Networking Roundtable: Textile Stories- How Working with Cloth and Fiber has Impacted Your Life
February 24, 2026
Join WARP each month for Networking Roundtable online discussion groups, which give members an opportunity to network and discuss topics of interest that advance WARP’s overall mission.
The textile arts have an age-old history that continues into the present, for makers and textile enthusiasts. This session is an opportunity to share with other WARP members your own story about how working with textiles and fibers has impacted your own life. This could include, but is not limited to, professional experiences, socio-emotional impacts, cross-cultural bonds, travel adventures, teaching, community, and creative exploration. What is YOUR story?
Please note that if you would like to attend but are unavailable at the time listed, register anyway and you will receive a link to the recording as soon as it is available.
Facilitator:
Kathy McHenry grew up on the East Coast of the US, with strong Mid-West roots,
nourished by color and design, but aware of the rules – for behavior, political expression and color harmony. Landing in San Francisco during the era of draft resistance to the Viet Nam war, she finished college and pursued masters’ degrees, to work in healthcare – initially as a clinical nutritionist for pediatric patients with kidney disease.
Sewing, knitting, needlepoint, and quilting with repurposed clothing from local thrift were the basis for her growing absorption in textiles. In 2007, she found herself in Guatemala where pink harmonizes happily with orange and red, and brilliant embroidered birds nest among exuberant flowers on back-strap woven blouses of women at Lake Atitlan. In 2009, Kathy started a small textile business, sewing and designing with repurposed Guatemalan skirt material to create garments and home goods which she sells at craft and quilt fairs. Appreciation for color and texture guides the conversations at the fairs, as does a shared connection to Guatemala.
Kathy lives in San Francisco with her wife, a wood turner and retired nurse.
