Fashion Sewing Club Photos Up…

…with a difference.

Last month, I went looking for directions on our website for a garment made previously. I realized that without the pictures attached to the words it was cumbersome to find what I wanted. So this month I won’t put ALL the pictures here (just a teaser) and I’ve put the garment pictures just above the instructions in the Club sheets.

If you want to see all the photos, click on “Club Sheets & Garment Photos” and then “July 2011” and you’ll find everything, hopefully conveniently located right next to each other. It should also be easy to scroll down to find the garment you are looking for, if that’s the case.

Do you like the new format or have suggestions to improve it?



You can find this fabric in the previous post “Treasure Hunting at Hancock”.

Stash Therapy

To stash or not, that is the question, and here is how one of the newer and more productive “Material Girls” (if you read this blog, you are a material girl) dealt with it recently:

Hi Ladies,

I can only tell you this – no one else would appreciate it.
So, I think something finally clicked and I now know how to manage my stash a bit better. I’ve been feeling chained to my sewing room with all of this fabric I’ve accumulated – a stash stresses me out!

Today I didn’t want to sew so I decided to organize my sewing room. I threw out all my scraps and leftovers- whew – I felt so freed!
Then I noticed I have some real color stories going among my stash fabrics. So I started pulling color families and stories together.
I then arranged the color stories into seasons. (And I realized I really love all the fabrics I have in my stash.)
Then I went through my patterns and created a line for each season (did I mention I’ve also been watching Project Runway on Hulu? And I think the Christine Johnson article helped too)
I have a page for each season with my notes for what each fabric could be used to create.
Each season has 3-4 fabrics. Finally I put each season away with my notes and potential patterns for the outfits.

I feel like I actually accomplished something and my stash will hopefully no longer create stress in my life. I hope to really enjoy some benefits from this work.

1. Working on 3-4 outfits a season won’t make me feel as rushed. I’ll hopefully have the time to enjoy the fabrics I’m working on and not feel stressed about the other ones in the closet.
2. I’ll speed up my work- by working in the same color families – not having to re- thread with each new project, etc.
3. My line isn’t necessarily a complete wardrobe concept – too much pressure- it might just be a jacket and two tops.
But I think I’ll enjoy the finished product more because it will be seasonally appropriate and the jacket will work with the tops
if I choose to wear them together or as separate items (usually I’ve just been creating one off items).

I forgot to add that this will also help me shop more productively. After going through and grouping the fabric – I can now see where I have holes. So, as I shop I can buy fabric that has a home – and will fill a need, instead of just buying random fabric-which I may or may not ever use.

So, was this idea inspiration – or have I finally just been listening to what you guys have been trying to preach?

Best, Carrie

Oh, if we were all this organized! How do you deal with your stash and the little voices in your head (am I the only one that hears them?) Carrie, let us know how this works for you- maybe you should be the main speaker for Dress Your Best!

Please add your stash management strategies to the post-or are you one of those disciplinarians who has none…..

Treasure Hunting at Hancock

Sorry if I made you go from Facebook to website but my small knowledge of etiquette says that Facebook is for short and sweet.

If you didn’t come from Facebook, here are the pictures of the treasures Debbie and I found at Hancock yesterday:


Another color palette

Flower fabric and silk linen(?)

So as we were wandering around the store between classes we saw the flowers on netting-in two colorways. Never seen anything like it before and at Hancock! I love treasure hunting and am usually rewarded at almost all fabric stores-some just have a higher occurrence of treasures and, needless to say, this is not good for my stash reduction program.

Anyway, I moved the fabric fold to check on the price of this unique fabric and it was $39.99 per yard! A rare price tag at Hancock.

And then, we realized that the very fabric used to make the flowers was there too. It’s the last picture. Another customer was in the next aisle while all of this was going on. I had to show her the fabric and explain our glee but I’m not sure she was convinced that I was not a crazy person.

I am the proud owner of this fabric, with the aid of a 40% coupon and am very excited to explore the possibilities of both the flowers on netting and the flat fabric used to make the flowers.

Just one more treasure-we were looking in the linens/seersucker and found a short bolt of something that felt like silk (the plum/wine in the last picture). The label said linen and as linen was 50% off and it was a color of mine, I bought the rest of it. After some online research I think it may be a silk linen, only 42″ wide-the label said 54″-and I got 5 yds. for $5 a yard. It’s in the washing machine as I write and I will still do a burn test just to see if I can firm up the identification (silk should smell like burning hair, linen like burning leaves).

All in all, a happy hunt. Now to make something equally wonderful to wear!

Have you found any treasures lately?

June Fashion Sewing Club

Another month of sewing and learning more about techniques and fit and which patterns work for us, individually, and which ones don’t. It’s always fun to add a new pattern or two to my “Favorite Patterns” box-a pattern I can just whip up now because I’ve made the changes I need to and the pattern fits great. I highly recommend Peggy Sagers’ fit webcasts to help you with the fitting process. Here’s the link if you are having trouble finding them.

At Treadle we saw an American Girl Doll Bed with all the trimmings. This was designed by Linda Swensen from Wilmar, MN.

Here are the garment pictures-anyone want to do some amateur photography?? Hope you enjoy them if you didn’t make it to Club. The Club sheets are on the website under “Club Sheets” in the bar at the top of the site.

Happy Sewing until July-

Debbie’s Garments:

CL Designer Tee

Flatlock Panel Skirt

KwikSew 3778

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Laurel’s Garments:
Casual Sweatshirt Jacket

White tee shirt/tunic

Sheer Ruffle Blouse

Plaid Cotton Blouse

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Kristin’s Garments:
Flounce Vest, Circles Tee, Travel (Yoga) Pants

Crossover Tee

Pamela's Patterns-Twinset

Pamela's Patterns-Cool Cardigan

Linen Shirtdress

White Eyelet Dress

Exposed Zipper

Confluence Weekend

Somebody knew what they were doing when they named the event “Confluence”! So many wonderful fiber arts things to do this weekend (this does not profess to be an exhaustive list-just what I’m aware of and had time to look up-feel free to add more):

First off-If you need an SR Harris fix, some of us are headed up there on Friday-arriving about 9:30 and then we’ll have lunch someplace. Call if you’d like to carpool-952-201-3863.

Katherine Tilton is in town for Confluence-this is from her email, “I’ll be showing my latest work – some great new pieces! – at the Trunk Show this Friday night, 6-10PM. See hotel location info below. There will also be 2 movies, the Vendor Fair and a DIY festival happening at the same time so it should be fun.

I am in charge of the Vendor Fair which is free and open to the public Thursday evening, 6-8PM, Friday, 8:30AM-2PM & 6-10PM (Trunk Show time too!), Saturday, 8:30AM-5PM & Sunday, 8:30AM-1030AM. There are amazingly beautiful textiles from Japan, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Southeast Asia, Kyrgyzstan, India and the US available plus many tools, yarns and accoutrements for textile makers and lovers.

All this is happening at the:
Radisson University Hotel
615 Washington Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414
Phone: 612.379.8888

This link has information about getting to the hotel during the construction that’s happening on campus: http://www.surfacedesign.org/subpage/travel-lodging

Click here for more Confluence info.

And June Colburn will be having a Trunk Show at Treadle on Friday evening-spaces available. She’s also offering two classes on Saturday at Treadle but only 2-3 spots left. Call Treadle if interested-651-698-9690.

And Fashion Sewing Club is this Thursday at Hancock, Monday at Make It Sew and Tuesday at Treadle!

Hope to see you soon.

The London Eye

Having a great time in the UK. Not much use for sandals or shorts here. The standard uniform for my daughter’s age group is a short dress or shorts/top and black tights and boots and don’t forget a scarf.
My age group? I started looking and saw everything from jeans to dresses and travel clothes.
We’ve seen high fashion in Portobello Road and punk and goth in Camden Market.
The food is wonderful. People have been friendly. Got into London just after a big thunderstorm otherwise drizzly at times and partly cloudy at others.
V&A still on the list of things to do. Haven’t found Liberty of London yet either.
Having a wonderful trip.

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May Fashion Sewing Club

Spring is finally here, slowly but surely. It’s fun to sew with brighter colors. For those of you who attended, we hope you were inspired. We discovered how quickly patterns can be removed from the catalogs so if anyone owns either Burda 8222 or Simplicity 2885, please let us know as there are a few who would like to trace them and they’re not readily available. It was a great dress, Laurel!

Debbie's Shawl Collar Jacket and Summer Shift

Debbie's Sophia Trench

Collar Detail

Lace Tee, Tank and Contrast Banded Skirt

Kristin's Reversible Tank

Sheer Overlay Tank

Polka Dot Top

Laurel's Suit Jacket

Laurel's Black Denim Dress

The Club sheets are found in the top bar of the website.

Happy Sewing!

Follow-up to Saturday Meetings

Thanks for all the input we received-especially from those of you we haven’t yet met. After deliberating and going back and forth with Treadle and dates we’ve decided to try Saturday meetings at Treadle beginning in October. Good weather Saturdays seemed like formidable competition even for those of us who are sewing addicts. Maybe it’s just this year with the late spring. We hope that some of you who haven’t come to Club will find a summer evening to try us out.

So today (Thursday) will be the last May meeting. We’ll be at Hancock/Bernina/Southtown at 10:30 am and 6:30 pm. Remember, the first time is free!

Summer Schedule:

Thursday, June 9, Hancock/Bernina/Southtown, 10:30 and 6:30
Monday, June 13, Make It Sew, Chanhassen, 1:30 and 6:30 pm
Tuesday, June 14, Treadle Yard Goods, St. Paul, 10:30 and 6:30

Saturday Fashion Sewing Club

Here’s a longer explanation of what we’re thinking of changing:
We know the difference in the energy in a room when there are more people. We’d like to see 10 people at each meeting. Our original thought was that a Saturday meeting was needed to accommodate those who couldn’t make it during the day or evening. At the April Saturday meeting we asked the attendees if they could come another time and they all said yes. Since we haven’t stumbled on the magic formula for attracting more new people to Club we thought it might help to shift a few people to other meetings, thereby increasing the average attendance.

In response to today’s email, the suggestion has been made to start a Saturday meeting at Treadle. A Saturday meeting may attract new Treadle customers. It takes away the travel and parking difficulties that some people are concerned about. The Tuesday morning group is happy meeting when it does and doesn’t want to split but the evening attendance is light and some of them may prefer Saturday to attending after a long day of work.

Attendance at Make It Sew is building slowly so a Saturday addition there is not in the works at this time.

What do you think? We’d really like to know because you are the reason we do what we do. Otherwise we’d just fade away in our sewing rooms under a cover of serger dust 🙂

A few options to get you thinking (same as what was on Facebook)

If you attended a Saturday morning Treadle Fashion Sewing Club would you:
a. Be a new attendee because nothing scheduled has worked for you before
b. Come on Saturday instead of Treadle’s Tuesday evening
c. Come on Saturday instead of your usual meeting at Hancock or Make It Sew

April Fashion Sewing Club

Wonderful month of sewing, pretty good weather. It was good to see so many people at the different meetings. That being said, the Saturday morning Club at Hancock is going to be discontinued at least for the summer. It seems that most people that come on Saturday could also come to an evening or morning weekday meeting. Unless we hear from some of you, we’ll try it for summer and reassess for fall.

Here are the garments. You can see the Club sheets if you go to the top of the webpage and click on Club Sheets.

Linen Pleated Skirt and Half Cowl Shirt

Flatlocking and pleats on linen skirt

Soft pleating at shoulder of cowl

Banded Placket Blouse

T-shirt Topper

Laurel's Tribeca Shirt and Simplicity Skirt

Laurel's Sophia Trench

Laurel's Silhouette #700-Version 2

Kristin's Sophia Trench, Fan Shell and Almost Straight Skirt

Fan Shell Detail

Kristin's Boyfriend Cardigan

Thanks to all who came to Club. Hopefully sandals will be the logical choice for May Club meetings 🙂