Sewing Through Heartache

I’m Stephanie Grams, owner of Sewing with STEAM LLC, an Ohio-based sentimental sewing service provider and online sewing business instructor. Here’s a little bit about me and why I’m moving from my 12+ years in marketing and publicity to running my own business.

As a little girl (yep, I was little at one time) I used to hide in plain sight under my grandmother’s dining room table (a.k.a. sewing table) watching and listening to my mom and grandmother sew. I believe I finally was underfoot long enough that one day they decided to give me my own sewing basket full of needles, thread, and remnants of fabric from their fashion creations. I learned how to hand sew at the age of 7 and have been studying the art ever since (In case you’re wondering, that’s over 35 years ago).

I’ve had the honor and privilege to share the art of sewing with my four daughters, who are all creative and artistic, with 4-H kids, Girlscouts, and Homeschoolers. 

Looking back over my life I see how instrumental sewing has been in the journey of healing and dealing with death. When I suffered a miscarriage in 1993, I took to hand embroidering as a means to deal with the internal sadness. Little did I know that this type of healing activity would come back into my life in a bigger way.

In 2001 I had the devastating heartbreak that no mother wants to experience, but many of us deal with. It was the unexpected passing of my youngest daughter. Hannah was 14 months old when she passed away from cardiomyopathy and I haven’t stopped sewing since, in fact, I believe this is one of the driving forces that pushed me into forming Sewing with STEAM.

There’s something healing that happens through the art.

Beginning the Business

My company, Sewing with STEAM has a very special meaning; STEAM stands for:

SEWING

TOGETHER

ENCOURAGEMENT

AND

MEANING

My business has been growing steadily since launch. When we first opened I only offered memory bears, now I offer numerous sentimental items along with teaching others how to start and grow their own sentimental sewing business, I have a self-published eBook, hand embroidery kits, and digital marketing products; all related to sentimental sewing businesses. 

I remember clearly how it all started when a stranger on Facebook approached me with a request to make five memory bears out of her deceased grandfather’s overalls! Up until this moment I had been praying for an answer on how to use my sewing to help others with their grief, It was through this stranger's request that so many things in my life seemed to come together, and I knew from that day forward that this was the exact business that I was meant to start. 

However, I really struggled with starting a business for a few reasons: fear of failure, shyness of sharing my journey of heartache, and lack of knowledge as to how to make everything come together. The deciding factor to push through all of those hindrances and to start a company came out of the decision that I was not going to allow my heartache to be wasted, but to use it as a ministry. My faith is very important to me and I believe that even heartache can be a bridge that helps others with their own journey of loss.

I’ve come a long way in my healing process and I attribute that to my faith, my family, and the healing that comes from sewing (sewing for myself and for others). I will forever be grateful to my mom and grandma for taking the time out of their busy schedules (did I tell you I have 8 siblings?) to teach me (a very pesky little 7-year-old) how to sew. I can say without a doubt that my God-given talent is sewing and the arts, and for this, I am truly honored. 

What I’d Love to Say to You

My advice to others who have experienced loss is to not give up hope. Again, my faith is how I have been able to walk daily throughout this journey. I have emotional days that just come from nowhere, and at those moments I take time to acknowledge my emotions and accept the fact that my heart and memories need attention, perhaps this is part of the journey of healing. 

I think it’s important to remind others of something that I truly believe in when it comes to the journey of bereavement, and that is this; “healing is not forgetting.” In other words, when we decide to walk the journey of healing, we become stronger and that can be frightening for some because they might think they will forget their loved one or they may worry that others will think they don’t miss their loved one. 

I also believe that healing comes from sharing our bereavement stories and showing compassion for one another. Just having someone around with a listening ear has been such a blessing for me. I never expected anyone to have any particular answer, it was enough just for them to be there to listen. 

If you’re struggling with the loss of a loved one, please seek a healthy support group that will encourage you to grow through this journey. There is healing in numbers. I would love for my company to help other sewists start and grow their own sentimental business in which they can provide these much-needed sewing services to others who are on their own bereavement journey. 

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