Expo Day Trip 2013

Well, my traveling buddy Miss A and I rolled out of the Rocket City about 7:15 Friday morning, which was just a pinch later than we'd hoped, then we missed an exit in Birmingham and went a bit out of our way to get to the venue.

So we were about 15 minutes too late to catch Cynthia Guffey's 9 AM class.

I am trying to console myself by believing that it was probably stuff I've heard before; but every time I hear it it gets a little deeper so my consolation is somewhat short.


That was one of the classes I'd picked; another one was full and another was offered the same time as the Louise Cutting class I wanted.

So I only took 2 classes...Louise on measuring/alterations and Cynthia on transferring changes made on a muslin/toile/mock up/pickyourfavoritepracticegarmentterm to the paper pattern.

But the noon style show was all Cynthia's designs, with her narrating about how the cut/lines of the pattern worked...it was like a free class.

These two ladies are both marvelous instructors and absolute delights to listen too.  I know there are other teachers who are really good as well, but I can't seem to bring myself to pick someone else's class over theirs.

Anyway, I bought a wee bit...

The black/white is a double faced linen from Louise's remnant rack; I walked by it 3 times before I succumbed.  The Of the Moment pattern was marked down as well, so I snagged it.  I may just use that fabric for that pattern...we'll see.

I picked up one of Cynthia's tops pattern; jeeminy, I have about 5 of her patterns now and still haven't managed to get one made...so sad...  I picked up a small pair of duckbill scissors, too; I have the regular size SOMEWHERE.  It's been missing long enough that I wanted a replacement, but decided to get the smaller ones because, well, you know, the others might show up.

The food print cottons are for Rhonda's Mary Bridge Pillowcase project.  I've been meaning to find some fabric from the stash and whip some up, but, well, I don't have a ton of cutesy cotton prints.  I happened to be standing next to a quilting cotton vendor while waiting for the daily grand prize drawing and spotted these fabrics.  Could NOT walk away.   I *think* I have some green/red/yellow fabrics about to use for the trims; this is my goal before I start sewing up other stuff this week.

If I get a chance to sew something up this week...

One day at the expo was fun; it's enough to shop, but I really, really would like to be there all three, so I could take the Thursday and Saturday classes, too.

But, trying to be grateful for what I had and not fret about what I didn't have. 

Strangely amusing/slightly sad moment from the weekend:  one of the classes was held in a hotel across the busy highway, so they ran a shuttle bus for folks to take over.  I went down to the lobby a little early and struck up a conversation with another lady who was waiting for a friend to arrive and then she was going to head up to the vendor floor.

'What kind of quilting do you do?' she asked.

Um...I don't quilt?  Would like to make a quilt someday...I have some chopped up squares from scraps from the kid's clothes I made ages ago, but, nope, don't do it.  I make clothes.

She actually looked surprised....but the shuttle pulled up before I could tell her to check out Louise and Cynthia's racks...I hope she saw something inspiring.

Back from the Friendly Neighborhood Sewing Expo

It's been 4 years since I last was able to go to the annual sewing expo's stop in Atlanta, GA.  There was just too much on the plate...in more ways than one...for me to make it work.  But I missed it; missed the camaraderie, missed the learning experiences, missed the break in the routine, missed the sewing geek shopping opportunities.  Every year I watch the info pop into my in box and look at it wistfully, hoping I can go 'next year'.

Then I got an out of season notice...and was surprised to see that the Expo was coming to Birmingham, a mere two hours away!  My traveling buddy and I filled a day with classes and went yesterday.

Now, this was the first time the show had been to Birmingham.  It was a fraction of the size of the huge Atlanta show, both in terms of venue space itself and vendors exhibiting/ teachers teaching.  But I did get to see Carolyn.

I had basically a full day of fitting classes from Cynthia Guffey, with an additional class from Louise Cutting.  Most of it I had seen before, but it's been 4 years and the reminder didn't hurt.  Besides, some things came with a lightbulb moment that I don't think I'd had before.    Louise came to the Birmingham ASG last fall, so I had heard her much more recently, but the chance to look at her garments made up is inspiring in itself.

I bought a piece of ivory silk/linen from Louise, and a top pattern from Cynthia.  Not much by way of shopping, but, given the current financial season, even that felt like an over indulgence.  But I need ivory for choir; it will get worn.

The question now is...will I get the chance to jump into sewing before I lose the fresh inspiration?  Or will that lovely silk linen blend just get regulated to the stash for another season? 

I commented to a lady who was purchasing some raw silk from Cynthia while I was waiting on the credit card to clear that I had a goal of wearing one year's Expo purchases to the next Expo.  Cynthia responded, 'That's a very good goal.'  I replied, laughing, that I don't think I've ever actually done that, but she shook her head. 'It's still a good goal.'

She's right.  It is.

Jo-Ann's Comes to the Rocket City

There has been at least one Jo-Ann's Fabrics store in The Rocket City in the 30ish years I've been here; it opened in a small strip center pretty much where a very nice independent fabric store had been located (it's sad that I don't remember the name of the store). There was a fire in the center, and the indy store never reopened, but Jo-Ann's was there for a little while. They came, they declined, they went.

Today there was a Grand Opening for a brand spanking new Jo-Ann's. I didn't figure I'd try to go, but I had an appointment on that end of town and, well, I had to look.

I wanted to know if the first thing visible when you walk in the door was fabric. Silly of me, maybe, but that kind of sets the tone for the store. There's a Jo-Ann's in Duluth, GA, that Miss A and I always visit when we make it to the Expo, and there's one in Cool Springs, TN, that we stop by when we do our annual trek to Textile Fabric's Summer Sale.

There's a huge difference. The Georgia store has the fabric front and center; it's what you see when you walk in. I've seen silk, linen, nice cottons...it's a fabric store. The Tennessee store has craft stuff up front, and the fabric tends to polyester.

I wanted to know what we had.

Now, I knew that, since I'm *supposed* to be resting up, I probably shouldn't go. If I hadn't had to get out anyway, I wouldn't have. But the new store was only about 3 miles from my appointment, so...I went, just to have a look.

It's just as well it was just a look. The line for the cash register went all the way to the back of the store. It was crazy.

I could sort of see the fabric all along the left side of the store when I entered; it wasn't front and center but it was visible.

However, a quick walk through...such as I could manage, with the crowd... showed mostly polyester and quilting cotton. I saw a teeny bit of very lightweight silk dupioni that was listed at $25/yard, but no linen or rayon or wool. And they didn't have Burda patterns, which was the main reason I was excited a Jo-Ann's was coming to town.

Sigh.

But I filled out the registration for the gift card drawing just the same before I left. :-)

Not this Year

I received the brochure for the 2009 Sewing Expo in Atlanta yesterday and it grieves me somewhat to realize that it's just not going to work for me to go this year, as much as I want to.

My Sweet Baboo has an opportunity to do something really cool (it would take to long to explain; it's a metal working class in it's simplest term) out of state just a couple of weeks after the Expo and I'm not sure the budget could take two travel hits in such close succession.

But we've got some emergency repair work to do on the house. Some things that were done before we purchased the house were not done correctly and now must be corrected. The estimates coming in are, well, discouraging.

So, in the interest of being fiscally responsible, I can't make the Atlanta trip.

Y'all have fun, and enjoy La Madeleine's for me...hopefully, I'll see you next year!

The Classes: Expo '08

I only took 4 classes this time, although one of them was 2 1/2 hours long and counted as three sessions. Two of the classes were w/Cynthia Guffey, one was with Louise Cutting and the other was with Peggy Sagers. I love all those ladies...and while I know there are other excellent instructors at the Expo, they are on my 'must have' list and, since I was somewhat limited in the number of classes I could take this year, I just made sure I had classes w/all of them.

I began w/Louise's class, 'Cutting Line Designs'. Louise talks every year about new ideas she's spotted in high-end and designer RTW, and this year was no different. Neat ideas for wrinkle-resistant travel fabrics, edge finishing on sheers, neckline shapes. She also talked a little about sleeve fitting and gave a great way to know how large a sleeve should be: with the arm bent at the elbow, place your opposite hand vertically on the upper arm and have someone else measure around both your arm and your hand. This will give you the minimum measurement the upper sleeve should be, including wearing ease. That was a lightbulb moment for me...and hit home later. She had more tips on garment construction and fit...it was an *excellent* class, and Louise, as always, was thoroughly entertaining as she imparted her wisdom.

The next class was one I'd been looking forward to...Cynthia Guffey on Sleeve fitting. We began with Cynthia's standard lesson on Back Curve/Shoulder Slope and went on to sleeve cap/biceps. I had a shirt muslin with me that I'd made for her top fitting class a couple of years ago but didn't get used because there were so many others there w/muslins she just didn't get to mine. So I toted it back and she used it for the class example. She verified what I thought: I have square shoulders and need to make corresponding adjustments. But the big deal with that blouse is that the sleeve was too small (I will confess to gaining a couple of pounds since I made it). She emphasized a couple of times that if the sleeve and bicep were both measured ahead of time, most of that could have been fixed before making the muslin. Then (with my permission) she took a pair of scissors and slashed the sleeve (there was an audible gasp in the class, but it was made to be whacked). The slashed edge spread two whole inches when I bent my arm. So I will definitely try adding some space to that sleeve and see if it works.

But, I felt a little chagrined, because I *had* measured my arm...hanging straight down at my side. Why it didn't occur to me that I needed to bend my arm (sort of like measuring your hips when you're sitting down) I have no idea. Louise's lightbulb came on again...so I'll be doing a little remeasuring.

Cynthia's Tricky Gizmo sewing class was really good, too...several handsewing tricks for 1) securing thread invisibly 2) precisely placing snaps, hooks and eyes and buttons, 3) making perfectly neat thread eyes and button loops and, as a bonus, sewing a hand rolled hem. It was really validating, because some of the things she demonstrated I already had figured out on my own. But I learned some new things just the same (and I'm going to keep practicing that rolled hem until I get good at it. Rolling edges of silk scarves would be a great work-while-you-wait or watch TV project)

Finally, on Saturday I had Peggy's classes on Designer Finishes. She had a boatload of Designer and high end RTW that she brought in to show us, basically, how simply many pricey designer garments were sewn. Rolled edges, raw edges, simple shapes, deliberately crooked or irregular topstitching...all things the designers get away with because they have a Name and they're using fabulous fabrics. Peggy's point was that if the designers can do it, so can we...and we should just get over the 'home ec perfection' that was required back in the day and be free to break the rules and just sew.

One of the things she had was a lined denim jacket. Now, it wasn't a blazer style; just a plain ol' western jeans jacket. And it was lined. Now, I'd sort of figured that a lined jeans jacket would be a dead giveaway that it was homemade; who lines jeans jackets? But this one was lined with a cotton print (rather rumply on the lining at that), so now I feel free to line my eyelet jacket when I get around to it.


Now I'm all inspired! And it's back to the jammies...

The Expo Haul '08

There's the contents of the bags all spilled and spread. The total yards bought (somehow, I forgot to put the stuff I got at JoAnn's in the photo...but it was only one Burda costume pattern and one yard of silk/lycra black charmeuse) on Saturday all added up to 22.875 yards. Not as bad as my day at Sir's last year, but bad enough. That makes me currently 36.125 yards away from parity, although I have two projects that are close to being finished and one that's about half done. Still, I'm climbing back on the 'no fabric' moratorium for a little while. Sigh.

But it's all good stuff! Well, the possible exceptions were two fabrics that I got purely for choir wear...that turquoise is a pretty cheap knit (I've gotten similar stuff at the dollar table at Wally World, I do believe) but it's the right color for Easter Sunday. It's going to probably be a Basewear 2 turtle neck top; we'll see how it feels after it's washed. It was in Vogue Fabric's remnants bin, so I really don't know what the content is. Definitely lycra; dunno what the balance is. It's soft and appears to be rather pill-prone...probably a cotton/poly blend. The other meh-for-me fabric is the light green cotton/lycra sateen. Beautiful hand, icky color. But it's choir green...so I figured I'd use it to test a pattern that I ordered from Cynthia Guffey, a jeans jacket w/a cool assymetrical style (I should have it in a week or two). I think if it works it'll be the pattern I use for the cool denim eyelet I've been trying to decide on a pattern for. Just enough of a twist on the classic style to suit the cool fabric.

The other fabrics I love, love, love, though. The green (also a choir green!) jacquard is a Tencel/rayon blend and drapes beautifully; I've got a couple of the Threads/Simplicity tunic tops and one of them will get made up into this pretty quick. You'll see three pieces of solid black...and that's not counting the black silk lycra charmeuse! I found some NICE black pieces...a sandwashed silk crepe from Vogue Fabrics that I intended for drapey pants, even though it's a trifle on the light side for pants. But then I visited Louise Cuttings booth and got a yard and a half of the most amazing black silk (oh, my, it's TDF!)pants weight fineline twill. Then, I found a teeny booth on aisle 1 called 'Trendy Fabrics' manned by a young couple who do most of their business on the 'net and ebay. Enough 62" tropical weight black wool for a pair of Oxfords. For less than $15.

Two black and white prints are in the haul; one is a silk crepe houndstooth from Vogue Fabrics...it'll be a killer blouse if I don't go totally crosseyed trying to sew it! The other is the crinkle fabric featured on the front of Silhouette pattern's Tank Top/Pleated Top. Peggy had a 'show special'...the pattern and the fabric for the pleated top at a discount. Hey, it goes great with all the black stuff...I decided to go for it. And she measured the fabric VERY GENEROUSLY, so I might end up with something else from it, too.

The final expo purchase was the white shirting. No one had any 100% cotton or cotton/lycra great white shirt fabric, so I ended up getting some fantabulous Italian linen from Vogue Fabrics. Not *exactly* what I was looking for, but close enough.

It wasn't everything on the list, but I managed to find subs for most of the stuff that I couldn't find specifically. And I exercised great restraint over a pricey bit of novelty wool at Vogue. The saving grace was that it was more dress-weight than jacket weight. If it'd been a tad heavier, I think I'd've been a gonner....

I purposely did not resize the photo, so if you want to see what patterns I picked up you can click on the photo and enlarge it and I think you can see details.

I had some volunteer work on my schedule this morning, and I have company coming for dinner tonight and, well, let's just say there wasn't much housecleaning done while I was gone...maybe I can sew tomorrow. Hope, hope, hope....

It's in the Bag

The only things I had time to purchase Friday between classes were my micro-tip scissors and the new rotary cutter and replacement blades. Everything else I bought, I bought on Saturday. I took my Weekender Bag in as my shopping tote; figured that would keep me from getting my pink bag confused w/everyone else's pink bag. What I didn't figure on was cramming the thing so full the tab started to pull out. (EEK) As soon as we got to the car I moved some of the stuff to the Expo bag to give the poor Weekender some relief!

But I bought a bunch of fabulous fabric and, alas, must return to the NO FABRIC moratorium whist I sew it up. I gotta be at least close to parity before the annual pilgrimage to Nashville and Muna Couture and Textile Fabrics in mid-July.

I haven't even added it up yet...I'm kinda scared...

Oh, and it was snowing in Atlanta Saturday morning. Big, feathery snowflakes. It was beautiful...if only it had been Christmas!

Expo List

Oh, my, we leave tomorrow!

I am so not ready...the pj's aren't quite done and I've no idea yet what I'll wear.

I kinda like to wear things made from stuff purchased at the previous expo, but between here and there (the weather forecast says it will be snowing in the Rocket City when we return home Saturday night!...but it's going to be fairly nice in ATL...) I just haven't been able to pull something together. I think I'm going to have to ditch my preference for wearing garments made from the pattern designers whose classes I'm taking and just go with what I've got that will work.

Although I *could* wear the Houndstooth Jacket. Hm. Maybe I'll just wear that jacket both days w/different tops.

Anyway, I'm hoping that the Scissor Guy will still have one pair of the needle-nosed snips that Cynthia Guffey talked about last year. It was the last class session and I didn't have time to go down and order a pair (he was out of stock) so I figured I'd get a pair this year. And I've been needing a new Ergo Rotary cutter since July, when mine fell off the cutting table and I, uh, stepped on it. Broke the guard spring anchor, so I had to tape the guard permanently out of the way. Not ideal.

But this year I've got a list of fabric I'm looking for:

White shirting
Black and white stripe shirting
Black 4-ply silk (depends on the price...)
Black tropical wool (more choir pants!)
Sage silk duppioni
Sage knit
"Ocean Teal" (um, sort of aqua? It's the color the ladies are to wear Easter Sunday) knit or shirt weight woven for a top.

I probably won't get all of that, but that's what I'm looking for. It's all for the choir wardrobe. I'll probably allow myself ONE 'Oh! I love that!' fabric that's not on the list. We'll see how much $$$ I spend on the list stuff first.

I'll report back on Monday... Huntsville Master's Commission will be doing all the service on Sunday, so no Choir Sundays post this week.

Wow, what'll I wear to church???? ;)

Expo 08 Classes

I wasn't sure I was going to get to go to the Expo this year; there was a possible schedule conflict w/a church event. But the church event didn't work out, so I sent in my registration Saturday evening, with my fingers crossed that I wouldn't be too late to sign up. My traveling buddy Miss A couldn't leave till Friday this year, so all the classes had to be after noon on Friday. I registered for 4 classes (one is a multi-session class; I had to pay for an extra session on the five class package) Saturday night and crossed my fingers that I'd get in.

Last night I had an email that said my registration was confirmed, so apparently I'm ok! Here's my list:

Louise Cutting, Cutting Line Designs, Fri 1 PM
Cynthia Guffey, Perfectly Fitted Sleeves, Fri 2:30 PM
Cynthia Guffey, Tricky Gizmo Sewing, Fri 6:30 PM
Peggy Sagers, Designer Finishes, Sat. 12:30

There were a couple of other classes I considered, but decided that I didn't really want to spend the entire day and a half in classes...I need *some* shopping time!

And Miss A and I have recruited another friend...who is also a Miss A...to come along.

Now all I need to do is book a room.

And decide what to wear. ;)

Expo 07 Report: Classes

Ok, this is the, um, reason we all go to Expos, right? To be instructed by great and inspiring sewing educators? It's really not buying stuff....

Yeah, that's why this is post number 3 instead of post number 1. Oh, I was saving the best for last. Yeah, that's it :)

Anyway, I started off at 9 on Thursday with Cynthia Guffey in two back-to-back classes; the first was 'Backs Fitting First' and the second was 'Off grain, On target'. Those of you who have had classes with Cynthia will imagine my shock when she came in dressed in blue jeans! And the cutest little princess shell top made of underlined lace (which I am SO going to knock off at the first available moment!). The backs fitting involves two measurements: shoulder slope and upper back curve. I'd seen Cynthia demonstrate this concept last year in the muslin fitting class, but the review absolutely didn't hurt. Miss A and I decided to measure each other's back curve and shoulder slope on our next 'cut for church' day (which is tomorrow...Big Project between now and the first of April; I'll get around to explaining it someday soon). Actually, we were wondering why it didn't occur to us to bring measuring tools and do it while we were there.... The second class was a discussion of fitting curves of the body...most notably, the bust curve. Cynthia's model was a cute gal in her early twenties who, as Cynthia put it, has got curves. Cynthia talked about dart placement, rotating darts, converting a darted style into a princess, converting an armsceye princess into a shoulder princess...I gave up drawing and decided to get the book in which she describes these things ;). But it will make more sense textually after seeing it visually.

The only other class I had on Thursday was Diane Ericson's Fashion Illustration class. It really was a lot of fun, and while I still don't consider myself a great artist, the drawing that I ended up with (beginning with a tracing from a fashion catalog) surprised me. Anyway,for whatever it's worth, here it is,along with the photo I used for inspiration (I would credit the source on it, but I really have no idea where it came from)Um, should I point out that we had no erasers? :D



















On Friday, I had Peggy Sager's Jeans fitting class and Louise Cutting's travel wardrobes class. Peggy did a quick little visualization of the difference between Crotch Length (distance from waist to waist through the legs) and Crotch Depth (distance from waist to crotch) that I have never seen before that really illustrated very well that properly adjusting Length does not affect Depth...suddenly, I saw it as cup shaping applied to the rump...that was a real Lightbulb Moment.

Louise's class was chock full of great tips on traveling and personal safety...not something you'd expect at a sewing expo! But, from someone who travels as much as Louise does, it certainly was good advice. She also showed us her 'paper dolls' -- she's done a package of the front views (technical drawings) of all her patterns, one per sheet of paper, all drawn to the same scale. So, using a scanner and a copier, you can create little samples of her clothes in your fabric, or a reasonable facsimile of your fabric (she said to purchase scrapbook paper for a wide variety of colors for solid fabrics) For a solid, run the scrapbook paper through the copier and copy the garment you want to make from that color...then cut it out. For the print, scan the print, then print it on regular paper, then run it through the copier. That really looked like a lot of fun, and I could see that it was an invaluable tool for wardrobe capsule planning (aka SWAP - Sewing With A Plan). But, I didn't have any money for toys this year, and I had to pass it up. But I did get the booklet that went along with the class, and it also has the outlines...although those outlines are in the back on a smaller scale; I may play with those all the same. ;)

On Saturday, I had Cynthia again for two classes, with Tammy O'Connell in between teaching about sewing with leather. I did learn some things in Tammy's class, but I had a hard time staying focused. It was the next-to-last class, on the last day, I'd had a big lunch, the air conditioning was running and humming...and Tammy has a very soft voice, which wasn't helped much by the PA system, which had about a quarter second delay, so there was always a hint of an echo. But, I'll remember her tip about handling small glued bits w/tweezers...that will be a good thing to remember when DD does her science project poster, too ;)

I'd be surprised if anyone had a hard time staying alert in one of Cynthia's classes...even on the afternoon of the last day. Her buttonhole class was great...tips on making good buttonholes on a sewing machine("We're not going to make bound buttonholes; if you came in here to do bound buttonholes you're going to be disappointed"). Her sewing machine makes buttonholes backwards like mine does, and she gave some excellent advice on keeping buttonholes straight on such a set up (I smacked my head...it was so obvious...). The final class was Pants Tweaking; I wore my modified Daphne pants and Cynthia tweaked them. I wondered why I had a diagonal fold behind my knees...turns out the crotch depth was about 1/2" too long and, um, I have a flat butt (That was news to me; I used to always add length...). She pinned out the extra and the class oohed and ahhed behind me, so I'm guessing it was a great improvement. She said the diagonal folds went away; there were no mirrors, so I'll take her word for it. Miss A measured the adjustments for me before I took the pins out, so I have some real adjustments to make to an actual pattern...and it should fit Really Well once that's done. Oh, she also recommended that I stay away from tapered pants (and I had taken some of the taper out of those)... So anyway, between Peggy's jeans class and Cynthia's Pants class, I feel like my knowledge of pants fitting increased exponentially and I can't wait to pull out that Daphne pattern and see what happens... ;)

Expo 07 Report: Patterns, Books and Notions

Going to the Expo not only gives access to fabric that I can't find anywhere around, it also has patterns, notions, gadgets, books, videos, DVD's, machines, buttons, laces...if it has to do with sewing (or knitting) you can probably find it somewhere.

I got three books (Or booklets; the binding and printing and artwork is pretty self-published-looking):

Louise Cutting's Cutting Across the Country In Style, which has tips on everything from choosing garments for a travel wardrobe to going through airport security to how to stand in a photo so that you look thinner (she also demonstrated that in class; I'm going to see who starts standing that way for review photos...incidentally, in one of my other classes, the instructor had some slides of RTW garments for inspiration...and one of the size 00 models was actually standing as Louise recommended! I'm sure everyone else in the class wondered why I snickered at that photo...)

I also picked up Cynthia Guffey's Simple Guide to Master Tailoring Volume 1: Jacket and Precision Measuring and Pattern Alterations I have so many notes from her classes w/hurriedly sketched pattern pieces that are, well, almost indecipherable later. This way, I have nice clean drawings and explanations to supplement my notes.

That leads to Notions:
At last year's Expo, Cynthia came into class with a pair of Kai Shears and actually stopped her lesson for a couple of minutes to sing the praises of them. The kicker was that she doesn't sell them...but she told us that Emma Seabrooke does. Of course, by the time I got down to that booth, the only ones left were for lefties. So those shears went on this year's list, and Emma's booth was my first purchase...those printed slinkies and a pair of Kai shears. Cynthia recommended another pair of scissors this year...micro tips from 'The Scissor Guy'. He was sold out by that class, so they're on the list for next year. She passed them around: needle-tipped snipping scissors that I declare could cut a single thread. I've never seen anything like them, but Cynthia said they were much, much better for cutting buttonholes than the chisel-and-block. I guess that's next year's first stop... ;)

I also got some fusible tape; I was looking for Steam-A-Seam, but that was one thing I didn't find. I got some of the soft double-sided fusible (it has paper on both sides) to try instead, and both black and white fusible bias. Since I do a lot of turn-and-stitch necklines, I thought that would be a good investment to use for stabilizing them.

And of course I bought a new package of blades for my ergonomic rotary cutter.

And patterns! I came home with...9.

Four were from Silhouettes: Me Too! One-Piece Skirt and Yoga Pant to see if DD will be interested in some more sewing experience, and Lana's Jean and Sonya's Blouse for me.

From Louise Cutting, I got AnythingBUTOrdinary, even though I had thought it wouldn't suit me. When I saw it in person, I decided I wanted it after all... ;)

I also got Diane Ericson's Skyelines pattern. I *know* her patterns are designed for tall women, but the lines on this one have appealed to me for a long time and, since I did take a class from her, I decided this would be my purchase. I'll just have to account for the difference between my body type and what she's designing for when I prepare the pattern. It does have such nice strong vertical lines... ;)

Finally, Miss A and I did make a trip to JoAnn's (actually, we visited a couple of JoAnn's and a Hancock's, searing for fabric for Easter costumes. We did find what we needed; I'll tell that story later in the week), and I got two Burda patterns, 7932, which strikes me as being very similar to Vogue 7281, only with more 'opportunities for fit'. The other Burda is 8960. And, I decided to be conservative and I only got one pattern off of my Simplicity list...3877.

Ah, so much sewing to do...so little time in which to do it...

Expo 07 Report: Fabric

Here's the stash addition! L to R:
The first two are printed slinkies from SewKeysE (Emma Seabrooke). The first one is a cool geometric abstract in cream, black and dark royal blue w/gold accents; the second is a fushcia/black/hot pink floral w/gold accents. Not sure what knit tops I will make out of these right off the bat; I need to make up my mind about the floral one quickly; I could wear that in choir this month! I will need to be Very Careful about print placement on them, though!

The third piece is a rayon challis herringbone twill...the colors are just fabulous! It's going to be a swishy skirt; I'm thinking Loes Hinse Gore skirt w/godets...we'll see if I change my mind. I might make a 'banana' skirt (the style w/the banana-shaped gores). I've got lots of tops that will go with that.

The piece on the end is a jacket-weight cotton twill (to be worn when the choir color is orange). A topper-length coat...maybe one of Louise Cutting's designs...is what that's slated to be.

Finally, laid out in the front is 1/2 of a washable pigskin suede hide. Originally, I got it thinking I'd see if I could get a LaRue bag from it...but, heck, it's WASHABLE, so now I'm thinking I might use it for trim in a garment...or maybe even a vest front. I haven't sewn with suede before; it's 'learn new skills' time.

So, that's about 9 1/2 yards (hard to define the suede) for less than $9/yd average; I did pretty good... ;)

I'll post about patterns, notions and classes later in the week.

PS Gaylen is ISO some suggestions for a newbie sewing friend; if you've got any recommendations for beginner sewing books/patterns, go over and leave her a comment w/your suggestion and it will be greatly appreciated!

Back from Expo '07

Boy, it was a late night last night when we finally got home! Miss A and I hit 4 fabric stores on our way out of Atlanta (there was a very good reason...more on that tomorrow). I exercised Great Restraint, purchasing only about 9.5 yards of fabric at an average of about $8.60/yd. That's not counting books, notions and patterns, but all in all I came home feeling fairly good about what I got. But next year...I'm buying silk! If I have to save every sewing penny from now till then! ;)

Here's a glimpse of what I got...details later...

Off to Atlanta!

I've embellished my name tag just a bit... ;)

See you tomorrow!

Look for the report late Saturday. Meantime, for your reading pleasure, if you haven't checked out How to Buy Fabric, make sure you read it (and all the comments!) I guarantee you'll be giggling coffee through your nose if you're not careful...

And I'm really wondering if that was a truly edifying thing to read just before heading into the den of fabric temptation that is the vendor floor at the Expo... !

Expo 07 Wear

Well, I'll be wearing the teal In the Trenches on Thursday...but here's my planned wardrobe for Friday and Saturday (unless I change my mind, which is possible but not likely... ;) ).

Say 'Hi!' if you're there!

A Considered Purchase

I was just a little bummed that my fabric shopping at the Expo was going to be focused around what I would need for choir...I didn't feel like I could just look for fabric that spoke to me. But, an email from Fashion Fabrics club announced that they are running a deal on shipping...1.95 flat rate for any purchase of $40 or more. So I did a little scouting and found two knits and some black cotton/lycra twill that will do nicely for 'necessary choir clothes'...for a total of 8 yards at just a fuzz over $5/yd, including shipping. I don't think I could've found it for cheaper at the Expo, and now I'm free to look for fabric that I love.


I can't buy much...after the 8 yards arrives, I'll be just a little over 12 yards ahead of parity...that'd be about 4 pieces of fabric. And (I'm telling myself this, anyway) I'm going to be picky. It's got to *speak* to me.

We'll see how strong my willpower is...or maybe, how vocal the fabric is this year!

Maybe I'd better wear earplugs. :P

Expo Happy Dance

I got my tickets yesterday for all the classes I requested and amused my visiting parents by doing the little happy dance. The only problem is that Peggy's jeans class info says "Class Supply List: bring your favorite jeans to class"...and I don't *have* favorite blue jeans; I have acceptable blue jeans.

Maybe I'll just sit in the back and watch ;)

The Silhouette Show

Last year, Peggy Sagers began having a 'Customer Appreciation' Fashion Show at the Expo...that is, she reserved the stage, then allowed anyone who made up a Silhouette Pattern to model the resulting garment...or garments, if they desired...so everyone could see the patterns made up on Real People. She even gave an incentive...a chance to win a free registration for one of her NYC Garment District shopping trips for anyone who participated. I couldn't do it last year because Miss A and I had to hotfoot it out of town so we could be back in the Rocket City in time for a conference (um, we were late...). But, this year I actually saved that time slot (it's at 3:15 on Friday) and I'm seriously considering taking a couple of things...the red holiday jacket being at the top of that list.

But...I think I'd feel kinda, um, well, you know, awkward doing the runway thing. Did anyone see that show last year? Was it fun or hokey?

At least I don't have to make my mind up on THAT one until I'm packing to go... ;)

I'm Registered....Expo Agony, Part 3

I considered the 5-classes vs 9-classes for a day or so; but in the end, the final decision maker was that the primary reason for going to the Expo is to be taught...the secondary reason is meeting up with sewing friends. Buying fabric is just sort of a fun bonus.

There will always be fabric available somewhere...but I will not often get to be taught by such sharp and knowlegeable folks as are assembled at the Expo. Anyway, the upshot is that I decided to go for the nine class package. ;)

After I decided that, I looked at my list of classes and was glad to see that I would only need to eliminate one class. After reading and re-reading the class description, I decided the details class by Diane Ericson was the one least likely to be useful to me...I love to look at Diane's creations, but, in all honesty, I don't wear a lot of artsy stuff. Funky, yes, from time to time, but not artsy. Anyway, I decided to eliminate that and set about putting all the others into a schedule.

It wasn't until I tried to put two classes in the same time slot that I realized that I still had concurrent selections...and they were both classes I wanted a lot. Cynthia's linings class and Louise's travel wardrobe class. Since I was taking several classes w/Cynthia, and this was the only chance I had to take one w/Louise (the other options were the same time as one or the other of my 'must take' classes), I decided to take Louise's class.

So, now I had an open slot. I'd already talked myself out of the details class so well that I wasn't tempted to put that back in the list; so I started reading the catalog again for those other classes that had caught my eye.

And discovered that they ALL were offered in a time slot in which I already had a class. With one exception.

So I signed up for Cynthia's Backs First class after all. I guess I was just meant to be in that class. ;)

So, for those who are still with me and who might be attending the Atlanta Expo, here is the final list (assuming that none of them were full as of last night):

Thur - 9 - Backs First Fitting/Guffey
Thur - 10:30 - Off Grain, On Target/Guffey
Thur - 2:30 - Fashion Illustration Basics/Ericson

Fri - 9 - Cutting Across the Country/Cutting
Fri - 1 - Jeans for Everybody/Sagers

Sat - 12:30 - Fearless Buttonholes/Guffey
Sat - 2 - Leather Logic/O'Connell
Sat - 3:30 - Pants Tweaking/Guffey

I know that's a little Guffey intensive...but Cynthia has 10 classes in the brochure! Most of the instructors are only teaching 3 -4. One of these years, I will skip the expo and save my pennies and do one of Cynthia Guffey's sewing clinics in Baton Rouge. I will, I will, I will...

One more note about the Expo...Shannon Gifford, who is no slouch as a sewing instructor herself and has been asked about teaching at the Expo, has told me that the folks receive NO compensation for teaching the classes; the only money they make is from product sold in their booths. While my budget will be down, I do intend to buy *something* from each person from whom I take a class... ;)

Whittling the List: Expo Agony, Part 2

Ok, I sat down and looked at my ridiculous, overlapping list of classes to take.

Where to start?

Well, the first thing to look at: what do I *need* to learn?

Two classes jump out at me immediately...Diane Ericson's Fashion Illustration class (yeah, the double one) and Peggy Sager's Jeans class.

I can't draw worth a flip...I mean, even my stick figures are rather drunken looking. But I'm finding I'm frustrated in trying to communicate what I see in my head for costumes to someone who can't see the lovely thing that is in my head. I don't expect to leave the class able to illustrate for pattern covers, but it would be nice to at least catch the idea of what I see so that I can discuss costuming with the directors better. So, while that's not something I'd go for because I want it...I think it's something I need.

And...I've really never made jeans before. I used to be able to find jeans that fit *good enough* at the Lee outlets here and there, but since the days of the dropped waist and lycra fit, (and, as Kathleen Fasanella might add, The CAD camel toe), I've not been able to consistently locate jeans that I'm comfortable wearing. So I bought one of the Hot Patterns Jeans patterns and I'm actually considering beginning the process of developing my own personally-fit jeans pattern. So any wisdom Peggy could pass along pertaining to making and fitting blue jeans will be greatly appreciated and quite possibly more than a little useful.

So, that adds up to the equivalent of three classes.

Next in the class selection process, I went through the list and crossed off classes that I thought probably duplicated material I have had before. Not that it wouldn't hurt to hear it again...just that, well, I gotta cut something!

I took Cynthia's Tops Fitting class last year, which dealt heavily with back fitting (and was amazing and I want to see it again, but, well...), so I could probably eliminate the Backs Fitting Class. And I took Louise's Cutting Edge class last year, also...which may have new stuff this year, but from the class description it looks like it could repeat a bit. Then I looked at the three-part 'Bridge to Fabulous Sewing' series that Cynthia's doing. I'd really like to do that, but from the descriptions I think she will probably cover information that I've heard from her before in some form...and I still haven't got the specialty feet for my machine that some of her techniques specify. I'd like to hear what Peggy Sagers has to say in the 'Speedy Sewing' class...but, the truth is, I can be a sewing whirlwind when I put my mind to it, so I don't know how much new-to-me stuff she'd be presenting.

So, now my list looks like this:
Cynthia Guffey:
Backs First Fitting - Thur 9 AM
Off Grain, On Target - Thur 10:30 AM
Pants Tweaking - Thur 2:30 PM or Sat 3:30 PM
Lining Guides - Fri 9 AM
Solid Beginnings - Fri 10:30 AM
Skillful Stitching - Fri 2:30 PM
Sewing Workshop - Fri 6:30 this one counts as two and has a materials fee
Fearless Buttonholes - Sat 12:30 PM

Peggy Sagers:
Jeans for Everybody - Fri 1 PM
Speedy Sewing - Sat 2 PM

Diane Ericson:
Fashion Illustration - Thur 2:30 PM another double class with a fee
All in the Details - Fri 10:30 AM

Louise Cutting:
Cutting Edge - Thur 2:30 PM or Fri 4 PM
Across the Country - Fri 9 AM

Tammy O'Connell: Leather Logic - Thurs at 9 AM or Saturday at 2 PM.

So, I have three slots definitely filled...and 7 more classes to cull down some more.

Now, 'tis time to determine if I'm going to take 5 class package, or forfeit some shopping money to take the 9-class package.

Either way, something's going to get cut!