my interest. Anytime I could learn something new, I would go for it.” 

Susie also has a background in elder care, working in assisted living facilities and for individuals in their homes. 

“I feel like helping people is part of my makeup,” she said when asked why she so quickly offered to lend a hand to Karen, who, at the time, was a stranger. 

Susie humbly tried to change the topic to something else, but Karen stopped her.

“I want to hear the answer to that question,” she said. “What made you offer to help me? Why did you do that? I’ve asked you over and over, and you’ve never answered.”

Susie turned to face Karen with her answer.

“I felt that by getting you out from underneath the weight of the backed-up work, that that would help your healing process,” Susie said. 

“It did, and it really does,” Karen answered, reaching for a tissue box. 

The question was then turned around on Karen: Why did you finally let her help? 

“There was something about her. She just reeked kindness,” Karen said. 

“I’ve had people give fake promises and never follow through. I finally said, ‘If you think you can, come on.’ I called her bluff, and she showed up.” 

Karen and Susie take pride in their work but take nothing for granted. They humbly start each workday with this prayer: “Dear God, I want to take a minute, not to ask for anything from you, but simply to thank you for all I have.” The prayer hangs over one of the many machines that line the walls of the main room. 

“She saw me in duress, and we’ve become dear friends since,” Karen said of Susie. “She started sewing with me and got my jobs back in line. It’s been a wonderful journey.”

One small disagreement arose during the interview: whether or not Susie first worked for free. Susie says no, that Karen gave her an expensive sewing machine. Karen says that doesn’t count.

“You worked a lot of days for free when I gave you no money,” she said. 

Turning to this reporter, she continued: “And she gave me a lot of heart. She was there when nobody else could be. She did things for me nobody else could do. She understood when nobody else would listen. She saved me, she saved my business.”

She turned back to Susie. 

“And I can never thank you enough,” she said, reaching again for the tissues. “For the help, but also for the friendship.”

By the way, Karen is recovering from her long bout of illness. The oxygen tank and cannula have been retired, and the needles and threads are humming away.

“I find the sound of a sewing machine relaxing,” Karen said, and Susie heartily agreed. Since Susie joined the team, two or more machines can be heard stitching at one time. 

Happy sewing! 

Thread & Needle Creations, 911 Ninth St. in Marble Falls, is open from 1-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. Call 830-693-9807 to make an appointment.  

suzanne@thepicayune.com