Tapestry Coloring Contest

Gives Families Activity, Art

By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special To AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA – Coloring contests, Lindsey Millea believes, are not just for adults.

“Before quarantine, we were going to have a ‘Color and Sip’ event in the store,” she said. “People could get one of our black and white tapestries and color them in. When everyone had to go into quarantine, we thought, why not offer it as a coloring contest?”

The contest, offered by the Fashion in Action store in Oneonta, has extended the contest until the end of May. The hand-printed, fair-trade tapestries are $18, with free local delivery if you contact Millea through the store’s Facebook page.

“You can just color them in with fabric markets,” she said.  “You can get one of the really elaborate designs, or one of the more simple ones. It’s as colorful as you want to make it.”

To enter, upload a photo of the finished tapestry to Facebook or Instagram and tag @FashionInActionOneonta. Winners will receive a tie-dye silk scarf.

The store, which opened at the Shops at Ford and Main a year ago, sells goods that her mother, Linda Drake brings back from India every year. “This last trip, she went to one store and bought out every skirt they had,” she said. “The man in the store next to them had a sewing machine, so they made more skirts for her to take at the end of the week. And they were so grateful, they told her, ‘We are paying for our daughter to go to school and we didn’t know if we could still afford it. Now we can, thanks to you’.”

Sales from the store benefit the Ninash Foundation, founded in 1996 by Dr. Ashok Malhotra, a retired SUNY Oneonta philosophy professor, which built and supports three Indo-International schools, providing free education to children in impoverished communities.