Events Category

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

July could be a busy month

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

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Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Christopher Straub at the Sampler

Seven Material Girls drove all the way to Chanhassen on March 12 to listen to Christopher Straub, a Shakopee resident, of Project Runway-Season 6 fame. He entertained about 30 of us with an informal question and answer format and had a great drawing for two of his handbag designs. None of the Material Girls won :(

Christopher is now designing bags of all kinds and will also have a new line of garments to show at MN Fashion Week.

The Sampler will be hosting Valori Wells, a fabric designer for Free Spirit, on May 19th from 5-7 pm. Cost is $30 and they’re promising more great giveaways.

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Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Love Your Serger

This Thursday, March 25, is our Love Your Serger Class day. The project will be Total Serger Tee Techniques and Tips. A mouthful and two hours full of how to put a tee together with your serger. We’ll bring a pre-cut American Girl Doll size t-shirt for you to work on or you can cut out a tee of your own and bring it to class to sew together. This means an opportunity to use your coverstitch if you’ve never done that before (you know who you are) or if you don’t have coverstitch, we’ll use the rolled hem lettuce edge to finish edges.

The class is held at Associated Sewing in Bloomington, March 25, from 2-4 or 6:30-8:30 and the cost is $15. Click on the class name to register and pay through PayPal or send an email to kristin@materialgirlsewing.com

Here’s a picture from the February class where we made a ruffled pillowcase.

Ruffled Serger Pillowcase

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Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Almost Paris-Without the Passport

After riding in an airplane and a shuttle van, I was dropped off at an unassuming corner across from the Puyallup (pew wallop) Fairgrounds. As I began a weekend of people watching it seemed that quilters were in the majority and garment sewists the minority at the Sewing and Stitching Expo. To add fuel to the fire I saw a woman wearing a hat which made it look like she had a scissors stuck through her head. But then I kept looking and slowly but surely I started to see people wearing clothes that were handmade. On Saturday I spotted two young designers.
Friday I took a class from Marcy Tilton about Paris influences in her sewing. Some of her slides were from our trip in November. Saturday noon I sat outside eating a crepe filled with Nutella just like in Paris. The cherry trees are blooming.
And then there were the many, many vendors and their displays. So much like what I saw in Paris.
Although no one would call it the Eiffel Tower, the old bridge that we crossed on our trips between the motel and the Expo reminded me of it. The runway shows were full of creativity and ideas and people! There was gorgeous fabric and must-have notions everywhere. I WILL fit into my suitcase and I can’t wait to get home and sew!
The fairgrounds had great food-fresh raspberry scones, BBQ, gyros and crepes. People were wonderful-all manner of sewing sisters, best sewing buddies, mothers and daughters and even the occasional husband/wife team.
I’m thankful for my sewing buddies, especially Cheri, who has been a great driver, Kathy, Sandy and Marcy and Katherine, without whom I probably would never have dreamed of attending the Expo in Puyallup.
It was almost like Paris-OK-there were some similarities.
But Paris didn’t have Mt. Rainier.
Enjoy the pictures.

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Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Ripping Stitches and Beyond

So I’m working on Marcy Tilton’s t-shirt (V8497-see Laurel’s version in January Club Garments post) and I think I’ll be clever and use my new roll of one inch fusible interfacing (a Sewing and Quilting purchase) to mark the hem and give it more stability. Well, I kept getting puckers on the right side fabric of the hem. Did I mention I’m using my Babylock coverstitch? I tried using the differential feed but that didn’t help. As I’m ripping out the hem stitches for the third time, I decide to look in some of my serger books to see if there’s an easy way to rip coverstitch. To quote Singer Sewing With Your Serger, “Remove cover-stitch threads just as you would remove chainstitch threads. With a seam ripper or a straight pin, remover the last two or three stitches formed by each of the needle threads. Turn over the fabric and gently pull on the looper thread until all the stitches unravel. Remove the loose needle threads.”

I tried. It didn’t work. Several times, I tried. I’m wondering if the Babylock stitch formation is different? I settled on this method: Slide seam ripper between needle threads and under looper stitches on the wrong side. Pull needle threads out-they should come easily in one piece. Use your serger tweezers to pull out small pieces of looper stitch to save your fingers and get a few more at a time.

Getting back to the hem-I removed the fusible interfacing from my hem and the problem went away. Maybe the puckers wouldn’t have happened if I had applied the interfacing at the 1″ hemline and above but then it wouldn’t have saved the measuring. Or if I stitched the hem with the hem allowance/interfacing next to the presser foot, would that have helped? But then I’d have the looper side of the coverstitch showing on the right side.

Any suggestions? Ripping out coverstitch or turning up a hem with fusible interfacing strips are the challenges for today.

Looking for fashion forward events?

U of M’s Design Department has its senior student style show, Insight, this Saturday, Feb. 6 at 5:30 and 8. Tickets are $15 purchased online.

Fashion Sewing Club meets next week-Tuesday, Feb. 9, at Treadle Yard Goods in St. Paul and Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 11 and 13 at Associated Sewing in Bloomington.

Dress Your Best is Saturday, Mar. 6. Pick up fashion, makeup and image tips from several speakers.

Christopher Straub from Project Runway, Season 6, will speak at The Sampler in Chanhassen on Friday evening, Mar. 12. Call to reserve your $30 ticket-952-934-5307. At last look, it wasn’t on their website.

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Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Paris: Take One

So this wonderful trip has begun-it’s Tuesday morning and we’re up early to take in the Eiffel Tower. Sunday was a lovely boat ride on the Seine. My roommate is fun.

Monday was a trip to the Little Black Dress shop and a lecture from its classic French woman owner, shopping at Monmartre, an old notions and hat shop, French shoes and a wonderful dinner at a local’s favorite restaurant.

A bientot!

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Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Keeping up

It’s amazing how quickly we get hooked on technology-my internet has been sketchy of late. But I’ve got a window here so a few things on which to follow up-I did make it to the Envision Style Show that kicked off the MN Fashion Week events. I got a friend to go with me and then ran into a Club member there! See Doreen’s comment. It was fun to be in a different crowd and I didn’t even use the earplugs that I had stashed in my purse at the advice of one of my kids. I only stayed for the first show and was surprised at all the fur-not that I object-there was just an abundance of it. My favorite designer was Peloria who had about five dresses all playing with the same theme of collars and asymmetry. I would certainly go again.

And my online fabric arrived this week! It’s Gorgeous and I can’t wait to get at the sewing of it.

We had four people make the Silhouette Yoga Pant at a class this week. Hands down approval of the Treadle (they are having a sale this week) Ponte Roma knit and the fit of the pattern. One student had her pants sewn in an hour. We hope to see them at Show and Tell this month.

Are you working on your list of classes to take at the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo? The first section of classes is even named “Fashion Sewing”. Lots of great things to learn and do.

Speaking of…I stopped at Creative Sewing in Apple Valley and since many of you may be Babylock serger owners or wannabees-they are having a Babylock educator in town next week, Oct. 9 & 10. Great time to see the new serger or maybe get a deal on feet. I will be there.

Hope you are staying warm and finding comfort in your sewing endeavors. See some of you next week at Club.

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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

So much to see, so much to do

Where do I start? Well, in honor of Fashion Week I saw September Issue on Sunday at the Landmark Theatre in Edina (it’s also at the Regal in Eagan. It’s the documentary paralleling Devil Wears Prada. I had to go to the library to find the ’09 September Vogue to see if Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington are still there-they are. Shows how much I know… But I liked the movie and gained a new appreciation for the magazine. The fashions and people in the magazine are way beyond most of us but the design and photography it represents is an art form itself (in my humble opinion).
Then I picked up the Aug/Sept. SEWnews and it has a great serger shopping guide which would be helpful for any of you out there in the serger market.
Which brings me to the best place to shop for a serger (or many things sewing, for that matter)-the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo. We will have a booth(!!!) at the Expo (Nov. 4-6) and hope to see many familiar and many new faces. Seriously, at the Expo you can sit down in front of different machines with your list of questions and go from booth to booth to compare and make an informed decision. Or better yet, take a serger class in one of the studios and then you’ve really gotten your feet wet and can go to the other sergers for comparison.
OK, off my serger soapbox now. The Expo people and Hancock Fabrics are trying to make it easier to get downtown by having a coach bus at the Southtown, Woodbury, Minnetonka and Coon Rapids locations on Thursday and Friday. Check it out and reserve your seat.
That’s all for now-we have three Fashion Sewing Club meetings this week at Associated Sewing in Bloomington. Will I see you?

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Friday, August 28th, 2009

MN Fashion Week, Anybody Been There?

Thanks to Laurie’s comment about MN Fashion Week I went looking for more info.  MN Fashion Week is September 21-September 27.  The website has the complete schedule.  It looks a bit barebones (the appearance of the calendar) but if you click on the event you get all you need to know.  What I can’t tell you is what the events are like.  I’ve never been.  It looks like fun but my biggest question is-who goes?  Is everyone between the ages of 18 and 30 and skinny as a toothpick?  I’m guessing not but I’d go with more confidence if someone out there could reassure me.  The pictures I found were all of the models-no confidence there:)  So please, leave a comment and inform the uninformed-me!

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Friday, August 28th, 2009

Sewing and Quilting Expo on the Calendar

It had been at the back of my mind as a way to publicize Fashion Sewing Club and then this morning in my email, there was the catalog for the 2009 Sewing and Quilting Expo.  Dates are November 4-7.  I scrolled through the classes and noticed that Peggy Sagers will be at the event.  She’ll be offering a class on her SWAP (Sewing With a Plan) idea among others.  The event is at the Minneapolis Convention Center (guess they didn’t hear all the complaints-BUT they’ve added a coach service from the Hancock stores in Minnetonka, Bloomington, Woodbury and Coon Rapids.  It looks like it’s $15 each day.   Hope to see you there.

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