The Dressmaker of Clintonville

CLINTONVILLE – There is a woman on Elm Street that sews dresses for little girls around the world so they have a chance to look pretty and feel pretty. Lavonne Froemming, 83, makes the dresses out of pillowcases. Some pillowcases are of white linen, some are colored, some have floral patterns and a few have frilly hems.
When she retired at age 65 she asked, “What am I going to do with myself?”
She was a payroll clerk at Hansen Glove and later a bookkeeper at Dairyland State Bank. Her husband, Bud, is also retired and he used to own and operate Bud’s Cheese Haus in Clintonville.
“Our church, Symco St. Mark, has a group called the Busy Bees and they make quilts for world relief. I thought I should go and see if I like that. But I thought, ‘I don’t have a sewing machine,’” said Froemming with a laugh.
She used sewing machines provided by the Busy Bees and she made quilt tops. While working on quilts, Froemming learned of the Orphan Grain Train, a Christian volunteer network that sends food, clothing and medical supplies to people in need in 73 countries.

In one of their pamphlets, Froemming found an instructional article titled, “Dress a Girl around the World.” It had step-by-step instructions to make a dress from a pillowcase.
It works like this: the sewn-end corners of the pillowcase are cut away for the armpit/shoulder area. Strips of elastic are sewn in and the open-end of the pillowcase forms the lower hemline.
“I had some pillowcases and thought I’m going to try and make one. Some people donated material for making quilts and there were some pillowcases in there and I got the pillowcases to make the dresses,” said Froemming, who also bought herself her own sewing machine.
Pillowcase sizes are mostly standard but some are a little larger or smaller and thus, the dress size is reflected from the original pillowcase. The dresses are sized for little girls and the straps can be tied off and adjusted as needed. The dress could also be worn as a top for older, taller girls.
“Every one is different because I never know until I get done,” said Froemming. “My first step is to cut off the top and sleeves. After that I sew a piece of elastic into each one. I would say it takes about a half an hour to 45 minutes. Then I sew on straps on. It’s a fun project I just started and all of a sudden it’s growing.”
Sometimes she adds some ribbon or lace. The only spending from her pocket is for thread and dress-strap material.
The pillowcases come from all over. She gets some from the Busy Bees. Her neighbors round up pillowcases for her. She gets some from garage sales.
Froemming estimates she’s made over 200 dresses but is not sure on the exact number. She boxes them up in lots of 25 to 45 dresses. A woman from Iola that goes to her church takes them to another lady that gets the dresses shipped abroad.
“I went to the dentist and they asked me what I do and I told them what I did,” said Froemming. “Two weeks later the phone rings: ‘Stop in when you can, we’ve got pillowcases.’ A sack of pillowcases! I think I’ve got them used up now. Anybody that wants to give me pillowcases, I’ll take ‘em.”