Saturday Sewing

Hey everyone – we are changing our sewing Day next Saturday (11/26) to be an open sewing day – just bring whatever project you’re working on to Whipstitch. The hours are a bit later than normal, 10am till noon. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! See you Saturday!

Scarf-tastic sewing day

Thanks to everyone who joined us last Saturday at Whipstitch for our Figuring the Eight Scarf Project! We had several new faces as well as some regulars and the scarves turned out great. Now if the cool weather would just stick around…

We have one more Sewing Day coming up before the end of the year on Saturday November 26th from 8am till noon at Whipstitch. Stay tuned for project ideas and inspiration as we make table runners that would be perfect for holiday entertaining and/or gift giving!

BLOG ROLL – if you are interested in adding your blog to our list of member blogs we are working on compiling that now – please just leave a comment with your blog address to be added and thanks for helping make our group great.

Sewing Day THIS Saturday at Whipstitch!

Hi everyone – this is just a reminder that our October Sewing Day is quickly approaching. We’ll be working on Anna Maria Horner’s Figuring the Eight Scarf, the pattern is available for FREE on her website (or through the link). Whipstitch will have kits with pre-cut fabric available or you can buy whatever you like or as always, bring your own fabric with you. In case you’re new we just want to make sure that everyone knows how the Sewing Days work: this is NOT a class. We all bring our projects and work alongside each other and help each other out as needed. You need to bring your own machine and any other supplies you’d like. If you haven’t come in person yet this is a great, easy project to come hang out and sew with us! We’ll be at Whipstitch from 8AM till Noon this Saturday, 10/22/11. Hope to see you there!

We’ve got a Facebook group!

To make it easier to stay connected, we’ve got a Facebook group for our guild!   Go to our page and join!

May Techniques Class project

Darcy will be heading up the May Techniques Class (5/28), and she posted on her blog that a project has been selected:

The Jennifer Clutch from IthinkSew.

As of now, the pattern is ON SALE for only $2.75, so snatch it up while you can!

From the pattern page:

FINISHED SIZE: 11 ½” WIDTH X 6 ½” HEIGHT

This clutch is a cute piece that is accented by its curved top and bulging bottom. It is easy enough for beginners to make, and is great for short trips, such as to the grocery store. In a slight variation of this clutch, the strap may be omitted in order to give it a simple and clean look. The clutch may be carried by being worn around the wrist or may be put into and carried in larger bags. The darts in this bag’s design makes it quite spacious so it can carry many small items.

Blog has been quiet, but we haven’t been!

Hi everyone! I’m sorry for the crickets around here…

The meeting schedule and times have all been updated to show that we will start at 8am.  We heard from many members that they wanted more than 3 hours to sew, so hopefully this will accomodate those requests!   Whipstitch has been incredibly generous with their sewing space, and has allowed us to add a monthly “techniques” class to the mix.  This was done in hopes of pleasing that those of you that want a class with some guidance, or to expand your skills in more of a structured way.

Our open sew as you’ve known up until now has always been on the 2nd Saturday of every month, and it will continue to stay there.  The techniques class has been added to the 4th Saturday of every month.

As always, please don’t hesitate to let us know if you’ve got any suggestions on how we can improve this group!

Also!  Please email me ( melissa dot leray at gmail dot com ) if you’d like your blog listed to the right in our blogroll.  We’d love to show you off

First meeting was a success!!

Eight of us got together today for our very first meeting, and we had a great time!

We started off the meeting by introducing ourselves, and it was really neat to see the diverse background that brought us all to sewing.

Jen showing us her newly made pajama pants

We decided that we want to do what we love, and that means sew together!  Each meeting is going to be 3 or 4 hour sewing sessions, with of course lots of chatting, show’n tell-ing (?), and learning.  Our next meeting, is tentatively set for November 20th, but if we’re able to get the 13th, we’ll snag that date.  We’ll meet at 9am and start sewing!

Our November meeting is going to be just a sew-for-all, where we bring whatever we’re feeling like working on.  Some people are going to get help with simply learning how to read a pattern while others are going to working on holiday gifts.  At that meeting we’re also going to poll the group to see what they’d like to work on beginning with the New Year.

Amanda was showing us the Christening gowns she had made

The format of the group will work with the plan of having monthly themes.  Based on polling the group, we’ll all figure out which themes we’d like to have and then assign one to each month.  For example, if January is bag month, we’ll all plan to sew a bag during that meeting.  Everyone can pick their own pattern to ensure that they are comfortable with they are sewing.   The other thing that was suggested by Missy, is that we bring the pattern we’re thinking of using to the prior meeting so that we can talk about it and maybe change our mind if we find something we like better.  It also gives us a chance to discuss a pattern’s pros and cons if we’ve used it before.  Lastly, it enables someone that doesn’t yet own any patterns of that particular item to get an idea of whats available and what they’d like to sew.   Jodi suggested that we all plan to have our pattern pieces cut ahead of time so that we are actually get a good amount of sewing time in!   But it was made clear to the group that we’re *always* happy to help with the very basics of sewing, like reading and cutting out a pattern

Missy and Ellen (left) and Meghan and Kaileigh (right)

After we get our themes picked for the first few months of 2011, we’ll post them here for the world to see  :)  We are also finalizing dates at Whipstitch for those same months, and will post here as well  :)

We finished off the meeting with the requisite show’n tell and of course, shopping!   I think everyone left feeling excited about the group – what more could you ask for?

Jen and Jodi

Announcing our first meeting!!!

We are very excited and pleased to annouce that our first meeting has been planned and is on the books!  You are welcome to join us; the only requirement is a desire to learn more about all the aspects of modern sewing.

Here are the juicy details!

Where: 
Whipstitch Fabrics
1000 Marietta St, Suite 102
Atlanta, GA 30318
(404) 897-1114
*there is parking immediately to the right of the building; Whipstitch is facing Marietta St.

When:
Saturday, October 9th, 10am

**please bring ideas of things you’d like for us to cover, and if you’re willing to share any topics/talents that you feel comfortable sharing with the group (such as applique, garments, plush toys, felt, hand embroidery, bags, etc)

Here are my pincushies!

I’m planning on posting a tutorial soon at my blog, but I wanted to show them here since Darcy showed hers off too!  These were SO fun (and way quick!) to make.  One went to my mother-in-law as part of her birthday present, and the other went to my partner in the pincushion swap on Flickr.  Now I need to make one for ME!

Pincushion love!

Don’t you just love a little project that you can start AND finish in an afternoon? They’re great for morale around my house! Since I love color I wanted a cute pincushion that would stand out. I used this FREE Square Deal pincushion pattern from Heather Bailey and the only tricky part was getting the ribbon through the fabric – patience is the best advice I can give there! Maybe if we’re *really* nice Melissa will share the adorable pincushions she just made