Mary Haynor, president of Horizon Homecare and Hospice in Milwaukee, takes a can do attitude in life and her projects. She learned to sew when she was a child. Haynor recently created a show-stopping jacket she wore to the annual fundraising gala for Horizon’s Grief Resource Center.
“It seems funny, but I tend to think that I can do anything,” Haynor said. “I saw the picture of this fantastic jacket, and I just said, ‘I’m going to make that!'”
Like many of her projects, Haynor created the pattern for the jacket by either piecing parts of patterns together or creating one on her own.
She first pieces the project together and then deconstructs it and re-makes it in the desired fabric.
Haynor grew up in a family with many children. She learned to sew by watching her mother who still, at 88 years of age, teaches crocheting and knitting classes.
Haynor started making some of her own clothes as a child, and has also made a few dresses for her children and her grandchildren. She has also created all of the drapery in her home.
“Custom drapery is really expensive,” she said. “I tend to want things and so rather than going out and purchasing it, I’ll try to make it first.”
According to Haynor, the key is not to be afraid of messing up.
“There are a lot of talented people in the world, I’m not unique in that,” Haynor said. “I’m just not afraid of the fabric. It’s just fabric. I watched my mother time and time again just start over. That’s an important trait that I learned from her. She taught me not to be afraid of the fabric; to try something and if it didn’t work to rip it apart and try something else.”
