Don't let the sepia-toned embroidery of a portrait of Phyllis Summerville's parents fool you. It wasn't made with a simple needle pulling thread. No, this embroidery is 100-percent computerized.

"It only takes about two minutes. I scanned the picture of my parents into the computer and the software tells the machine what to sew," she said, demonstrating a series of new high-tech sewing machines from the Brother company.

As one machine diligently embroidered a napkin with a green floral design, another bigger, more expensive machine was stitching a more elaborate six-color floral design to the side of a denim pant leg.

"This is a pair of jeans I'm making for my daughter's Christmas present," Summerville said, as she threw out her leg to model a similar pair of jeans she was wearing.

"It'll look like this," said the freelance embroiderer from California.

Hundreds of the crafty — and not so crafty — trickled through the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall yesterday for the 11th annual Sew, Quilt and Embroidery Festival. The hall was filled with colorful quilts, beaded jewelry, home-made clothing and Victorian-style dolls — all by local and Mainland crafters.

Quilter Stacy Michell, known for her unique use of hand-dyed textiles, taught quilting classes with the use of prepared quilting kits.

There were also "make-it-take-it" craft tables and a fashion show of hand-sewn clothing in addition to local and Mainland exhibitors.

Mitzi Lee, a resident of Downtown, made a pair of purple beaded earrings at the Ben Franklin "make-it-take-it" craft table. Lee said she dabbles in crafts, mostly lei made using eye-lash string.

"I just wanted to try it out. It took me awhile — the pieces are so small," she said, showing off her dangly earrings.

Lee said she is now interested in doing more beaded jewelry making.

The Kalaniana'ole Art League, a group of about 28 local crafters, displayed their wide-range of arts.

Angels made of string and beads, Native American-style beaded jewelry, Victorian-style dolls and bags, dream catchers and, of course, quilts were all on display.

All the profits from the crafts go to art scholarships for Kaiser High School students, said member and quilter Ilene Ho of Hawai'i Kai.

For most of the group, the projects are just a hobby.

"I couldn't make money this way. Just a form of therapy for me," said a Wahiawa jewelry maker known only as Leilani.

Leilani is best known for the Native American-style beaded jewelry that she sells at the annual Pow Wow at Thomas Square.

From the turquoise beaded necklace to the jade-colored earings, she said she draws her inspiration from the colors of nature.

Beading takes a lot of planning, she said. It's not just throwing a bunch of beads on a string.

Ho also displayed a variety of elaborate dream catchers made from leather and wooden beads.

"My daughter made these," she said.

Yesterday's event also demonstrated a renewed interest in various fabric arts, including clothing making.

Sewing teacher Lorraine Henry of San Diego said that more and more people, especially young girls, are getting interested in designing and sewing clothing.

"For a while, many of the good-quality fabric stores were closing down because there wasn't an interest in clothing making," Henry said. "More younger people are getting interested. It's coming back."

Sewing is being helped along by high school sewing classes, after-school activities and Girl Scout programs, she said. And TV shows, such as Bravo's "Project Runway," don't hurt.

"There's quite a resurgence of sewing," she said.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.