Thursday’s Club Meeting

Well, there was no snow on the ground yesterday! That’s quite an accomplishment when April’s Club was cancelled because of a snow storm. We had a great turnout for both am and pm meetings. And Show and Tell was awesome! The evening group had 100% participation. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Cathy and Mary (Make It Sew and Treadle owners) for contributing the door prizes as that’s part of the fun. Speaking of door prizes, last month’s winning appeared this month as a finished tee! That’s a pretty quick turnaround.

Julia brought an American Girl doll dress that was machine embroidered. Several people wanted to know the specific name of the software (it traces the pattern pieces on the fabric while in the hoop). It’s Custom Keepsakes by Kathy Harrison. Julia has two collections-Gals and Dolls and Christening 2. Go to http://www.customkeepsakes.com

Amy, under the tutelage of Annette, made this beautiful First Communion dress for her daughter. Lots of dreams came true when she wore the dress. Amy’s husband said that sewing is the cheapest hobby because it took so long to complete. Who wants to burst that bubble?

And if you are mourning the end of this season’s Project Runway or if you never liked the fashion aspect/snarkiness of the show, check out the Great British Sewing Bee. Real life models, real sewing skills, construction, construction, construction (they even illustrate the process in drawings) and no adverts! You have to watch it on You Tube at this point but it was really easy and entertaining. Thanks for the tip, Cheri.

Looking forward to Club meetings at Treadle-

Two New Magazines


Just in case you want to find a sunny window and read a good magazine, the latest issue of Sew News and a special Fitting edition of Threads just hit the newsstands and have the Material Girls’ stamp of approval-our humble opinion, of course! And we are discriminating 🙂

Cute blouse idea, bag by Linda Lee,sashiko, pretty blouse details and then the ever relevant, sought after fit information. If only reading could make it sew (so)!

This and That

I collect tidbits here and there and must make room for new items before the old are forgotten-

We’ll be at Treadle on Saturday morning (10:30) for Fashion Sewing Club AND Beyond Basic Sergery (2-4:30). Great chance to further your serger skills, get inspired to sew for warmer weather-all in one trip!! Call the store to register-651-698-9690 for the serger class. Just show up for Fashion Sewing Club-no need to register-first time free!


Debbie and I both made spring jackets and while I was perusing Joann’s the other day I came across parachute cord which would make a great cording option for a jacket.


I solved the problem of putting a longer garment on my duct tape double! I had my garment on the double and sitting on a table but the hem was too long. I could hang it from a clothes pole but then I remembered I had a plant stand in the basement-bingo! It is skinny enough for a garment to hang freely and is about the right height. If you don’t have a duct tape double, we are wrapping at Treadle on Monday, April 29 and there are still 3 spots left.

Thursday am Fashion Sewing Club Cancelled

Old Man Winter is messing with us today! The reports of the roads sound pretty awful-Debbie would have to leave now to get to Chanhassen on time and we don’t expect any of you to spend that much time on the road. So we will be sewing by ourselves this morning instead of meeting at Make It Sew.

We will watch the weather and decide whether or not to meet tonight.

If you don’t see anything here at 2 pm we WILL meet tonight at Make It Sew. I’m keeping my fingers crossed 🙂

We still have Saturday morning at Treadle if that would work for you.

April Fashion Sewing Club and Classes

Opposites attract.

Debbie and I taught sewing to two groups of girls during their spring breaks these past two weeks. Wonderful girls, budding skills and lots of fun. At one point, Debbie looked over and noticed our personal collections of embroidery flosses that we had brought along for teaching hand sewing. She pointed out how much they reflected our personalities and I laughed till I had tears running down my face. Maybe it was the fact that it was also Debbie’s birthday or the last day of our classes, who knows-but it made us both laugh for a long time. Debbie and I truly enjoy each other’s company and we bring different strengths (and quirks) to the partnership. Is it obvious to you whose floss is whose?

Since we are getting so much rain, maybe it’s a good time to do some sewing before the good weather gets here. We have quite a few classes on the schedule for April. We are also teaching sewing and serger classes at Hancock in Southtown beginning this month. We will offer the classes through First Sewing which is the sewing machine store that took over the Bernina space but you will also be able to sign up on our website (give me a day or two to get the changes made). Since there are two of us to teach and we want to ensure enough students in each class, we are offering two classes in the same time slot. We also want to clarify that Sewing With a Pattern is a guided sewing time open to all levels so if you are an experienced sewist stuck on an certain technique or have never used a pattern, that would be your class to be repeated as often as necessary.

Hope you can join us for Fashion Sewing Club or a class!

April Fashion Sewing Club Dates:
Tuesday, April 9, 10:30 @Treadle Yard Goods
Thursday, April 11, 10:30 or 6:30 @ Make It Sew
Saturday, April 13, 10:30 @ Treadle Yard Goods

April Classes:
Streamlined Blouse, Tuesday, April 9 and 16, 2:00-4:00 @ TYG
Basic Serger, Tuesday, April 9, 6:00-8:00 @ MIS
Knit Skirts, Thursday, April 11, 2:00-4:00 @MIS
Beyond Basic Sergery, Saturday, April 13, 2:00-4:00 @TYG
*New at Hancock, Monday, April 15:
Learn To Sew 10:00-12:00
Basic Serger 10:00-12:00
Beyond Basic Serger, 2-4:30
Sewing With a Pattern 2-4:30
Learn to Sew 6-8
Basic Serger 6-8
Designer Tee, April 16, 10:00-1:00, @ TYG
Serger Club (napkins), Thursday, April 18, 10:30-12:00 and 6:00-8:00 @ MIS
Sew With A Pattern, Thursday, April 18, 2:00-4:30 @ MIS
Beyond Basic Serger, Wednesday, April 24, 10:30-1:00 @TYG
Eternal Sergery, (Knit Skirt) Wednesday, April 24, 2:00-4:30 @ TYG
Crash Course/Learn to Sew, Thursday, April 24, 10:30-1:00 and 6:00-8:30 @ MIS
Advanced Serger, Thursday, April 25, 2:00-4:30 @ MIS
Basic Serger, Saturday, April 27, 10:30-12:30 @ MIS
Project Runway Kids, Saturday, April 27,1:00-4:00, @ MIS
Duct Tape Double, Monday, April 29, 10:00-4:00 @ TYG

Spring Break Sewing Camp

February and March Club Meetings

Garment photos and Fashion Sewing Club sheets have been posted for both February and March. Both months were much fun and we want to thank all of you that attend. Show and Tell is always inspirational and just in case you need a little something to get you going, here are a few highlights-

Marge sports Claire’s original coat design for Hearts for Fashion show

Center for Pattern Design Spiral Top

The cutest undies a grandma could make!
Pattern by that *darn* cat

And, nope, I’m not making toddler underwear-yet 🙂

Happy Easter and happy spring sewing!

Pattern Surfing

I can’t believe it’s only a week and a half until Club again, but I guess that’s what happens when the month only has 28 days (and other calendar events take up the days). So I was websurfing for new patterns and I noticed that Vogue has been featuring pictures of the back of garments that I hadn’t seen before. After some investigating it looks like the newer patterns from BMV (Butterick-Vogue-McCall’s) feature a straight-on photo of the back of the garment. Here are a few that caught my eye-

V8805

V8875

V8875

(Here’s the link to go to BMV site-8875 8805)
See how straight-on the photos are? Older patterns have a back view but the model is usually standing at an angle and you don’t get a true back view.

The colorblock dress photo shows the lower seam a bit stretched out and allows you to see where it cuts the model (of course that may vary with body lengths).

The long green vintage coat (which I love from the front)
isn’t too flattering from the back but as you look at the dress, her backside looks much better. Hmmm…we know it’s the same backside so maybe it’s because the skirt of the dress is straighter OR (and I have told myself that this is the correct reason) the coat waist falls too low on the model and makes her look frumpy. Agree?/Disagree? (Can you tell how badly I want this coat to look good on me?)

Simplicity/New Look/Burda only show the line drawings of the back of the garment. Too bad as it is half of the garment.

Maybe the BMV people listened when we all complained about the gymnastic poses of the Vogue winter pattern models and at least gave us one picture of reality. I’m happy they did-whatever the reason. Choosing the pattern is half the battle. Speaking of battles, I better get back to my scissors-

Here’s a little something to brighten the cloudy day:

How Do You Recycle?

Since I’m going through my stash so quickly (ha, you really can’t see a difference in my closet) I need to be sure I am getting rid of things in the right places. An added benefit is feeling good (!) about letting go of fabric that I spent hard-earned money on. Here are my benefactors-please share if you know of others:

Bundles of Love-quilters, sewists and knitters make layettes for moms who have very little as they leave the hospital

Knit fabric for gowns/sleepers
Fleece for buntings
Quilt fabric for quilts
Yarn for sweaters/booties
Serger thread
Flannel
sheet fabrics (cotton or cotton/poly blends, at least 45″ wide and 70″ long)
Quilt batting

Bring your donations to Fashion Sewing Club and I will get them to the group or go to website.

Family Resource Center, Minneapolis (Latino Women’s Group)
This is a group of women that meet and learn new skills

Fabric and patterns

Bring donations to Fashion Sewing Club.

Spool Racer Contest, Prior Lake Schools
Students build racers from thread spools for a science project.

Any straight thread spools (not serger cones)

Bring to Club or drop at Treadle or Make It Sew and ask them to save for us.

And then just plain recycling-

Fabric remnants and clippings (all leftovers from cutting out, too small to keep)
USAgain, for profit group-green drop boxes found in parking lots-website has locations
Someone mentioned a place that accepts scraps for dog beds-anybody have a contact?

I keep a basket next to my wastebasket and then bag it up when full.

Paper from pattern cutting, out of style patterns

I keep a bag hanging on a lamp close to cutting table and empty into paper recycling.

And then if you’ve read this far, you deserve a reward-
the grandbabies in their fire engine pants. I’d like to say they are from scrap fabric but I bought the fabric just for them. But I had a friend once who ripped all her remnants into strips and sewed them into log cabin squares as she went. I think I might start sewing my remnants into clothes for the boys as I go-the machines will have the right color thread and can just have a few quick patterns like pants and tops. We’ll see…

Have a great weekend!