Some people rarely wear what they craft.

If that were the case for Georgia Brown-Legler, she’d have a problem.

“I’d (have to) run around in my birthday suit,” says the 79-year-old Fort Wayne resident, who wears most of what she makes.

Brown-Legler, like many women in her generation, learned to sew, knit and crochet as a child.

Her grandmother taught her to knit when she was about 9 years old.

“Then I had a great aunt that, about 10 or 11, taught me how to crochet, and my mother was a seamstress, so they all taught me how to knit and crochet and sew,” Legler-Brown says.

“They thought they’d keep me out of trouble, but it didn’t work,” she said teasingly.

Once, the craft her mother taught her caused Brown-Legler to get into a bit of trouble.

“My mother had a beautiful pink felt hat. It was summertime, and it was in a box under the bed, and she wasn’t using it.

“I got it out, and I cut it up, and I made my doll a coat and a hat and scarf – you know – all kinds of things, out of my mother’s pink felt hat,” Brown-Legler recalls.

“My mother was not very happy, but she didn’t scold me very much and I wondered why. I went over to visit my grandmother and I took the doll with me because I was so proud of the clothes, and my grandmother said, ‘Did you punish her?’ And Mother said, ‘No.’ And Grandma says, ‘Do you know why?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And she said, ‘Because I remember a little girl that cut the lace off of her mom’s lace curtains and made her doll a dress.’ ”

Throughout Brown-Legler’s life, her crafting skills have provided her the opportunity to be creative, to avoid boredom, to teach, and, often, to reminisce about bygone years.

“I think about when I was raising my kids, some of the things we did; … we were always creating things. In the wintertime, we’d get boxes and we’d make tents and play in those.”

And “sometimes I remember some of the sad things that happened, but I don’t remember the sad things very much ’cause that’s not me,” Brown-Legler says.

Then “sometimes I’ll remember something I hadn’t thought about for years and it makes me smile,” she says. Like the time she found her 9-year-old son lying on the ceiling.

“We lived in a house that had a very narrow hallway upstairs and you know how kids will walk up doorways, you know?

“Well he could walk up the doorway.

“He called me. When he called, I went because you never knew what he was into. If he’da been my first child, I’da never have had nerve enough to have another one.

“He said, ‘Mom, come here,’ and I go upstairs and I said, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘Here I am,’ and he was spread out on the ceiling, and I said, ‘You come down the same way you went up.’ When I think about that, I think, ‘That’s pretty funny.’ ”

When Brown-Legler’s daughter, Cyd Brown, participated in pageants, including the Miss Indiana and Miss America pageants, Brown-Legler made her swimsuit.

Today, she helps her daughter, now a Chicago-based media producer, make costumes for productions. Together, they are producing videos called “Arts in Action,” which provide instruction in various crafts, including how to cover shoes.

The videos will be available in September, Brown-Legler says.

It’s another way for her to express her love of creativity.

“I like the creative part (of crafting) because I never make anything exactly like the pattern says,” she says.

She sews, knits and crochets her clothes – at times combining genres to create a garment. Brown-Legler no longer tries to make undergarments. It was too difficult to get them to fit, she says.

But she still enjoys making sugar-water bowls of knitted or crocheted dishcloths.

Here’s the process:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

100 percent cotton dishcloth

1 glass bowl

Bring sugar and water to a rolling boil until it’s the thickness of syrup. (Do not cook too long).

Put the dish cloth in and stir. It will absorb the sugar-water.

While it is still hot, wring it out until it’s not dripping any longer and form it over an upside-down bowl and let it dry.

It will take a day or two to harden.

Brown-Legler says these can be used to place gifts in for brides.

She loves to place dishcloths inside in a floral arrangement. She also uses one bowl for trick-or-treat candy.

And here’s a tip: To keep the white sugar crystals from showing, place a couple drops of food coloring in the water – the same color as the dishcloth.

On a final note, Brown-Legler, who travels quite a bit, says she’s at Sarah Jane’s Yarn Shoppe, 3400 N. Anthony Blvd., from about 10 a.m. to 1 or 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, when she’s in town.

Brown-Legler, who used to work for Singer and Edwards Sewing Center, says she’d love to meet more fellow crafters and answer questions.