Category: Uncategorized

Stitch, Des Moines

Taking full advantage of a duct tape dress form request, I traveled to Des Moines to visit my youngest daughter, take in the Broadway show, Once, and discover a great new fabric store!
Stitch is located in East Village-a happening place in Des Moines with lots of local businesses and restaurants. The shop carries cotton fabric, patterns and yarn.
I had to pick up a few things and support my daughter’s friend and one of the partners of the business.
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Great displays-made me want my own store. I hope to use a few of the patterns I picked up for Club next week. Good luck, Jessica and Madie!

March Club Show and Tell

Just a little teaser to get you in the mood for Club this week-we had so many great “Sew and Tell” garments last month-the bar is high!
March Club Sheets and Garment photos have also been posted under bar above.

Two great coats-hope we don't need these any longer!
Two great coats-hope we don’t need these any longer!
Great use of Pendleton
Great use of Pendleton

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Pattern for black and white dress above.
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Fashion Sewing Club Week Coming Up!

(Yes, Virginia, you are in the right place-the website format is new!)

Next week, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (4/8, 10, 12), will be April Club meetings. The weatherman is calling for warm weather and we hope he’s right. As an added bonus for those of you attending the Treadle meetings, they are having a great sale to get everyone in the mood for the new season’s latest fashion sewing (we’re just a bit confused as to which it is-spring or a replay of winter-“winternity”?). The sale started April 3 and continues to April 13.

With spring comes spring cleaning and some of you were excited about doing a pattern swap so if you are cleaning out patterns, bring them to Club and see if anyone might want them. It can be pretty eye opening when you see what you thought you might have sewn one day…
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Here are three winners from the website Simple Simon and Co. Check out the link and see what they did with their contest for the ugliest pattern. We’ll post any that come close to these examples 🙂

I made the first delivery of Bags for Kids on Thursday at Carver County. There were 20 bags, 18 blankets and 23 toothbrushes! Thanks for the great response. There will be an opportunity to help finish up a few bags and blankets at Club meetings; any tubes of toothpaste would be appreciated.

Last month’s show and tell was fantastic at ALL meetings. We can’t wait to see what you’ve all sewn up for spring.

And a shout out to my tech support and marketing advisor-Thank you!!!

Bags for Kids

Two years ago, Nicole Bailey,a Minnetonka senior, approached us about helping her with a project. It seems that when children in Carver County were taken from their homes by law enforcement they were given a garbage bag for their possessions. Nicole wanted to make drawstring bags that could be given to the children instead. We(you) helped out three years ago and we have been contacted by Carver County because their supply is almost gone.

We would like to help them out again and of course, we could use some help. We have fabric, notions and a pattern. If you could help by sewing or cutting or both, we’d love to see you at Southtown Hancock on any of the next three Mondays (March 17, 24, 31 from 10 am-8 pm). You can pick up fabric or a kit or stay and help cut and sew. We will have machines for you to use so you can just stop by or bring your favorite sewing tools with you. We’ll just have fun and do some good at the same time. Please send an email or call to let us know you are coming.

Here’s a link to the original story.

Here are the instructions in case you just want to make them at home and drop them off at Southtown Hancock. The bag should end up being about 24″ x 30″ with a drawstring top and pocket on the outside and made from a medium weight to home dec fabric.

BAGS FOR KIDS Instuctions rev1-122810

Back in Portland after the second day at Puyallup 2014 and still no snow!!!

From Roving Reporter Kay Dole

My second day at the Puyallup Sewing Expo was as busy as the first! Although I didn’t spend as much money at the Marcy Tilton booth today as I did yesterday!

The four classes I attended today included one on monograms to use with my embroidery machine, a bag the jacket class with Connie Crawford, an industry insider class with Louise Cutting and an embellishing class by Barbara Crawford ( no relation to Connie). Lots of good ideas and practical information. I had a personal fitting with Connie Crawford which was a great experience as I have been focusing on fit with the last few things I have made. Very helpful.
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But the highlight of the day for me was the fashion show by Linda Lee (right, above) of The Sewing Workshop and Louise Cutting (left, above) of Cutting Line Designs. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Their designs are so beautifully created with the home sewer in mind who wants to look great at any age and of any shape or size. (Patterns are listed at end of post in case you want to see how well you know the pattern lines-or you don’t know them well and would like to).
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Louise has several new patterns and I don’t know about you, but I find that I don’t always visualize her designs well from the pattern pictures so seeing them made up is especially helpful. One of the other members of our group said the same thing so I don’t think it is just me. Her clothes were a mix of casual and more professional pieces using the same pattern but with changes in fabrics and colors. I am anxious to try “Snap to It” and “A New Angle“!
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Linda’s newest pattern “Helix Tee” looks interesting to sew with only two main pieces. The pants in this pattern had a nice narrow leg which looked very flattering while not being too tight. She revisited several older patterns while updating her approach to them. Especially interesting was the Origami Skirt which I would not have considered until today. Take a look at these pictures and see what you think.
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So all in all if you get a chance to come to Puyallup next year, do consider it. I am heading to the airport now to take the red eye flight home, tired and loaded down with 11 new pieces of fabric, 10 new patterns and a lot of sewing to do!!

(If you haven’t seen enough pictures yet-check out Marcy Tilton’s special Expo edition newsletter.)

Patterns shown above:
1-3-Louise Cutting, Dimension Jacket
4-Linda Lee, Alex Top
5-Linda Lee,Eureka Top, Plaza Pant
6-Louise, Anything but Ordinary Jacket, Artist in Motion Top, One seam Pant-Narrow
7-Linda, Sienna Shirt, Mix It Tank, E-dress Skirt
8-Linda,Opal Jacket, Mimosa Top, Plaza Pant
9-Louise, Fun With Fabric Top, One Seam Pant
10-Linda,Balboa Topper, Mix It Tank, Ikina Pants
11-Linda, Helix Tee and Pant
12-Linda, Trio Top Adaptation, Eureka Skirt
13-Linda, Helix Tee and Pant
(How did you do, Cheri and Kathy? :))

Highlights of February Fashion Sewing Club

Club sheets and garment photos have been posted but I thought I might give a more conversational overview-for more detail, you can go to the original sheets (click on Club Sheets heading above).

Debbie started out with a new KwikSew dress pattern (4026)

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KS4026
but cowls can be finicky. She didn’t like the look and I remembered a Threads article on making a cowl from a regular neckline-you just make slits from the neck toward center bust and open the slits. I suggested she just sew the “slits” together as pleats-kind of like Katherine Tilton’s new blouse (Butterick 6026).
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Butterick 6026
Debbie used New Look 0180 as a guide.
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New Look 6184/0180

IMG_0237The dress looks great-as Debbie said, “Lemons to lemonade”. Fabric is from Treadle Yard Goods.

My favorite this month was a combination of MCCalls 6884 and 6513.

McCalls 6884
McCalls 6884
McCalls 6513
McCalls 6513
I started with the wrap dress (6884) IMG_0248and eliminated the vertical hem on the outer skirt by sewing it into the seam. Another essential change is to serge 1/4″ elastic in the the narrow hem on neck edge. This holds the neckline together and feels very secure.
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I wanted a little more “noise” around my face so I compared McCalls 6513 to the dress pattern. The armhole was lower in 6513 and I really liked the fit of 6884 so I just copied the shirred neck and facing (all one piece) from 6513 and added it to 6884. Worked pretty much like a charm. The other great part about this wrap is that nothing shows when you bend forward!

I also had to give Burda 6990 a try.

Burda 6990
Burda 6990
Debbie made the funnel neck last month and I tried the big cowl-View E. It meant finding a 3 yd. piece of fabric in my stash but it was worth it! The fabric is a soft cotton knit and the cowl is big enough to stretch over my shoulders (like I see in the magazines :)) The cowl is sewn to a broad boat neck so no low neckline.
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Check out more info on the Club Sheets or contact us if you have questions.

And thanks to all of you that attended and brought show and tell. Sew inspirational!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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I bought this stretch-sort of lace at Hancock with the intent to make a negligee for each of my daughters/in-laws. Had to do it today but only got two out of the fabric after a miscalculated cut.
Used this Kwiksew pattern

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Bonus was the stretch lace that I bought in Salt Lake City and it matched perfectly!

February Fashion Sewing Club Begins Tomorrow

My apologies to anyone who received multiple emails or none at all. I will get it fixed.

In the mean time-here’s the content of the email some of you did or didn’t receive 🙂 Hope to see you at Club!

Dear Sewists,
Saturday morning at Treadle will start off the meetings for February. Hope to see you.

We have some fun classes this month-serger club will be making McCall’s 6844 cardigan which was voted by Pattern Reviewers as a Top Ten from 2013. You’ve seen three versions of this cardi at Club past meetings. Click here to see them again and come join us.

We’ve also started a Bag of the Month which can be made at any of our Sewing and Serging classes at Hancock or Chan. We will have the bags at the Club meetings or you can see them by scrolling down to the previous post.

And because we have been having lots of interest from the younger set, we are starting an After School Sewing class at both Treadle and Hancock, if you know anyone that would be interested.

February Fashion Sewing Club Dates

Saturday, February 8, 10:30 at Treadle Yard Goods

Tuesday, February 11, 10:30 at Treadle Yard Goods

Thursday, February 13, 10:30 or 6:30 at First Sewing, Bloomington Hancock Fabrics

Classes

Treadle Yard Goods: 651-698-9690,www.treadleyardgoods.com

Sew It Fits Presentation, Saturday, February 8, 2:00-4:30

Basic Sergery and Beyond, Tuesday, February 11, 2:00-4:00 (part 1)

Tuesday, February 18, 2:00-4:00 (part 2)

Tuesday, February 25, 2:00-4:00 (part 3)

Kids After School Sewing Club, Tuesday, February 11 and 25, 4:30-6:00

Duct Tape Double, Saturday, February 15, 10:00-4:00

Cover/Chain, Tuesday, February 18, 6:00-8:00

First Sewing, Bloomington Hancock Fabrics, 952-884-1938

*Please register with Material Girls website or call us at 952-201-3863

Sewing and Serging with the Material Girls

Monday, February 10, 10:00-12:00, 2:00-4:00, 6:00-8:00

Thursday, February 13, 2:00-4:00

Monday, February 17, 10:00-12:00, 2:00-4:00 and 6:00-8:00

Thursday, February 20, 1:30-3:30

After School Sewing Club, Monday, February 10, 4:30-6:00

Monday, February 17, 4:30-6:00

Serger Club (Sweater Knit Cardi), Thursday, February 20, 10:30-12:30

Chanhassen Vacuum Center: 952-938-7838, http://www.chanvac.com

Junior Project Runway, Saturday, February 22, 10:30-1:30

Sewing and Serging with the Material Girls, Thursday, February 27, 1:00-3:00

Kids After School Sewing, Thursday, February 27, 4:30-6:00

Kristin and Debbie

Material Girls
http://www.materialgirlsewing.com
952-201-3863

Treadle Article in St. Paul Paper

Just in case you haven’t heard about Treadle Yard Goods being for sale, there is a great article in the paper-here’s the link.

And while we’re on the subject-a few questions to think about:

How important is it to you to touch and feel the fabric you consider buying?

How important is the St. Paul address for Treadle-do you walk to the store or drive a distance anyway?

How important is it to you that there is a local store that carries quality garment fabric?

I realize this is nowhere near the importance of a professional sports team but in the world of sewists, not having a great store in a major metropolitan area is a disappointment, to say the least. Let’s all think inside and outside the box and see if there’s a great idea floating around out there that can be a good solution.