THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607120204
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 71 lines
Ida G. Jacobs, 59, of Great Bridge is on her way to the Olympic Games. But she's not going as an athlete, as a coach or even as a spectator.
Jacobs is going to set up an ``Expressions by Ida'' shop in the African-American Village at the Olympics to market her red-white-and-blue collection of T-shirts, boxer shorts, long pants, hair ornaments and hand towels - all made in Chesapeake.
Jacobs and her husband, Oliver A. Jacobs, will join about 75 other vendors in offering arts, crafts, merchandise and food to Olympics visitors from around the world.
Since 1986, Jacobs' business, ``Expressions by Ida,'' located in the Cavalier Industrial Park, has turned out personalized, embroidered or customized shirts, pants, sweats, band uniforms, flags and other special orders. She is also an independent contractor for Boxer Rebellion, a franchise that specializes in boxer pants.
In June, Cynthia Roser, a friend from Georgia, called and suggested that they combine their crafts and lease vendor space at the Olympic village in Atlanta to sell their wares.
``I thought and prayed about the idea,'' Jacobs said. ``Within a week we had the deposit money together, and from there we have not paused or looked back. Like the athletes, we just keep getting ready.''
Roser, already in Atlanta, is busy setting up the stalls and preparing for Jacobs and the merchandise. They have already had their first sales. A nearby food vendor ordered shirts for his staff, and a Peruvian customer has ordered some monogrammed items.
Jacobs' daughters - Ida J. Lee, who teaches at Indian River High School, and Dr. Jacquelyn O. Wimbish, a podiatrist in Roanoke - have helped with the plans and packing. Her son, Oliver A. Jacobs Jr., a disc jockey who works in Ethiopia, postponed his trip back to Ethiopia to help his parents with the Atlanta venture.
This weekend, Jacobs and her family will pull out with a camper stocked with hundreds of clothing items, sewing and embroidery machines and provisions to camp at their Olympic store site.
``I just never dreamed that sewing would take me to the Olympics,'' she said.
Jacobs, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., said her mother always made her clothes, but she made them a size larger for growing room. When Jacobs was a teenager, she decided that she would make her own clothes for a better fit.
In 1962, she married and moved to Hampton Roads. As her family arrived, Jacobs made baby bibs, blankets and children's clothes. Her range of sewing increased as her children got older. By the time they were in high school, Jacobs was making prom dresses and school flags. She designed and made the flag uniforms for Great Bridge High School and the school flag for Indian River High. She said she progressed from uniforms to debutante dresses and wedding gowns.
Through the years, Jacobs worked also as secretary and payroll clerk for Oliver Jacobs Construction Corp., her husband's business.
``But my world really started when I was 55,'' Jacobs said. ``My children were grown, and I was ready for my own career.''
She began collecting fabric, embroidery equipment and thread from auctions and going-out-of-business sales. In 1986, when her husband moved his business to the industrial park, she eyed the second floor of his office for her own space. ``But he told me not a pin, thread or piece of material would be in his shop,'' Jacobs said.
Now Jacobs' employees - Barbara F. Irvin, Sandra E. Daniels, Dorothy M. Elliott, Patricia A. Peele, Essie Myrick and Lorraine O. Armstrong - stay busy.
``Expressions by Ida'' will be located on the corner of Peach Tree Place and Spring Street in Atlanta from July 15 through Aug. 8. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Ida G. Jacobs will sell her red-white-and-blue collection of
merchandise at the Olympics. by CNB