Sewing up good works

Saturday, Jan. 1, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

Phil Welland is pleased that his designer cloth bags and patchwork blankets were a big hit with homeless and underprivileged children on Christmas.

But Welland says his purpose in creating the items in his small sewing room at his home at The Lakes was less noble.

"I just wanted to to keep busy," said the 91-year-old, who began sewing by machine when he was 7 years old. "It is important to remain active and not sit around just watching TV."

Despite the breakdown and replacement of one of his two sewing machines earlier this month, Welland, cranking out a blanket/bag set every 30 to 60 minutes, met his Dec. 19 deadline for 95 blankets from two area nonprofit organizations that assist disadvantaged children.

"It makes me happy that the kids got something that they found useful to them," said Welland, a widower who moved to Las Vegas in 1989 after being an annual visitor with his wife, Mary, since the late 1960s. "But, when you do something for so many years, you just do it because it comes natural."

Welland puts in as many as eight hours a day at his Euro-pro sewing machine and serger -- a machine that creates fancy twilled stitching around fabric edges -- though not in one sitting. He says it is not unusual for him to get the urge to sew as late as midnight.

Welland, a native New Yorker who spent 40 years as a lithographer for the National Can Co., gets assistance in his -- as his family lovingly calls it -- "sweat shop" from his live-in caretaker, Eddie "Jerry" Lubao, who cuts the materials and occasionally sews, using methods learned from Welland.

"I think it is a blessing that I have been given a chance to work for him," said Lubao, who was hired two years ago after Welland survived a staph infection that hospitalized him and took away much of his independence.

"It makes me feel happy to help him because I have learned something new that may help me someday and because it is for a good cause."

Welland creates his colorful blankets and shoulder bags from swatches donated by Area West, a local interior design warehouse that used to throw away the samples after selling out the fabrics.

Because of the wide variety of colors and fabrics, rarely are two of Welland's creations alike.

"We just marvel at what he is able to do with the materials -- small samples that you ordinarily can't do much with," said Diana DellaIacono of Area West.

Recently, her company collected canned goods and other materials for Street Teens, an organization that provides a day shelter for homeless teens, and included those donations with the order for 35 of Welland's bag/blankets.

"The response was marvelous," DellaIacono said of the reaction she got after delivering the items. "These are kids who have nothing. They really appreciate the usefulness of the gift, especially now that it is cold outside."

Stephanie Holland, co-founder of Child Focus, a five-year-old organization that assists the 3,000 children in Clark County's foster care system, said the 60 blankets Welland donated showed great community concern and thoughtfulness.

"I think it is an excellent example that every single person in our community, young or old, can use their gifts to help others. So many people say they do not have the energy or feel they are too old to help. Then comes Mr. Welland, who displays such spirit in helping our community."

The children who received Welland's gifts are part of a program that supports siblings who are placed with different foster families, Holland said.

"Many of these children are shuffled from home to home so a gift like this is something of their own -- something individual and personal -- that they can take with them," said Holland, who also has a degree in child psychology.

"A blanket also provides some comfort especially during the holidays when they are more likely to be lonely or stressed. It was such a generous gift considering the time it took to make each one."

Welland, a father of three, grandfather of six and great-grandfather of eight, cannot remember a time when he was not around a sewing machine, especially his mother's Singer that was operated by foot pedals.

"My mother had bad feet so, when I was 3, I'd push on the foot pedals while she sewed," said Welland, who at age 11 worked as a tailor's assistant.

When his wife of 62 years died in 1992, Welland threw himself into his sewing, making shoulder bags, shoe bags, eyeglass cases and other apparel accessories, mostly for friends and family, as well as the underprivileged.

Since then Welland has made about 1,000 shoulder bags. They generally are about 13 inches by 14 inches by 5 inches or smaller depending on the size of the swatch.

However, he did not get the idea to make the blankets to go inside the bags until two months ago when his son-in-law Joe Vassallo, owner of Paragon Pools, suggested the combination as gifts for the homeless.

Welland then hooked up with Vassallo's publicist Mary Vail, who has managed advertising and public relations campaigns for a number of organizations, including nonprofit organizations. She contacted Child Focus and Street Teens.

"I always get a lot of requests from organizations in the city looking for help from volunteers," she said. "Phil is remarkably healthy and industrial. He works diligently to produce his sturdy bags and blankets."

Welland's bags and blankets also have been used by the Southern Nevada chapter of the American Red Cross for its disaster relief program.

Welland's family is proud of his unselfish work, including buying the thread and other sewing accessories needed to create the gifts -- materials for which he has sought no reimbursement.

"Based on what I have seen, these bags could sell in stores for $4 to $10, but dad has no interest in producing them as part of a for-profit business," Alana Vassallo said. "Over the years we've given away so many of his bags, some to people as far away as New Jersey."

Welland, who admits he is blessed with steady -- albeit arthritic -- hands and fairly good eyesight for his age, says he has no plans to quit or even slow down.

"I'll sew anything -- blankets, ripped pants -- anything you give me that needs sewing I'll sew it," he said. "I guess I'm going to keep doing it until the day I die."