‘Chics’ Make Their Final Crafts Group To End Run After 20 Years

After 20 years, Crafty Chics, the crafting group started by Chatham resident Gail Tilton, is ending its run in June. But while this group is wrapping up, Tilton hopes the hobby of crafting in groups, which has been enjoyed by hundreds of members over the past two decades, will continue. 

"It's not over...just the beginning of a transition to something new," she said.

 The group grew out of Tilton's desire to meet people who shared her love of arts and crafting, following the untimely death of her husband Dave soon after they retired to Chatham. She was part of a group of friends knitting shawls for bed-bound patients when she learned that one of the women also made polymer clay buttons. 

"I asked her...would she teach us?" Tilton said.

 A week later that group of women found themselves learning to make buttons together in Tilton's home and asking "can we do this again?"

 Tilton's answer was simple. "OK, Crafty Chics," she wrote, "how about next Friday?" The group was born and the name stuck. 

 Crafty Chics met twice a month at Tilton's home that first year, inside and occasionally outdoors on her spacious deck. As the group grew, they would meet at various members' homes, but the space soon became tight. 

 When the Chatham Community Center opened in 2012, Tilton was one of the first in line to request the use of meeting space for her community-based group. Crafty Chics has met in the basement arts and crafts room there ever since, twice a month on Thursday mornings.

 In hundreds of meetings over the past 20 years, the group has painted, stenciled, carved, hammered, created jewelry, crocheted, beaded, made candles, thrown pottery and made papier mache masks and a host of other crafts. 

 In the summer they would meet outdoors in backyards and occasionally on the beach. There they would do projects that couldn't be done safely inside the community center, like tie dyeing and cement pouring. The group is run by a steering committee of women, many with years of experience in arts and crafts, who line up a year's worth of projects which they lead and offer to members.

 Each session started with a sharing circle, where members share ideas and tips and report on projects they had recently finished. At a recent sharing circle, members expressed "heartfelt gratitude for the years we got to spend together," Tilton said.

 At the community center on a recent Thursday morning, more than a dozen women worked on creating a pottery dish impressed with a leaf from a favorite plant. Mary Edwards, who was leading this week's project, called the dish "great for a catchall on the bureau."

 Edwards encouraged the Chics to use a leaf that "makes a memory, maybe from your garden or a birthday bouquet." The group worked through forming, drying, designing and glazing using shared tools and their own ideas.

 Mary Johnston has been a member for four or five years. 

"It's a great group of women and an informal atmosphere," she said. A member of the Guild of Harwich Artists, Johnston is part of the steering group that comes up with projects "that people can afford," she added, noting that the members pay for their supplies and sometimes pitch in for a quantity purchase to save money. 

 Marge Farquharson said she always "looks forward to this. It's also therapeutic," she said with a smile. "You would be surprised at what people can help you to do!"

 Nineteen-year member Lynn Perreault is "close to an original member," she recalled. "The group is so supportive of whatever you need," she said, whether it’s material or emotional. 

 Marguerite Heffernan recalled signing up for the group shortly after having her knees replaced. "Not only did I learn so many skills and make so many friends, I lost 40 pounds!" she recalled. "The motivation of the group kept me going," she added.

 During COVID, Tilton said, the group learned Zoom and kept on meeting. Members came from Chatham, Harwich, Eastham, Dennis, Orleans, Yarmouth and "really all over the Cape," Tilton said. 

 The group will end with a farewell luncheon on June 4 at the community center. In addition to herself, Tilton expects several founding members to attend, including nearly 100-year-old local artist Marion Harcourt. 

After 20 years, Tilton mused, "I am amazed it worked as well as it did!"

 "I have mixed feelings about the end of the group," she said, citing the health and other commitments of members of the steering group. "The interest in crafts brought women into the group, but the magic of the community was the glue that kept them there. We all learned so much and I have strongly encouraged them to continue gathering and exploring new crafts and sharing."

 Any former Chics who wish to attend the farewell lunch can contact Tilton at gigitilton@gmail.com.