Show and Tell on Valentine’s Day! We even got birthday treats and bookmarks as we celebrated Ruth’s birthday at the Treadle morning meeting. Yet another good reason to come to Club 🙂
This month’s offerings came from a larger pool of sewists. Thanks to Cheri and Carrie for filling out the line up as Laurel improved her vision and Debbie and Kristin worked on an early tan. Thanks to all of you who attended and keep up the wonderful show and tell.
Here are pictures of most of the garments: Debbie's Silk Banded Tee
Debbie's Boat Neck Dress
Carrie's Embellished Cardigan Carrie's Arty Cardigan Flower Embellishment Cheri's 2x4 Top Cheri's Liberty Tee Laurel's Vogue 8611 Kristin's Ruched Tee Kristin's Red Wool Tee Kristin's Lizzie's Tee
And a few Show and Tell highlights: Katherine Tilton's Zip Tee in a Girl's size Christening Gown Tunic dresses with trim belts Little Girl's Outfit
Another month of weather that wasn’t on our side but thanks to all of you who braved the weather to see this month’s offering plus all the great show and tell.
If you don’t have the Club sheets, click on “Club Sheets” in the top bar.
Don’t forget the arty t-shirt challenge for February. Check out Marcy and Katherine Tilton websites for inspiration-shopping is also great for picking up ideas. We’ll have a few new presenters in February as some of us have other time commitments. Carrie in Laurel's LBD Kristin in Laurel's Hudson Top Knit Jacket a la Von Maur Debbie's Corduroy Tunic Little Girl's A-Line Dress Zona Jacket Hong Kong finish inside Zona Jacket Ribbon Tee Detail Classic Tailored Coat An Ren Coat
As promised, here are pictures of other An Ren jackets. Dugo carries the one you saw at Fashion Sewing Club. I’ve also seen them at Macy’s and Von Maur. Wearing them can make cold weather a little more fun.
We’ve had two meetings-Make It Sew and Treadle-so much great Show and Tell and people shared info right away so I thought I would too. We still have Club meetings Thursday and Saturday at Hancock. Hope to see the rest of you.
1. Becky’s dress pattern was Vogue 8666. Everybody loved it and it’s an Easy Vogue-click on the pattern number to see it.
2. Donella’s microwave bowl or plate hotpad instructions-sorry I didn’t get a pic 😦
Microwave Hotpad
Supplies:
Two squares coordinating fabrics 11 ½”X 11 ½”
Two squares warm and natural 11 ½” X 11 ½” (Do not use polyester batting. It could melt in the microwave.)
Thread- cotton if possible. (I was told the polyester would melt also. But I’ve not had a problem.)
Lay one fabric on one batting. Quilt together. I sewed an X across the square.
Sew 3/8” darts -2 ½” long in the center of each side of the square. Shorter would make it more of a bowl. You can experiment with this.
Repeat with other square of fabric and batting.
Put quilted and darted squares right sides together. Sew all the way around leaving an opening. Turn right side out. Topstitch close to edge all the way around closing up the opening.
Lay in the microwave. Put dish on top. Microwave. Use like pot holder as you take the dish out and use on table as a hot pad, too.
One can make it in several sizes. The one I copied was 6 ½” square. Laurel modelled Lucy's wrap
3. This is a great wrap for showing off a beautiful piece of fabric. In the picture is a velvet burnout from Treadle. We all thought it would be the perfect travel piece too!
Simply take a 23″ length of fabric-this one is 54″ wide-and roll hem serge all edges. Fold in half so selvedges would be together (yes, they’ve been serged off-or not if they are decorative). Stitch one of the two identical sides leaving a 14″ opening at folded edge for your head to fit through.
And then a few pictures of Show and Tell! We get so inspired by what you do!! It seems like most Show and Tell is crafty or for kids but those are the easiest to photograph-I’ll work on getting more garment pictures that look good. Stylin' Olivia-lowering the average age of Club attendees!
Watch for the Club garment pictures after Saturday.
A new fabric and sewing store to check out in the western suburbs! Cathy Guy and her team have done a great job of setting up the new space. Half the store is fabric and a large classroom space and the other half houses the Bernina portion of the store. New fabric coming in every day.
Make It Sew, 600 Market St., Suite 110, Chanhassen-near the movie theatre.
Everything is 20% off through this Saturday to tempt you!
A busy group of girls sewed Infinity Scarves using the
soft, silky voile prints from Anna Maria Horner. The Linden Tree
back room was the workshop for the class that met during the
holiday break.
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!
It was so good to see all of you again. I think we all missed getting together in August! We started out at The Sampler and had a fun group with a few newbies. The group that came to Hancock/Southtown seemed happy to be around fabric and notions and the Treadle morning group had no chairs to spare! There was so much creative energy we had to turn on the air conditioning.
Show and Tell was wonderful. Maybe the extra month gave everyone more time but I’m hoping we keep seeing all of your good work. There are a few pictures below and you can always send us a photo of your creation and we’ll post it.
A good source for outdoor fabric is Rockywoods-supplex, ripstop, etc. We also have a good place to donate fabric. Bring it to any classes and we’ll get it delivered.
Debbie wanted to show the versatility of the Yoga Pant by Peggy Sagers. They’re perfect for dressing up or down. We’ve changed the class to 2 hours and $20.
Laurel and I were reminded how important a muslin (or toile) can be. I was fooled into thinking I knew how a Marcy Tilton would fit me and Laurel figured Cynthia Guffey’s pattern would be error proof. We’ll both be stocking up on muslin 😛
So here they are with a bit more info than usual. The Club sheets are now included here on the website. Click on Club sheets in the top bar and September 2010 should show-click on that and you’ll find this month’s printout or find it in the far right column under Pages. We still think personally attending Club is the most inspiring and fun but it doesn’t always work into the schedule. This also makes it easy to find information you need when you can’t find your sheets. Is this helpful? Do you like the inclusion of pattern numbers?
The fall colors are coming out and the weather is cooling (but the sun is so beautiful today). Hope you are inspired to make yourself or someone else a warm garment. Detail of Debbie's variation on KwikSew 2993 and tee from Sew Stylish Fall 2010 Debbie's Dress Up Blouse Kwik Sew 3620-not shown Silhouette #3400 Yoga Pant Debbie's double collar variation on Butterick 6085 Wedding Dress #3-KwikSew 3735 Kristin's Sewing Workshop MixIt Tank Detail Half finished using PaintStiks to highlight fabric weave Variation on Vogue 8454 Laurel's Indygo Junction One Button Swing Topper Laurel's shirt after alterations-Burda 8368 Close up of Kathy's Sewing Workshop Urban Tee-trim all seam allowances as much as you can Cheri's variation on Sewing Workshop MixIt Tee
Lots of things going on here, trying to winnow the things we do and try to do only what we do best. There was some talk of going to the sewing expo in Novi, Michigan. It’s supposed to be the best for fashion sewing. After looking at the vendors and classes, I’ve decided that it looks alot like the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo that will be here in November so I’m going to pass. I’m taking it off of our calendar.
The event I’m really looking forward to is the Creative Connection. It’s September 16-18 at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis. Amy Butler and Mary Jane Butters (do you know who she is? I’d call her the Martha Stewart of the back to the farm movement-she’s got a great mag but, come ‘on, who could possibly do all she does and look that good-my main complaint about Martha-like we all need another perfect woman to emulate!) Where was I? Oh, yes, wonderful creative women will be speaking; there’s a handmade market that I’m guessing will look like something out of a Somerset Studio/Stampington & Co. magazine. The part I am personally excited about is “social media and your business” speakers and panels. There are also classes that look like fun but are mostly handwork as far as I could tell. If you live in the Shakopee area, the Eagle Creek Quilt Shop is taking a bus downtown on Friday and Saturday. Too bad the Sewing and Quilting Expo people can’t see what’s going on and change their focus a bit.
Peggy Sagers (Silhouette Patterns) has a new set of 4 patterns for fall. I’ve ordered them and especially want to try the cape pattern. There are so many in the fashion magazines for fall but they’re not that great for a pear figure. Check out her version. The set of four sale ends today (Wed.).
After a frustrating jacket fitting, I’ve decided to take the plunge and get a dress form. Any advice out there? Uniquely You was recommended as I was searching for answers to my jacket fit problem. Bernina has one. What do you have?
On the subject of fit-check out The Fashion Code. It’s a $30 option for getting your perfect neckline, hemline, sleeve length. You take your measurements and upload them on the website and get your perfect measurements, based on the Golden Proportion, and a pdf file of a 30 page book to explain your best look further. The measurements are taken from the floor and are a bit tricky to do alone. If you’d like we’ll do them before or after Fashion Sewing Club for you.
Recently I went to the movie “Coco and Igor”. The storyline piqued my interest and I ended up reading “The Gospel According to Coco Chanel”. I highly recommend it. Short, funny and lots of facts (which I’m not sure the movie had a lot of). At one point there was mention of Coco always using a toile or test garment to make her creations. I had only ever heard of calling that test garment a muslin. That same day I was reading a blog and the word was used in the same way. So I took the time to look it up and, sure enough, one of the meanings of “toile”-pronounced twal-rhyming with ball, is a test garment.
Which brings me to my second wedding dress. Several of us Material Girls attended the Peggy Sagers event in July at Hancock Fabrics. I was struck by how easily she altered the muslins on the women and decided that, in the future, I would try to use them more often. According to Peggy, “If you get the wrinkles and puckers out of muslin, they’ll surely be gone when you use fashion fabric that has body and drape.” I have now completed the muslin or toile (very cool word if you’re feeling particularly Coco-ish) for the dress for the second wedding. There’s a sleeve in one side and not the other. I’m still deciding which I want but have plenty of time to think while I cut and sew.
I miss everyone this month and wonder what you are sewing….
Material Girl Sewing 