During the 1948-49 school year Theresa decided to weave a tapestry for her senior project, even though she had never done any tapestry weaving before. In fact, she had only seen tapestries pictured in old books. She chose a cartoon that had received high marks in her design class, weaving it from the front, and guessing at how to accomplish the look she wanted. The school was so impressed with the result, “Le Coq” that they offered her a job weaving designs created by other students. The first year after being hired, she wove a second similar design of her own, “La Mer, La Terre, Le Ciel” since the other students were just beginning to create designs for tapestries.

Another student, Jean Bastien, received a scholarship to study at the Gobelins atelier in Paris. When he returned, he taught her and the other students what he had learned in France. From then on she wove in the traditional high warp manner, weaving with the back of the tapestry facing her.

In all, she wove five designs. The students were very influenced by the imagery of Jean Lurçat. She had a full school year to work on each tapestry. The largest, “La belle Francoise” was 8’ x 10’. It was so heavy when she cut it off the loom that she could barely carry it into the office to show the director. His only comment when she proudly displayed it to him was that he would let her know if they found any mistakes in it.

The tapestry turned out to be flawless but his attitude was so unrewarding that she walked home crying. It was a common occurrence to receive no positive support from the instructors. That made it hard for Theresa to have confidence in her work, and tended to produce a competitive climate among the students.

The weaving studio at Penland was in the Craft House. It had a large collection of looms stored out on its spacious porch. The students spent their mornings in the studio. Their afternoon assignment was to untangle and tidy the haphazard assortment of looms on the porch.

The other four students came from wealthy families and had substantial allowances for the summer. Theresa’s family could not afford to give her nearly as much spending money. Having a soft spot for underdogs, Penland director Lucy Morgan paid special attention to her. Theresa continued to spend her summers working at Penland until 1953.

She fell in love with the son of Emma Conley, the woman who taught vegetal dying, carding, and spinning. In 1953 they were married at Penland and “Miss Lucy” closed the school for the wedding. The couple moved to Michigan.