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.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Fit is always part of garment sewing and with all of the collective knowledge out there, maybe we can find an answer to this question. There are qualifications, though.
The tee must be:
fitted
feminine
long sleeve
an assortment of necklines is desirable but not mandatory
something like the Gap’s Favorite T’s
wearable under jackets, etc. in winter
I’ll start with my two cents-I love Marcy Tilton’s tees because of the cut of the bust and underarm. You may have to skinny up the waist and hips (of course, the extra room in that area is what I love). Arms are also a close fit. She has funky neck bands but those are simple to modify.
The other patterns are the Stretch and Sew tees. They seem body skimming on me and are shaped through the waist.
Now it’s your turn. Let’s see how much wisdom we can get into one website!
Popularity: 37% [?]
My sons just spent their last days in my house as single men(!). We had a great family potluck shower at my sister’s and now the weddings are becoming a reality. Decisions need to be made, etc., etc., etc.
July Fashion Sewing Club will reveal a few dresses as options for the mother of the groom but I’ve got to admit that Nordstrom’s is my fall back. Club meetings begin this Thursday at Associated Sewing in Bloomington (10:30 and 6:30) and Saturday at 10:30.
You may want to take in the Eagle Creek Garage Sale in Shakopee on Saturday (9 am-2 pm) after Club. I haven’t been for a few years but I remember some great vintage notions and fabric. Click here to go to the website.
On Tuesday, we’ll be at Treadle Yard Goods (10:30 and 6:30). Their big summer sale goes from July 8-18. Some of their dress silks are on my MOG dress list.
We’ve had a few requests to hold Fashion Sewing Club at The Sampler (551 W. 78th St.) in Chanhassen, so this is our trial month. Wednesday, July 14th we’ll have our meeting at 6:30 pm only, but we will have it no matter what. We’d like to see eight people to continue the meetings into the fall. Email us or call The Sampler (934-5307) to let them know you’ll be there. Bring your friends-first timers are free (at any meeting). The store is starting to carry more fashion fabric so support them if you want great fabric in a west metro location. Pics of some of the fabrics are below.
Remember Kathy’s scarf from last month? Here is a picture of it laid out. It’s a 32″x22″ rectangle and 7″ wide until it goes down to the points. Hopefully we’ll see a few from the serger class at Club meetings this month.
And then there’s the half of an oak tree that fell on my deck last night. No one woke up, no holes in the roof or broken railings-at least as far as we can tell at this point. Someone is coming later this afternoon to get the tree off so we can look more closely. Life is never boring!
One last clean up detail-last month Sarah Tufford told us about a group in the Madison, Wisconsin area. New homes are found for sewing machines that still work, and in the process gives new hope for the future to poor people. They sew for themselves, their families, and to make a little money to live on. Here’s the website: thesewingmachineproject.org. Some of us have been thinking about a trip to Gayfeathers in Madison and a trunkful of donated sewing machines would be a great impetus! Any takers?
Other calendar details (listed on the website)-Join us Tuesday, July 27th for a trip to SR Harris. Imagine the treasures to be had when a bunch of us start looking! We’ll car pool up to Brooklyn Park and have lunch because it will be hard work 
If you’re looking for a sewing related getaway, you may want to consider the Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan. What if we got a group going together? Novi is supposed to be THE expo for fashion sewing. Here’s the link to the registration: americansewingexpo.com. The dates are Sept. 24-26.
Well, that’s all for now folks. I better get back to my sewing. The tree is being removed piece by piece (and distracting me just a wee bit). Every once in a while everything shakes as it falls more and more! Glad I slept through it.
Knits at The Sampler
More Knits
Kathy's scarf
Tree Down
Popularity: 50% [?]
Tags: Eagle Creek Quilt Shop, Fashion Sewing Club, Gayfeathers, Novi Sewing Expo, The Sampler, Treadle Yard Goods
Another month has flown by-hope you are enjoying the wonderful spring (for a day or two yet) weather and some fun summer sewing projects.
A big thanks to Kathy and Cheri for filling in for Kristin (China vacation) and filling in gaps for Laurel after her mother passed away. Our condolences to Laurel and her family.
Kathy and Cheri took a cue from our current Club challenge-mini wardrobe building-and showed us how easy it can be to have many outfits with just a few pieces.
Kathy's Mixit Jacket
Kathy's Mixit Tank
Kathy's Trio Tee
Kathy's Scarf (instructions in next blog)
Cheri's By Popular Demand Jacket and Ikina Pant
Cheri's Pure & Simple Shell
Jacket, Shell and Swing Skirt
Pant Design Addition
Debbie's Liverpool Shirt
Debbie's Vest
Fabric Embellishment Detail
Debbie's Summer Nightgown
Godet Detail
Laurel's Blouse
Happy Summer Sewing! How about some competition for the Gingher Scissors (prize for the mini wardrobe challenge 
)
Popularity: 63% [?]
Tags: Amy Butler Liverpool Shirt, By Popular Demand Jacket, Ikina Pant, Mixit Shirt, Mixit Tee, Pure and Simple shell, Sewing Workshop, Trio Tee
We managed the subway from our Shanghai hotel to the airport with a little help from a local retired engineering professor. Now we’re in Shijiazhuang where my daughter has been living for almost a year. Quite a change from the wonderful hotels we’ve been in and the cleanliness of Shanghai. I have a new respect for her.
Wireless availability was spotty in our previous destinations. The Shanghai hotel decided to charge for Internet during the Expo.
I bought silk at the factory store in Suzhou, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary-just nice silk. Touched some great wool and cashmere at the custom tailor suit shop in the hotel.
Fashion here is interesting. I can’t say that I’ve been seeing the elite walking the streets of Shanghai. I have seen plenty of big name designer stores along the Bund. Chinese women seem to go for colorful patterns, sheer synthetics and metallic embellishment. Wearing sandals with hose (footies, knee high or rolled) are seen everywhere. And to be fair this is representative of the tourist class, but I guess that would include myself. Chinese women are usually dressed modestly as coverage goes and they don’t seem to perspire!
We spent our free Friday in Shanghai at the Expo from 9 am to 9 pm. Rode the special subway into the park-managed to see 10 country exhibits. It was a drizzly day-the ony one of our trip but only 70 degrees so quite nice. We figured the crowds would be smaller because of the rain but a record attendance of 377,000 was set that day! The scary part ish
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Popularity: 65% [?]
Just had another wonderful breakfast full of new things to try:
Lychee fruit
Hydroentangled eggs (custardy scrambled eggs)
All Kinds of Pickles
Black rice cakes
Yogurt with a straw to drink it
Yellow Knife steamed buns
Sushi
-and that’s only a partial list!
Popularity: 64% [?]
Alive and very well in China. I have eaten eighteen kinds of dumplings in one meal, climbed the Great Wall and seen more umbrellas (parasols, maybe) in the last five days than in my entire life. And the trip isn’t quite half over.
Wonderful people (my fourteen traveling companions are all wonderful) and beautiful placess to see. But enough words-here are some pictures.
Popularity: 68% [?]
What a great month we had! Lots of new people at Treadle-we hope you liked what you saw. Lots of show and tell. The weather even improved as the week went on. So here are the garment pictures-any good photographers out there? We’re learning as we go with the picture taking technique but we hope the pics help you remember what the pattern looked like when you have questions.
Debbie's Jacket
Debbie's blouse
Debbie's pleat front tee
Laurel's ruffle tee
Laurel's bias skirt
Laurel's button tee
Kristin's blue/black cardigan with Maggy London (Butterick 5456) dress
Reversible Blouse
Ruffle tee with buttons
Peggy Sager's Blouse
Back of Maggy London dress
Marcy Tilton V8582 tee
Happy Sewing-see you next month! First time attendees are free so bring a friend.
Popularity: 71% [?]
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!
Popularity: 90% [?]
Tags: iPhone, Pattern Pal
April was a great month-lots of show and tell and information from many of you. We love to see what you’ve sewn and hope that what we do is inspiring you to get to your machines and create wonderful garments for yourselves and others.
Here are the pictures-we missed a few so I’ll add them when I can get back home and photograph them.
Faux Wrap Tee
Easy to Sew Dress
Sporty Skirt and Stripe/Dot Tee
Tie Sweater
Wool Knit Top
I missed a picture for Laurel’s pillowcases but here are a few links from Nancy at the Associated group that give video instructions for making the pillowcases:
Pillowcase Tutorial
Sausage Pillowcase
LaVonne recommended www.homesew.com for great notions, etc.
And then there was Show and Tell!
Inside of Cheri's Verona Jacket
Mary's oliver + s patterns
Becky's Shawl/Vest
Click for more information on the Verona jacket or oliver + s patterns. All are highly recommended.
The shawl/vest that Becky showed was something she copied from ready to wear and got many oohs and aahs. Here is a picture of the garment laid flat. The edges are unfinished but she had another one with a neckband and finished hems.
Here are the dimensions for the garment as many of you requested. You will have to adjust for your body but this should be a good start.
Rectangle is 25 1/2″ x 45″. Inside “rectangle” is 8″ x 17″. Fabric is a mid to light weight knit. Put it on as if the one inside hole were the two armholes.
Happy sewing! Check out the new calendar (click on Calendar above). See you in May.
Popularity: 97% [?]