Stitch fashion show and craft bazaar

Last month I attended Stitch and boy was it fun! Not only did I get to see some great fashions on the Runway (I managed to get real close) but I also got to check out some awesome things for sale in the various booths! To add to all the fun, I got my makeup done for free at the Rae cosmetics booth, got my hair did at the Birds barbershop booth (I looked like Gail from Sin City, but in a good way!) and I made myself some fabulously punky arm warmers at the First Samples booth. The fashion show had a terrific DJ, whoever it was. Here are a couple of my fave looks from the show both by House of Dang.:
I also loved the vintage redesigns from Ornamental Things, these adorable things I saw called Smittens, and these crazy scarf/necklace things reminiscent of Little Shop of Horrors (I tried to find them online but couldn't :O( ). Lots of fun with my only complaint being the catastrophe that was the food situation. Oh well. I guess it would have been better if the wait at Casino wasn't 1 hour and 30 minutes. Apparently no one liked the food ;/.

Adventures with thread and needle

Boy has it been a while since I wrote. Isn't that how it is supposed to be with sewing...you learn a new skill and then you forget everything else exists? Here's a brief summary of what I've been up to lately:

Swap-o-rama Rama:
Austin's Maker Faire turned out to be fantastic and Swap-o-rama rama was one of my personal highlights. People gathered from far and wide and rifled through each others' unwanted clothes, picking out hidden treasures to keep from themselves. What a fabulous wallet-friendly alternative to a shopping spree! Hooray instant gratification!

There was on the spot altering:

Screen printing:


and even a fabulous fashion show!

I had a blast watching photographing everyone find super finds and turn them into excellent items. If you've never been, you should attend next year.


East Side Halloween Costumes for Kids:

This was the most fun I've had in weeks. Shauna and her team participated in a philanthropy event where they used donated fabric to sew costumes for low income families' kids in East Austin. The kids were thrilled to watch as their ideas came to life and I have to say some of them had more creative ideas than any adult I've ever met. And I have some creative friends to say the least! Check out the Siamese twins below. We ate candy corn, popcorn, and danced to...what else? Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Have bag, will travel

Class # 2-Sewing bootcamp

Today's the day we started sewing our tote bags together. We're sewing everything inside out and will flip it over when its all done which is really kind of neat because it creates an exciting sort of mystery.

We learned how to make the straps and used a cool tool called a loop turner to turn them inside out after we sewed them. That was so much fun for me because its kind of hard to make a tube turn inside out, but with a little practice, I became pretty good at it!
Its an important skill because you'll be using it when you make straps for anything. This is good because basically it means that I now know how to make straps! I also know how to hem because when you cut out your fabric you sew in the edges so that it's smooth and straight (which is good because most of us noticed that using scissors was not something we would call a "skill.") Making the totebag made me look at clothing in a completely different way. Now when I go shopping, I look at a piece and see all the different sections of the pattern that were sewn together to make the garment. Its really kind of amazing that patterns are basically puzzle pieces that you sew together and wear.

We were all really comfortable together in the class and laughed and joked around with eachother as we made our totes. We had a couple of really hilarious snaffoos. One of us (I won't mention names) happened to sew the bag shut by mistake. Another one of us (okay, this one was all me) wasn't paying attention and sewed one strap on with the seams facing out (it should face in so you can't see it when you're carrying it around, like with all bags.) But that's why you take the bootcamp, so that you get thrown into making something and learn by making mistakes and doing it again.

By the end of the class, we were all so thrilled with our new bags. Check out the pictures and you'll see why! We turned them inside out and were so impressed with how great they looked. Oh the pride!
After class, a couple of us stuck around to discuss how we could use our introductory skills to start sewing at home. Our plan is to go to thrift stores, buy dresses, chop off the tops, hem the skirt, and add straps to make easy day dresses. We can do all this just from taking this one class and making one tote bag. I'm super excited about it because who doesn't need more day dresses in their closet? While I'm out I'm going to pick up a few belts so I can belt my dresses and wear them with a great pair of wedges or slingbacks. Or a great pair of tights and boots for fall.
I'm soooo thrilled I cannot even begin to tell you! But I'll post up pictures in future entries of things we make, and by we I mean the sewing circle the girls in my bootcamp and I have started! Stay tuned!

Mean green machine threading machine?

I just had my first sewing class ever-Day 1 in First Samples' sewing boot camp. I arrived with my never before used 8 month old sewing machine in tow. It was still taped up and covered with this awful smelling plastic thing. I was a bit nervous because I really had no idea how to do anything sewing related except sewing buttons.

Guess what? Three hours later, I've learned about all the parts of my sewing machine, (we are now friends) and I can successfully and repeatedly thread it! It's actually kind of hypnotic to thread the bobbin, especially on my machine because once I press the foot pedal, it just starts twirling and stops automatically so I don't have to worry about anything and can just sit there and watch it. I did this about 3 times because I really couldn't believe how cool it was.

Tina Sparkles, our class teacher, is really sweet and funny, and has this sing songy sort of voice that makes it easier to pay attention to what she's telling you to do. She demonstrates on her machine, then walks around the class to each of our machines and makes sure we know how to work the parts of our specific one. We got scrap fabric and used a contrasting color of thread to practice actually sewing on our machine. We got to experiment with different stitches, learn about tension, and once we had mastered all that, we started making tote bags inspired by Lotta Jansdotter.

I brought an old indian table cloth and purchased some black fabric for the bottom panel of the tote bag from the studio. We traced and cut out our pattern pieces using a pattern by First Samples. We'll get to make the bag next week, but for now, we completed the preparation process and then went back to practicing how to sew in a straight line. Its much harder than it looks! I'm sure with practice I'll be better but right now I'm not that great. But I don't care because I can take two pieces of fabric and make them one! To me, that's pretty awesome. So is knowing about my machine and about all the cool little tools that exist to make your life easier.

For now, that's it! Check out next week's entry for pictures of the bags!

I'm in!

I am one of those people who start a variety of new hobbies but never finish them. It's because every few moments, I find something NEW I want to do and nobody is there to slap me on my wrist with a ruler and tell me to breathe and focus. This is why I've realized that when it comes to learning, I need a class. Being around other people who have the same goal creates the type of atmosphere that inspires you and allows you to focus (or atleast makes you shut up so you don't ruin it for anyone else). Having a teacher teach you step by step exactly what you are supposed to be doing ensures you'll learn the right way and not make mistakes that can lead to bad habits.

This is precisely why I am so excited to begin my first sewing class on September 10th at First Samples. It's a beginner's boot camp-so I'll know how to thread my machine by the end of it, which is great considering its been sitting in its little box since I got it. I'm excited to learn fancy sewing vocabulary that I plan to use at cocktail hour ("Oh did you see Shelly's grossgrain non-reinforced secondary stitch? Tsk, tsk, she really needs to focus in class"). What does that even mean? I have no clue, but I'm hoping that by the end of my first lesson, I'll be able to decipher it, if it does infact, mean something.

Meanwhile, I'm going to keep a little sketch book of things that I would like to try to find patterns for or just learn to sew in general. Finally! A use for all those magazines that keep piling up in my apartment.

If you're interested in learning all the beginning skills necessary to jump start sewing, and you'd like to take my class with me, you can register for a bootcamp right here: http://www.firstsamples.com/classes/signup.cgi?series=11&id=00. There are several bootcamp sessions so pick one that best fits your schedule. Or, if you're more advanced, take a look at our complete schedule of classes here: http://www.firstsamples.com/classes/calendar.cgi?month=8&year=107 and pick one that tickles your fancy!

Anyways, I'm really excited to be here, and if you're reading this, you probably are too. So drop me a line or leave me a comment! I'd love to hear about what your first sewing class was like, and what you're making right now.

I'll be posting a blog after each class, so check back each week to see what new trouble I've managed to get myself into. I hopefully won't be totally awful and have some pictures to post of beeyootiful things I've made myself.

Huzzah!

Dee.