All Aboard For National Train Day: Around The Frame
I was recently looking through a counted-cross stitch book of projects celebrating lesser-known holidays. Among them was a pattern celebrating a specific railroad. It piqued my curiosity if there was a specific holiday to celebrate trains. What I discovered was that in 2008 Amtrak started celebrating National Train Day as a holiday on the Saturday closest to May 10, the anniversary of the Golden Spike being hammered into place to complete the first transcontinental railroad in Promontory, Utah. Not only was the day celebrated at major Amtrak stations, but by railroad museums and rail fans across the USA. Many of the celebrations included displays of historic passenger cars, memorabilia and of course model railroad layouts. Even when budget cuts in 2015 forced Amtrak to discontinue National Train Day, many rail organizations and enthusiasts still celebrate it every year.
Many of us who remember riding the rails out of Fort Wayne are still optimistic that passenger rail trains will run once again from the Baker Street station. According to 5th District Councilman Geoff Paddock, “The Northern Indiana Passenger Rail Association and the City of Fort Wayne, continue to work with the Federal Railroad Administration, on the Service Development Plan for a possible passenger rail connection to Chicago, Columbus, and Pittsburgh. If selected for further development, upgrades and new infrastructure required could be achieved with 80 percent funding from the federal government. We continue the process and to work with State Legislators and the Indiana Department of Transportation, to develop this project.”
A couple of months after learning about the holiday, Linda Duesler, a Born Again Quilts customer, stopped by to see if I had any train theme fabrics. All I had to offer was “Thomas the Tank Engine” prints which certainly were not going to work for her project. Linda’s hobby and passion is designing and sewing wearable art. She remembers her first sewing project as a child in 4-H was an apron. In the mid-60s, in high school Home Economics class, Linda learned to follow a pattern and make a shirtwaist dress. Linda’s first job after high school was sewing army cots on a commercial machine during the Vietnam War. When Linda and her husband Dean were active in square dance clubs around Fort Wayne and Auburn, she was motivated to sew matching outfits with the full petticoats, as was the style in the 1970’s. Fast forward to 2015, when Linda discovered machine embroidery and The American Sewing Guild. The mutual support of fellow sewists gives members the tools to excel in their sewing skills, and Linda became more of a designer than a seamstress. During the Covid-19 epidemic, Linda sewed and donated over 400 masks to the REALTOR Association, which she was a member of throughout her 48-year career selling real estate and various nursing homes. Linda received the REALTOR’s Community Service Award in 2020 for her outstanding effort.
Always desiring to express her creativity, Linda discovered many ways to venture off the traditional path of quilting and sewing clothing. One year, Linda sewed Christmas skirts from men’s silk ties and created beautiful vestments for a few of her favorite priests. In 2024, Linda started following a Facebook Group called “Denim Upcyclers.” After a few months, she was inspired by that group to recreate denim wearables that were one-of-a-kind vintage designs by embellishing denim jackets, vests, and jeans. In a flashback to the 1970s, Linda has been making elephant bell bottoms with a hippie flair!
In honor of National Train Day, Linda designed a man’s denim jacket with an 1880’s Union Pacific Railway locomotive and various railroad badges. She had to drive to Ligonier to find the panel and badges. Linda estimates it took her 12-15 hours to create it. Linda enjoys selling her creations at The Rink Vintage Mall and even got Manager Tim Fagan to model it. Tim was happy to oblige and I’m certain he liked modeling it a great deal better than if she had made it with the Thomas the Tank Engine fabric I had to offer!
Lois Levihn is the owner of Born Again Quilts restoration studio and fabricholic paradise. If you have a quilt or other textile story to share, contact her at 260-515-9446 or bornagainquilts @frontier.com
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