Sequim Farmers Market

May 21

Open Saturdays 9 a.m.-3 p.m. through October

Downtown Sequim at Sequim Avenue, Washington Street

Contacts: www.sequimmarket.com;  manager@sequimmarket.com; 460-2668

The Farmers Market is off to a stellar start. We are overjoyed about many new offerings. I have to say the food options that we have this season are stupendous and they are building! Do come with a hunger and you will be glad you did.

I had the honor of interviewing Libby Ballard this week. She is the owner of the apparel business called Bountiful Pleasures.

Libby moved here from Alaska a few months ago and unpacked enough in her first days to come to a market jury meeting. She came with the remainders of her wares that she had sold at the Anchorage Farmers Market.

We were thrilled to see her repurposed, lightly loved T-shirts turned into high quality skirts, arm warmers and headbands.

Libby started sewing on her mother’s treadle sewing machine when she was 6 years old. This was in Le Grand, a small Eastern Oregon farm town. She and her sister sewed lots and lots of baby clothes. Since then, she just never stopped.

When she was 12 years old, she entered a contest with her sewn items and she won a down payment on a sewing machine. Lucky for her, her dear parents gave her the rest of the cost of the machine and this one was electric.

As a young girl, Libby was given a certain amount of money to either buy her own clothes or buy herself cloth with which to make her own. She tells me she would choose to make her own and all through high school she sewed all of her own clothes with the exception of jeans, which were not allowed at school.

She tells me she liked to be different and unique in her style and at that time, in the 1960s, mini-skirts, hot pants and bell bottoms were all the rage.

As an adult, she worked in education and also in banking, living in Boise and Anchorage. Meanwhile, she often was sewing up this and that for her friends. When she had a daughter who was very small and therefore required custom clothing, she sewed all of her daughter’s clothes.

Then she pursued the art of quilting and creating her own quilting patterns and she sold her quilt patterns for fun.

Now at the Sequim Farmers Market she is on the threshold of many items made from repurposed, lightly loved T-shirts but she is limited in space while she is building a new house which will have a dedicated sewing room, much to her delight.

So for now she is sticking to skirts, arm warmers and headbands. These skirts are multi-colored and include images and references to Sequim, Washington and the Northwest.

You will see that Libby’s sense of humor shows up in quotes that she has taken off of T-shirts and included in the skirts. They have personality. These are comfortable fitting and would make great gifts.

She is willing to do custom skirts. If you have some sentimental T-shirts that have a stain or are not worn any longer, she could revitalize them into a new skirt or hand warmer for you.

Libby does accept donations of lightly used T-shirts. She particularly appreciates those that include references to Sequim or the region.

Come shop local for gifts, lunch, plants, produce and oodles more.

See you at the market!