About

For my grandmother, Edna Stansberry, sewing wasn’t a hobby it was a necessary skill. Money was tight in rural Iowa back in those days. As was common for her generation, my resourceful grandmother would not only make all of her clothes – dresses, aprons, bonnets – but also all of the clothes for her two daughters.

My grandmother passed her sewing skills on to my mother, Doris Stansberry Morrow.  As a teenager, if my mother wanted a pretty new dress, she had to construct it herself.  My mother tells me of the time she stayed with her aunt “Pudie” in the big city of Des Moines. While her aunt was at work, my mother found she was bored and decided to walk down to the department store and purchase three yards of blue plaid fabric. She then brought the fabric back to her aunt’s apartment and proceeded to make herself a two-piece dress by hand – with no pattern!  Once she was married, extended family members would seek out my mom to make dresses for their girls. They would simply show her a photo and she would duplicate it – no problem!  

Growing up, the arts and crafts traditions of my family were passed along to me. Always a curious and creative type, I wanted to learn to sew like my mother and older sister. A moment of personal pride for me was entering a blue and white, seersucker-striped dress that I had sewn, into the Iowa State Fair and having it win a blue ribbon! Did this picky girl wear the dress? No not really…but I did admire it as it hung in my closet for years.

After receiving a degree in Fashion Merchandising and then later Journalism, I held various merchandising and then marketing jobs. My life has now led me back to my childhood love of fashion and design. My accessories line, Stansberry, pays tribute to the handcrafted traditions of yesteryear with a modern-day interpretation. Enjoy.

Natalie Morrow