The Material Girls have been busy the past two weeks teaching new sewists what we love to do. We had several girls who learned to sew or furthered their skills during their MEA break.
Our class of beginning adults consisted of a soon to be mother, a friend of mine from church working on her “bucket list” which included sewing and an 85 year old who had memory loss issues and wanted help remembering how to sew. Her 90 year old friend drove her to the class!
We love what we do!!
The first day of kids’ camp went quickly. Here are the pillowcases and their proud creators.
And for those of you that may be interested in the serger class on Thursday, July 22 at 2 pm and again at 6:30-here’s the rough draft of the placemat using the flatlock stitch. Email us to sign up or go to the class listing, $15.
For those of us that love to sew AND garden, we’ve been given a bit of a reprieve. This gloomy, cold weather makes it easy to stay inside and get creative. It seems I have lots of ideas and get things done but then when I go to my closet-there’s nothing to wear!
Sewing for Paris gave me great go-to outfits for winter but now with this new season it seems I’m starting from scratch. I sew something and finish it and then question whether the garment fits my lifestyle right now. Let’s not even talk about whether I have the shoes, undergarments, etc! How do people look put together all the time?
To that end, and because I am working on my travel wardrobe for China, we’ll be offering up a challenge for the summer months. Come to Fashion Sewing Club next week and find out the rules and regulations (or you can make up your own rules). And come with suggestions for how you put your sewn garments together so that you have things to wear.
For those of you with iPhones, Sara posted a comment about Pattern Pal. I uploaded (or did I download:) it and have been giving it a try. It costs $3.99 which is a bit on the more expensive side but I compare that with the cost of a pattern and you know where that gets me. The app allows you to take a picture of your pattern and gives you lists of pattern companies, notions, a place to enter yardage, etc. You have to add words (like 18″ zipper, shoulder pads) but then it will appear as an option next time so over time you accumulate a good list of options. The patterns can be sorted by number, company, type and a few others so that’s easy. You still can’t zoom the picture which would be good for seeing the back of the pattern envelope. You can enter two photos so you could also include the fabric you have used. I had a few problems with the app closing as I was entering data which was annoying. Otherwise it seems to be a good option. I think I’d still like it as part of Fabric Stash so it would all be in one place. If you try the app, be sure to go to the site and post your review of it. That way maybe they’ll give us what we want in updates.
We still have room in the Saturday, May 8, Beach Cover Up/Robe Class if you are interested.
That’s all for now, I’ve got to get back up to my machines! Happy Sewing and Happy Mother’s Day if it applies!
As I was listening to my fellow Material Girls at the March Fashion Sewing Club I wondered if we were becoming fabric snobs. Most of the fabric we purchase is from Treadle Yard Goods-but not everyone shops there or even knows of the store. Christopher Straub of from Project Runway fame hadn’t even heard of it, for goodness’ sake!
Anyway, in defense of our exclusivity, or just plain love of so many Treadle fabrics, it takes time to shop and since we mostly find ourselves at Treadle, that just happens to be where we buy our fabric. When we were teaching classes and holding Club at Hancock we also found fabric there.
However, an email from a frustrated Trench Coat Class student was the final nudge I needed to make a special trip to Hancock Fabrics at Southtown. That and the niggling feeling of fabric snobbery and hearing that the store had undergone some rearranging.
So here are my happy finds for trench coat fabric at Hancock. I’m not including prices because I didn’t write them down or even look in some cases. Most of the fabrics are in the upholstery section but the last picture of the solid color fabric is in amongst the regular fabric and is labeled as jacket or outerwear. The colors-a gold/brown, silver/gray and blue/black are especially distinct and appealing (to my eye, anyway). Let me know if you want more specific directions to the location of it.
There’s still room in the Trench class-see the class listings at the top of the site.
This Thursday, March 25, is our Love Your Serger Class day. The project will be Total Serger Tee Techniques and Tips. A mouthful and two hours full of how to put a tee together with your serger. We’ll bring a pre-cut American Girl Doll size t-shirt for you to work on or you can cut out a tee of your own and bring it to class to sew together. This means an opportunity to use your coverstitch if you’ve never done that before (you know who you are) or if you don’t have coverstitch, we’ll use the rolled hem lettuce edge to finish edges.
The class is held at Associated Sewing in Bloomington, March 25, from 2-4 or 6:30-8:30 and the cost is $15. Click on the class name to register and pay through PayPal or send an email to kristin@materialgirlsewing.com
Here’s a picture from the February class where we made a ruffled pillowcase.
And what a winter it’s turning out to be! Actually it’s very conducive to sewing. But I digress. We have a new listing of classes-Skirts That Fit, Jacket Techniques, Love Your Serger, Beginning Sewing-and then our two events-Clear Your Clutter Stash Swap and Dress YOUR Best. Check them out and sign up!
Speaking of the Stash Swap-this is a great time to be cleaning out closets and reevaluating the fabrics you have collected. Bring your items to January Club meetings (or arrange a drop-off) and we’ll give you “cash” to spend at the Swap. Then let’s all get together on Jan. 30 and get that creative energy flowing. Change is good.
Love Your Serger was the best I could come up with for a name for a hands-on serger class. I toyed with “Exploratory Sergery” but that’s as far as I got for catchy names. Any wordsmiths out there that can come up with a better option?
It’s been some time since I’ve had to update the site so please advise me of any errors you see. Thanks to those of you that keep at me to get classes posted. And as always, feedback is crucial. Are these the classes you want to take? Too cheap? (just kidding) Wrong times? Let us know how we can best meet your creative sewing needs.
It’s amazing how quickly we get hooked on technology-my internet has been sketchy of late. But I’ve got a window here so a few things on which to follow up-I did make it to the Envision Style Show that kicked off the MN Fashion Week events. I got a friend to go with me and then ran into a Club member there! See Doreen’s comment. It was fun to be in a different crowd and I didn’t even use the earplugs that I had stashed in my purse at the advice of one of my kids. I only stayed for the first show and was surprised at all the fur-not that I object-there was just an abundance of it. My favorite designer was Peloria who had about five dresses all playing with the same theme of collars and asymmetry. I would certainly go again.
And my online fabric arrived this week! It’s Gorgeous and I can’t wait to get at the sewing of it.
We had four people make the Silhouette Yoga Pant at a class this week. Hands down approval of the Treadle (they are having a sale this week) Ponte Roma knit and the fit of the pattern. One student had her pants sewn in an hour. We hope to see them at Show and Tell this month.
Are you working on your list of classes to take at the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo? The first section of classes is even named “Fashion Sewing”. Lots of great things to learn and do.
Speaking of…I stopped at Creative Sewing in Apple Valley and since many of you may be Babylock serger owners or wannabees-they are having a Babylock educator in town next week, Oct. 9 & 10. Great time to see the new serger or maybe get a deal on feet. I will be there.
Hope you are staying warm and finding comfort in your sewing endeavors. See some of you next week at Club.
New to the site and ready to enhance your class selection-it’s photos!
A picture doesn’t do justice but Treadle just got in these great colors of Ponte Roma knit. Great for a pair of “Not Just for Yoga” Pants (check it out in Class listings.
Or maybe you’d rather make them in something a bit more casual like the French terry with stretch.
Either one would be nice in the Button Pleated Cardigan.
Just a few of the new classes to investigate. Pictures just opened up a whole new way of communicating.
We’ve got dates for October Fashion Sewing Club meetings and now you can even pay online through PayPal. So if you didn’t get a subscription paid for last month you can do it here. We swapped the Saturday Treadle meeting for a weekday morning as suggested and rearranged just a bit at Associated:
October Club meetings are:
Associated Sewing/Lyndale
Wednesday, October 7 at 6:30
Thursday, October 8 at 10:30
Saturday, October 10 at 10:30
Treadle Yard Goods/St. Paul
Tuesday, October 13 at 10:30 and 6:30
We’ve also got some fun classes which we hope will appeal to many of you. Each month we’ll offer just a few classes and see how it goes. At this point only one class will be offered at Treadle during the afternoon on the Treadle Fashion Sewing Club meeting day. Let us know if you want more.
The rest of the classes will be offered at Associated Sewing in Bloomington.
All classes will be paid for through Material Girls and listed only on our website. We hope this will avoid confusion.
We need a minimum of 5 attendees so ask a friend!
Material Girl Sewing 