Sandra Wiley has been sewing and knitting since she was a child. But it wasn’t until she joined the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design in 2012 that she began to see herself as an artist.
“Being at Stamps helped me affirm the fact that I am a maker and an artist because I never would have described myself as an artist before,” said Wiley, the director of international study programs at Stamps.
In her previous roles in the School of Public Health and the School of Kinesiology, Wiley said her creative projects were not a secret, they just never came up. At Stamps, however, she has found colleagues who inspire her — and are inspired by her.
“They’ve made me realize and appreciate the scope of what I do, even though art is not my educational background,” she said.
Wiley grew up on a farm in Schoolcraft, Michigan, and her sewing and knitting dates back to the years she spent in 4-H, a common pursuit for youth in rural areas.
“From the age of 9, I signed up for sewing, knitting and beef cattle. Yes, I raised and showed steers, too,” Wiley said.
Each year, Wiley would be assigned a sewing and a knitting project that she’d create under the guidance of a volunteer project leader. Her first knitting project was a pair of mittens and a rib hat, with a neighbor overseeing her work.
For sewing, she worked for several years under her maternal grandmother.
“My grandmother lived about eight miles from our farm. She and my grandpa had a vineyard, so they were grape farmers, whereas we were beef farmers,” she said. “My older sister and I went to their house on the weekends to work on our sewing projects, and that time with her was really special. She was a self-taught perfectionist and a very kind teacher.”
Wiley’s first sewing project was creating a pair of culottes, a type of wide-legged cropped pants.
“They were in style at the time; this was the ’70s. The culottes had straps and they were striped,” she said. “Making the stripes even was not easy to do. There was also a zipper in the back, and we had to hem them by hand. It was pretty ambitious, when I think about it.”
The 4-H projects stretched over months, and once complete, each item was critiqued then exhibited at the county fair, where creators would get a final assessment. There was also a fashion show, something Wiley enjoyed.
Wiley participated in 4-H until she was 15, then, in high school, she started making more of her own clothes.
“I made a lot of my clothes as a way to express myself, be unique. And I had different standards then than I do now, so I would do quick and dirty methods of construction and not focus on the details or finish all the seams like I would today,” she said.
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When Wiley went to the University of Notre Dame, her sewing machine went with her and she continued to make many of her own clothes. The only time it stayed behind was when she studied abroad in Austria and focused on knitting.
After Notre Dame, Wiley went to graduate school out West and started her family, making maternity clothes for herself and clothes for her children. When they eventually returned to Michigan, a coat and a hat were among the first things she made.
Today, Wiley makes most of her own clothes. She uses natural fibers and selects colors that make her happy, figuring the best way to have exactly what she wants is to make it herself.
“I decided about five years ago I was going to try to make all my own clothes, but I didn’t set a date on this goal because then it becomes stressful and I want it to be enjoyable,” she said.
Wiley has also begun to dabble in creating bags. “I started getting obsessed with pockets, and bags are kind of like a giant pocket,” she said.
Her most recent creation is a sling bag, with compartments for an umbrella, a water bottle and a passport.
Wiley still likes to knit and has become a fan of amigurumi, tiny knit creations such as animals, fruit and flowers stuffed with wool that she makes with patterns from designer Anna Hrachovec.
“My sewing skills are much stronger than my knitting skills. So amigurumi was a way for me to strengthen my knitting skills, learn new techniques and complete a project in a couple of hours since these pieces are so tiny,” Wiley said.
Wiley loves to gift her creations, and if a child visits her office and spots one of her amigurumi figures, she will offer it to them. But if she is asked to make something for someone, the answer is always no.
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“If I did this for the money, I would have to charge thousands of dollars. My motivation is curiosity, a quest for mastery and the sheer joy of making. Tracking my time would interfere with this process,” she said.
Wiley recently made passport holders to give to 12 U-M students enrolled in Study Abroad for Artists and Designers. A Stamps lecturer teaches the class, but Wiley provides most of the content. That’s what inspired her to create the passport holders.
“Each holder is different. And then I put a note inside, along with Stamps’ Instagram handle, so the students can post a photo and tag us from wherever they are,” she said.
“I recognize that makers appreciate the work of other makers — plus I wanted them to feel special and remember they are still a U-M Stamps student, even when they’re on their international experience.”
