Make Local -- Meet the Makers Series

Engage in an informal conversation with local innovators, entrepreneurs, creatives, and makers. Hear more about their unique backgrounds and how you can get started making and doing.  

Meet Debbie Ault. People in the community might know her from the years she taught swimming and ran the aquatics department at the YMCA. Some might recognize her as the Fairy Godmother, Hansel, or Elvis among the many characters she played in the annual La Porte Service League plays. Others may have chatted with her while she ran a forklift and loaded seed and chemicals at the agriculture business she and her husband owned and operated for decades. She can also be found volunteering at The Exchange.

As her six children moved away from La Porte and started their own families, she combined her sewing skills and creativity to foster long-distance relationships through making. Whether it’s a custom quilt, elaborate costume, or a suite of clever decorations for a celebration, her nine grandchildren feel the love.  

Debbie’s custom costumes vary from baby Indiana Jones to ‘50s poodle skirts to huge, sculptured dinosaurs and dragons to Paul McCartney’s Sgt. Pepper uniform. Learn how this talented sewist goes from wild idea to finished project just in time to inspire you to plan an ambitious Halloween costume.