North House Folk School

What do you do with an old set of sails? 

Admittedly, it’s not a problem that most people face. But if you’re a folk school that owns a traditionally-rigged schooner, it’s a question that comes up from time to time. North House’s schooner Hjørdis has become an iconic part of Grand Marais, offering daily sails from May–October. But like everything subjected to the wind and sun, repeated exposure to the elements takes a toll on Hjørdis’ sails. At the start of the 2024 season, Hjørdis got a brand-new set of sails. But in classic North House fashion, a retiring set of sails didn’t signal a trip to the landfill—it sparked the idea for a new craft project. 

Maeve Gathje is a multi-disciplinary craftsperson and artist. She teaches at North House several times a year and makes waxed canvas and leather goods for the School Store. When dropping off a new set of canvas bags one day, Maeve learned that the Hjørdis sails had been replaced, and that the backup set was fully out of rotation. That’s when the idea of repurposing the sails was born. 

“I thought it would be great to reuse them and get parts of Hjørdis into people’s hands and homes,” said Gathje. 

She settled on the idea of making bags. Dacron sailcloth—which Hjørdis’ sails are made of—is incredibly durable, and the fabric still had a lot of life left in it. Maeve got to work getting to know the unique shape of the sails and mapping out different bag possibilities: everything from sailor’s ditty bags to grocery totes to smaller pencil cases and toiletry bags. The goal was to use the sails efficiently, while still featuring parts of the original design and craftsmanship.

“I wanted to accent parts of the sails that were original to Hjørdis. I have cut and placed my patterns in a way that the edges of the bags were the actual edge of the sailcloth, when possible. These bags feature moments of the zig-zag stitch used in sail sewing, as well as some of the brass grommet and ring work from their original place on Hjørdis,” Gathje said.

One exciting challenge was learning to work with such a nontraditional material, which took Gathje many adjustments to her sewing machine to get it to run smoothly through sailcloth. 

“It really sews differently than canvas or leather,” she said. 

Since starting the project in early 2025, Gathje has finished several bags. She’s still working on them and enjoying the process, and anticipates that some of them will be ready for sale in the School Store by June’s Summer Solstice and Wooden Boat Festival. 

“I enjoy all craft, and making bags was no exception,” she said. 

North House will announce the arrival of the bags in our email newsletter—stay tuned for updates!