2014

New Year is around the corner!

Changing winds bring a new President Sallye! We keep Kathy as our Treasurer, and Nancy as our Secretary. Thank you for taking on these important roles as our chapter will not run without them!

Thank you Joyce for all you have done these past years as President for our chapter!  We know we will be seeing you at meetings enjoying sewing and your sewing friends! 

Check it out! Special Event planned for April: 
Louise Cutting! Big name little price! You can choose all 3 different classes. Check out our Event Page and our newsletter for more information.  Do not miss this one! Sign yourself up and maybe a sewing friend up today!

Webinar Line up ASG style

Fall Webinar Schedule

Fall is the perfect time to construct a new jacket! In our upcoming fall webinars, we'll have four "follow-along" sessions where you can completely construct a lined jacket totally by machine! This includes putting in shoulder pads, sleeve headers, hemming and even sewing shank buttons on by machine. Register now for these upcoming webinars and join in the fun of creating.

Don't forget to visit the ASG blog at http://www.asg.org/scr/blog/ and join in on the comments, announcement of winners and photos/videos from conference on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sewingguild.

Sew for now, enjoy the journey of sewing…
Ramona

Upcoming Educational Webinars

Sep 5: ASG Online! Getting the most from your ASG membership
Do you really know all that is included in your ASG membership? Are you taking advantage of all there is? This session will show some of the many benefits and how you may access them.

Sep 12: Let's Talk Lined Jacket Construction (1 of 4 sessions)
For the month of October, all the webinars will feature a sew-along series with Ramona. This session will be in preparation for those classes. For the sessions we will be using a lined blazer with a lapel(you may use a similar pattern that you already have). Discussion will be on how to choose the fabric, interfacing and notions for the lined jacket. Three sessions in October will be the constructions methods she developed from studying ready-to-wear techniques to complete the lined jacket.

Sep 19: Let's Talk Cuffs and Collars
Do the undersides of cuffs and collars on garments peek out? Do the curves seem less than smooth? Have you learned how to add piping? In this webinar learn some simple tricks to give you professional results.

Oct 3: ASG Online! Gift Giving Ideas
The clever folks at Clover have some fun tools on the market to make great gifts. We’ll take a look at three of them and projects that may be made.

Oct 10: Let’s Talk Lined Jacket Construction Session 2 of 4
This session will be layout and cutting of the jacket and lining. Techniques for matching plaids will be discussed. The interfacing will be applied and tips on pressing during the construction will be given.

Oct 17: Let’s Talk Lined Jacket Construction Session 3 of 4
Jacket construction will begin. All construction will take place on the sewing machine…absolutely no hand sewing with these RTW (ready to wear) techniques! This session will include setting the sleeves, sewing in the sleeve headers and shoulder pads (yes, by machine!), and discussion of buttonholes will begin.

Oct 31: Let’s Talk Lined Jacket Construction Session 4 of 4
If you have followed along and done the sewing between sessions, by the end of this session you will have a completed, lined jacket, in just a few more hours of sewing after viewing this session which includes lining construction, hemming, and sewing the buttonholes.

Shamefully cut and pasted from an email from Ramona from ASG! Thank you ASG!!

ASG member goes to DC!

Would you like to hear about Conference this year in DC?

The above picture is the Simplicity Group photo. You can see Kathy in front on the ground floor, Anita and Joyce are on the highest. Judy Longacre and Denise Diaz is in the photo too.

There is somebody missing!  She was very hard to find! Where was Sarge hiding? Diane had a good time!  She was everywhere! no pictures?

It is great to see friendly faces! Linda Clark and Judy Longacre from Hudson Valley Chapter.

and the Boston Chapter...Karen Sehl

A fun class I had was a Beaded Button Class with Kathleen Chrisman.  It was a low key non stressful class, just was I needed! She was so not fussy about what kind of beeds you used or what design you made. The red beaded button started is Dianes'.

I took a class by Jan Bones. She does those nighties and soft bras with no wires, has some other patterns too.  Her methods are easy to do on home machines, I asked about using a coverstitch machine for the elastics, and she said she doesn't do it that way but you "could".  

I took a Jennifer Stern Full Bust Adjustment workshop.  She fitted each student with her muslins, which had special velcro tapes on them with measurements.  This told her how we should make our adjustments to her pattern, for our shape. Unfortunately, I feel we ran out of time and I don't think we fully got the instruction we needed on the adjustment part.  It takes so long to fit each person.  However, each student did leave with a pattern in her size and what adjustments to make, and a workbook telling us how to make those adjustments.  I tried in my hotel room to make those adjustments for the second time, since I made them in class wrong, while she was fitting the others....and made the adjustments wrong again. I think it will take more effort than I was willing to give it at that time!

My last day was with Jennifer Stern, this time for a Jeans Restyling class to change up a fitted jean pattern. Well, since I was still having problems with my jean pattern from last year, I spent my time trying to fix it.  There were others that took my lead (?) and did the same!  When I was with Sarah Veblen in June she told me that I had a tilted pelvis, I took this to mean tilted in, but I think it is, really tilted forward. so that the the front curve not so curved, which I think is the cause of my issue of all the bunching.  So what Jennifer did was have me straighten my curve, then when that wasn't enough, she had me pinch a horizontal line from CF to nothing at sides in the bunching area. This made a big difference in the NEW muslin.  I think I will make this change on a new pattern, make another muslin, and check it out before cutting denim.   

Below is a picture of the actual jeans restyling part of the class. She was demonstrating how to change up a pocket.

I had one class with my fav Sarah Veblen! It was on Facings.  It was a little bumpy, since her equipment that she requested for the classroom was not present, but she made it through. It was great, and made me very conscious of my facing of the jacket I was wearing that I made! See below!

Another class about knits with Lyla Messinger gave me inspiration not to be such a snob against polyester.  She said if you can feel your breath thru the fabric your body heat will pass thru it and you will not feel clammy when you wear it.  Another tip she gave was to cut off selvages before cutting your pattern to release the tension to get accurate cuts.

The vendor hall was the smallest I've seen in my 4 conference history. But Susan Khalje made an appearance at this vendor...where there was a rumor the prices were over $100 a yard. I kept walking.

I bought myself a new Janome! It is a QDC 4120. I think its 12 pounds? It felt heavy when I lifted it out of the box, so I compared it to my 10001, ok, not so heavy! This will be my travel machine after we get acquainted.  What sold me was that it was a Janome, it's so quiet, it has a auto thread cutter, a semi auto threader, had a great deal, and it was 12 pounds, came with an extension table, and lots of feet.  I bought it after lunch on the last day, perfect time to buy a machine when the dealers are looking to unload all the leftovers they haven't sold!  You see, the sponsors buy all the machines we use in the classrooms. Then they try their best to sell them during the show at discounts to us!  I was running late after my last class after I had already bought it, just to pick it up, and knew I would have to make a stop to my car to drop my bags to get the machine. So I made a quick stop to tell John from Calvert Sewing Center in Prince Frederick Maryland what I had planned, and he offered to carry it to my car! How nice!

On my way to DC, I stopped at NJ at a friends house to break up the driving and visit. Then, I stopped at Fabric Mart! and bought a few pieces...and on my way back I stayed overnight again at my friends house. Only to wake up and take the train in her town to Penn Station to go to the Garment District in NYC!  I did this because it was so unusual that I was there on a week day and just had to take advantage of my locality! 

I went to Metro Textiles (above pic), he said he had some wool to look at, and even a customer came in to take samples...but I wanted knits! I had remembered I made some dresses from his knits and wanted more! I also made sure to stop by AK Fabrics (below pic),

 and bought a couple pieces of unusual denim, since I have "normal" denim washed and ready-already! It is really hard to restrain oneself in the garment district!  However! I didn't buy any trims!

I was on the hunt for some bra cups for swim suits in large sizes, very hard to find in NYC?  If anyone finds a good store for this let me know, they all shook their heads when I asked for larger than B cup.

 I also bought some foam by the yard that had a tricot type cover on both sides that I hope to use in bra making. I had so enjoyed my adventure. When I finally made my way home,  then I realized...I should have bought several colors of jean top stitch weight threads! Next time!

ASG in DC was a good time, I think all there were sewing with friends! Meet me in St. Louis in 2014? and San Diego, CA 2015?

Money isn't everything...

Hello!  I hope you all are enjoying your summer!  Did you have a great time at Rita's Pool Party?  I wasn't there because I was working :( So I hope someone will be kind enough to send pictures so I can post them on the Blog.

Have you noticed some changes on the Blog?  We have some advertisements. We currently are using Craftsy and Amazon.  While Craftsy is mostly known for their amazing RIGHT NOW knowledge on the how to sewing in video form that is streamed from the sky to your computer screen.  Amazon is known for books, music, videos, sewing tools even.  Just like our Advertisers in our Newsletters, they are there to make money for the chapter.  And anyone who has been on the board can tell you the money is not much.  Especially now when the advertisements are so new…and on the internet…oh my so strange to so many of us right? If you want to buy a book, click on the Amazon logo, if you want to take a class at Craftsy click on the Craftsy logo.  Click on it just to check it out, and see what it is all about. 

I currently am in the beginning of taking a class from Crafty of Jean-ius! With Kenneth D. King.  I choose that one because I am working on my jeans pattern from last year’s ASG conference and wanted all the jean knowledge I could get! I am also taking another jeans fashioning class at this year’s ASG conference. This is my first encounter with a Craftsy class and with King and I like them both! The Craftsy class allows me to rewind as often as I need to if I didn’t understand something, or when I was too slow taking notes. The visual and sound quality of the video is excellent.  I love that I can pause the video, or skip something. I really enjoy it.

There are so many wonderful classes to choose from at Craftsy I hope you will try it out!  I am sure you won’t be disappointed.

Till next time,

Keep sewing!

Bonny D

ASG Conference 2013 Washington, D.C. AREA!
Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia
August 1-5, 2013

Ready? Yes!
Get Set! See ASG.org for brochure on April 3.
Sign up! See ASG.org for registration April 8.

You can also find a link to sign up for a hotel room
at the ASG.org too.  Share the cost! Drive down with
a sewing friend, share a room... This is a sewing
trip to remember!

NYC ASG Style!

How about a trip to NYC with some fabulous ASG ladies?

Disclaimer: the following is from an ASG HQ email!

Sew Much Fun New York
April 7-13, 2013

This could be the trip of your dreams and your chance to go behind the scenes in New York's fashion district!
Activities include:

• Get acquainted dinner reception
• Private half-day city bus tour with guide
• Visit to a designer's workroom
• Private viewing at FIT's clothing collectionIn addition, we'll visit many of New York's designer fabric, trim stores and a fabric flower factory. An evening at a Broadway musical is planned along with a behind the scenes tour of McCall Patterns.
  
  We will see New York from the Top of the Rock, have an inside look at the costumes of Broadway's "Wicked," as well as some additional surprises. You will have free time to explore New York and we will finish the week with an beautiful evening dinner cruise. This tour requires a significant amount of walking. Your guides will be Marsha McClintock and Marla Kazell.
  
  Learn more about this Sew Much Fun Tour. or visit www.ASG.org
  
  

  Deadline to register: February 1, 2013