Save 30% on garment fabric-Thursday only (more great deals-see their Facebook page). It’s a great time to come find them in Chanhassen. We’ll be there from 1-8 pm with garment samples from Fashion Sewing Club and will do complimentary bust/waist/hip measurements and help you choose your best pattern size-bring a pattern you have or we will have samples.
Super Deal! And a few other things…
A coupon is being offered through Amazon Local (think Groupon) for half off sewing classes at Make It Sew! Through Sunday night, you can buy $50 of classes at Make It Sew for only $25! And you can buy multiple coupons too. We have a wool coat class scheduled for January and Guided Sewing (you pick a project) in February, March and April. Of course, it can be used on any of their other quilting, serging, sewing classes. It doesn’t HAVE to be a Material Girls class…
Here’s the link: Amazon Local Minneapolis
My faux leather Marcy Tilton bag is featured on Marcy’s blog. Thanks, Marcy!
A few pictures to share-
I’ve been doing a bit of stash busting and finished the fat quarter bag. Six fat quarters and a yard and a half of cotton gone from the pile. Pattern was passed around ASG circles. Sorry, I have no link. Alice was kind enough to share her copy.
Debbie finished her coat for the Make It Sew class. You can choose your own pattern.
Last picture is one of my favorite Christmas presents-a bag from Modcloth. If you haven’t been to the site, it’s lots of fun. Many, many dresses that are for the younger woman but the ideas to be gleaned are many. Indie, retro, vintage.
The other gift was a Fitbit so hopefully you’ll be seeing less of me (wink, wink).
The New Year is the time for optimism and big ideas. Have fun with all of yours!
Happy New Year from the Material Girls.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Everybody that is coming to my house is now on the road, the kitchen smells like gingerbread so it’s time to wish all of you wonderful Material Girls, “Happy Holidays and All the Best in 2012!” And then I’m going to turn off my computer and enjoy Christmas.
Here are show and tell pictures from December Club. We hope the receivers of your gifts enjoy them as much as we did. Garment photos are found under the heading Club Sheets and Garment Photos in top bar along with the Club sheets from December.
In a New York Minute!
Contributed by Carrie Diamont
In 2009 I attended the MN Sewing Expo and watched my friends, the Material Girls, participate in the Peggy Sager’s customer fashion show for a chance to win a trip to NY to shop for fabric in the Garment District. In 2010 I attended the Expo again, but this time I was determined to have a fighting chance at winning the NY fabric buying trip. Luck was on my side – I was one of two customers to participate in the afternoon fashion show. And I had come prepared – I brought two garments with me so I had two chances to win the trip. Surprise, surprise, with a 67% chance of winning the trip – my name was picked out of the hat and I won!
I asked Peggy if I could join the next December trip as the December 2010 trip was already full.
Can you believe I waited just over a year to go on the NY Fabric buying trip? Although there is a spring option – I prefer fall fabrics of wools, heavy knits, darker colors, etc. Although it was a long time off -believe me I didn’t let Peggy forget that I would be on the December trip in 2011!
The trip begins officially on a Thursday afternoon and wraps up on Friday evening. You would not believe the amount of shopping you can do in just a day and a half! Peggy brought us into places that don’t sell to the public, and specialize in designer lines. As part of the trip we had a once in a life time opportunity to tour the design studio of Nanette Lepore, an American designer who still manufactures the majority of her line within the 5 blocks of the NY Garment District. While the shopping and the tour were awesome, the only thing that could top that was sharing this experience with 40 other sewists. Dinner on Thursday night was a room full of ladies chatting about sewing and sharing experiences. Who knew that a room full of sewing enthusiasts could get so loud! Of course the night ended with a round of show and tell of our best fabric finds from the day. The fun of the companionship was certainly as much fun as the shopping!
Luckily for me, my roommate had been on several of these buying trips. She gave me the inside scoop on the places we would be visiting – where to splurge because you won’t have the opportunity to go back, what types of fabric to expect to find in the different locations, and where to browse. A high number of the ladies are repeat attenders, some have been coming since the first one! It’s easy to see that this trip is a great value for the price and a wonderful experience. For those who have been able to attend the Material Girls’ hosted SR Harris shopping trips – The Peggy Sager NY trip is like that experience on steroids. Unforgettable is the best way to describe it ; )
Pictures include: Peggy and friends shopping in NY, me with two bolts of amazing Helmut Lang wool
Fashion Sewing Club at Expo!!
OK, I’m really excited about it and hope many others will be. Two years ago we had a booth at the Expo but this year we get to do our Club presentations-twice-Thursday at 9:30 am (I think I’m going to stay overnight) and Saturday at 10:15. There will be a runway to walk so everyone that brings show and tell should wear it so you can walk the runway too. Come on, you only go around once, right? There will be no Fashion Sewing Club meetings in November at our other locations.
We’ll also have a booth right next to Treadle Yard Goods. We’ll have demos of our favorite techniques/notions/patterns, etc. Some of our garments will be shown by models at the noon runway shows.
Looks like the Expo website is all up and running. There are quite a few garment sewing classes-lots of fit and some serger classes to get you going. Click here to go there.
Club will be free for November because you’ll be paying to get into the Expo and all. Subscription for Sept.-Dec. is on the website for $25. This year the Expo moves out of downtown to the Northland Inn in Brooklyn Park.
Classes will be posted this weekend and maybe even a new look to the website as I’ll have some undivided attention from my web consultant.
Hope to see what you’re sewing next week-
Monday, Sept. 12-Make It Sew, Chanhassen at 1:30 and 6:30 pm
Tuesday, Sept. 13-Treadle Yard Goods, St. Paul at 10:30 and 6:30 pm
Thursday, Sept. 15-Bernina/Hancock/Southtown at 10:30 and 6:30 pm
All Knits Do Not Roll Equally
Several tees in the new Talbots catalog caught my eye:
It looked like the rolled knit embellishment I used on my “Strip Tees” last month at Fashion Sewing Club.
Which made me wonder if I was limited to cotton/lycra knits for this method or if some of the rayon and poly knits were candidates. So I sewed a few strips together, got them wet and threw them into the dryer.
Here are the results:
Unfortunately these are remnants from my stash so I can’t say exactly what the content is but, for me, the bottom line is: It’s worth the time to make a mock up and be sure I’ll get the roll I want.
Now to the sewing table to copy the tees!
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…..
Peggy Sager’s Blouse Webcast
Monday night was webcast of Peggy’s blouse construction webcast. We didn’t watch it at the Fashion Sewing Club that night because it was mostly on technique and not fit. The techniques in the webcast are also on her “Factory Tips and Techniques-2″ video (pant construction is also on the DVD).
So anyway, I thought I’d give it a try and bought her #600 pattern which she used on the webcast. I had the pattern all cut out and turned on the DVD. Slow sewing was all over the letters to the editor in recent sewing mags but Peggy is out there to git ‘er done! And she delivers. The webcast was 50 minutes long and she finished the blouse-well, except for fitting darts, hems and buttons. I also got that far on my blouse. I took time out for a long phone call and paused the webcast when she got ahead of me. All in all it probably took me an hour and a half. Not bad when I had to look at the pattern once in a while to see what she was talking about. Having said that, it was fun to just sew and have her telling me what to do the whole time. That in itself was a timesaver. I had also watched her DVD once so that may have helped me a bit.
Just a few comments-She talks about sewing on the sleeve and turning off the differential feed. In my experience, all differential feeds are neutral in the middle and turned in one direction to gather and the opposite to stretch. Not sure what serger she’s using… The sleeve did go in very well-not much extra fabric. I really didn’t need much from my differential feed at all. Sewing on the collar with her method is pretty slick and I must say it looks good too. The front plackets add a nice stability to the garment and certainly is quick.
Trying the blouse on this morning I probably should have used a size 3 instead of 2. I went for 3 inches of bust ease-measuring my favorite blouses as she suggests. I forget that she has that 3/8” seam allowance so there’s no grace. The blouse fits-even at the bottom. Bust is great. There is just a bit less ease of movement in the shoulders than I’d like.
Sometime today I will watch her fit webcast for this blouse and I’ll let you know how that goes. Anybody else try this pattern and methods?
Tailoring Tools Class
Here are the samples for Tailoring Tools. We’ll explain how to use all of our favorite tools and then everyone can make a set of their own. Lots of us used to have them but got rid of them from lack of use, but they can improve your garments and make pressing tasks easier. And it’s always more fon to work with lovely tools 🙂
Join us at Make It Sew on Friday, May 18 at 10 am. $20-everything but outer cotton fabric included-we supply wool, lining and stuffing. Call 952-767-0701 to reserve your spot.
Bits and Pieces
If you need something fun and inspiring to do this Sunday, the fashion show at Eagle Creek featuring Amy Ordahl and company is at 1 pm and there’s still room. Should be fun to see what she’s creating and the fabrics she uses. Call 952-233-3774 to reserve a spot.
We had 14 Girl Scouts at Hancock/Bernina on Tuesday. They each made an infinity scarf and a wrist pincushion. It’s always inspiring to see small hands working so hard at something new. Because there were so many, I was trying to think of things to entertain them if they finished early (one never knows) and I remembered a button toy from my childhood. Anybody remember a large button on a loop of string and then you spin it and once it gets twisted enough you can gently pull and release and the button spins and the string hums? I experimented with several different strings and yarns. A fun toy to keep in your sewing room for distraction ( who said anything about children-I need a diversion every once in a while! It gets the creative juices flowing 🙂 There are lots of you tube videos showing this toy so I guess I’m not alone. Google “spinning button toys”– evidently the erotic world has a corner on “button toys”. (Now you’re curious aren’t you!)
Happy Sewing, see you next week.
Material Girl Sewing 