• Carry sewing patterns in your purse and look at them during work
• Can make a joke about unsuitable diagonals
• Know how to pronounce armscye and know what it means
• Love it when someone asks where did you get that and reply “I made it”
• Realize if you never bought a pattern or another yard of fabric your own personal stash would allow you to sew uninterrupted for a minimum of three years.
• Have more self control with a gooey chocolate 1000 calorie goodie than a beautiful yard of fabric
• Even though you have 2 sewing machines you still really need another one.
• Before you go on vacation you google all the hot fabric and sewing shops along the way
• Your kid’s friends ask what mom does and they reply “sew”
• You have more sewing books than any other kind and frequently fall asleep with a sewing book or pattern in hand
• You need a second job to support your habit
• And, lastly you know you love sewing when no matter how frustrating it gets you still keep coming back.  That’s love.

What crazy things do you do for love?

Me after I get my new pant pattern

I am always on the look out for ways to sew more, sew more efficiently and sew better.  Secondly, I’ve been longing to tackle making pants and having them fit really well thus avoiding the ready to wear nightmare of pant shopping.  No more shame in the dressing room as my muffin top spills out over pants made for a tweens body.  Gone will be the  inseams the length of a super model.  Auf wiedersehn  low rise pants and cheap fabric.

So, in order to sew more and sew more efficiently I’ve decided to have a pant pattern drafted to fit my body.  This will eliminate the frustrating hours of fitting a pant pattern by myself.  Eliminating those hours will free me up to sew!  Insert diabolical laugh and there you have my plan.

Today I met with the lovely and talented Diane Breen who is drafting my beautiful pant pattern.  Diane has many years of experience in sewing, sewing instruction, pattern drafting and the like.  I met her online when I put a ’call’ out to find someone who could draft me a pattern.  I have come to realize that there are those who might draft a pattern here or there and then you meet those few individuals who truly love drafting patterns.  I felt that about Diane, that she really loves not only sewing but drafting patterns and I think that this is important when choosing a person to draft your patterns.  I met with her today and we talked for about an hour and took measurements.  I brought in the fabric choices I want to use when I make my pants, plus photographs and actual pants that I like.  She took all the measurements and BAM in a week I will go in to fit the muslin.

Is this crazy?  At face value I’m paying a lot of money for a pant pattern. I could save the money and bumble through pant fitting, take a class, and  keep working on getting a commercial pattern to fit.  But, to date I’ve made four attempts at getting a commercial pant pattern right.  With still more tweaking needed.  It’s maddening really.  Then you add in the time factor and the stop and start style of sewing that I do and I’ve spent about two years trying to get this right.  If this works, I should have a pattern ready to go with very minimal fitting required. What’s not to love about that.  What do you think?  Have you thought of getting someone to draft you a pattern? What’s stopping you?

The Denver Sewing Collective will be at most if not all, and it is going to be a busy couple of months.

Don’t forget DSC now has an established day and time for our North meetings.  We meet every 2nd Thursday of the month from 6-9pm.   Next meeting is February 9th.  Check our website or groupspaces.com for more information.

January 25th is COSewn’s crash course in how to get involved in the Denver Fashion Scene.  Located at Fashion Denver headquarters at 1070 Bannock Street, Denver, CO 80204.  Meeting starts at 6:30 RSVP on their Facebook page.
Denver Sewing Collective will be at Fabric Bliss for Your Crafty is Showing on February 15th starting at 6pm.

Front Range Contemporary Quilters as usual  has an amazing line up of quilters and garment artisan’s at their monthly meetings.  Two that sound very exciting and  where DSC will be for Meet the Designer are on April 16th with Ayn Hanna.  She will talk about her creative process and her life and work as a fiber artist. Her work is absolutely stunning and will be an interesting night.  Read here for more information.  Price for admission is 10.00 and can be paid at the door.  The 10.00 will go to a year’s membership of 30.00 so if you plan on making this group a regular stop for your sewing and inspiration needs it would be worth it to get the membership.

We again will be meeting another designer at Front Range Contemporary Quilters on May 21st. This one is Carol Mier and she will discuss the importance of creating your own individual style and fashion sense. This is going to be fun.

Don’t forget the Rocky Mountain Sew Expo.  A great place for quilters and crafters but in years past it does not have the focus on garment sewing it once did.  But, maybe this has changed, I’ll be sure to check it out.  That will be February 2 -4 at the Denver Mercandise Mart.

And the mother of them all is the YSL Retrospective at the DAM.  I am going for sure, and I’m getting information on group sales for this event.  All though to be honest I don’t think the logistics of that will work out with so many people only able to go on a specifc time and date.  I don’t want to be left holding 10 tickets to this so, I’ll keep you informed.   Stay tuned for more details on those and other fun and inspiring events.

Leave me comments on things I’ve missed!

At the Denver Sewing Collective’s 2nd Thursday Sew In we left our machines at home and spent over 2 hours listening to Janet White talk about her passion for sewing and teaching.  Janet is  a long time seamstress, designer and instructor in the Denver area.  She teaches a variety of classes and you can check her out on Facebook or on her website.  In addition to teaching classes she also makes custom clothing for men, women, children and of course bridal wear.  Her approach to instruction is hands on but allows for all levels of sewers to be in the same ‘class’.  If a student is just starting out she gives a lot of guidance and suggestions for a first time project.  For more advance seamstresses she wants the student to challenge themselves.  If you are confident making lined skirts bring a dress or pant project in, something that will challenge yourself as a seamstress.  Can you imagine working on a difficult project and have someone right there to help you out?  No running to the internet to view some blurry and in my case choppy You Tube video trying to figure out what to do next.  Just what the doctor ordered.  Class sizes are small so that she can attend to all students and give them the attention they need.

Janet talked about her love of the details and how the underside of a garment can be just as beautiful as the outer.  Janet loves hand sewing and told us of how she does a basic zipper.   My hand sewing tends to look like someone ran a lawn mower over it.  Plus, I’m the type of sewer who thinks that if it can’t be seen then why bother making it look good.  I don’t know how many skirts I’ve made where I’ve never even bothered to hem the lining or at the least I’ll zig-zag it.  And, excuse me those little metal closure thingy’s? I’m lucky to have the patience to put the damn zipper in.   But,  I’m learning ever so painfully that sometime sewing needs to be done slowly and with care.  Sure, I want to wear the thing I’m making, why would I be making it, but taking time and care will only serve me better in the end.  Right?   Well, maybe Janet can help  bring out the Zen in my sewing style.  We shall see.

For more information on Janet White’s classes please check out her website or call her at 303-237-3930.

the look I love

Here is the very lovely Roony Mara in a similar look.  The photo did not state as to who the designer was but it has to be from Lyn Devon. The one with Roony the fabric looks more like cotton, linen etc.  The one above is more fluid like a crepe, silk etc.  What a fabric piglet like myself could whip up! Line the skirt with a contrasting fabric and have it just peek out.  Love the shoes that she picked too.  This is probably going to be a popular look for spring and summer.  Perfect for any age.

Here is me in the eternity scarf (I think that’s what they are calling these).  Love the color and knit this one up really fast, all garter stitch.  If you are more advanced you could make easy changes to it to mix it up.  I am working on another one from this book and will post when I’m finished.

So, while at the book store the other day I saw this one Cloth.  This has a very similar feel to Selvedge and at half the price ($8.50).   It has ideas for the new sewer, the daring sewer ( t-shirt fashions), the advanced seamstress and so forth.  Crafty and home dec things are in there as well as pattern instructions to make garments.  I would LOVE to hear from someone who has actually made something successfully from these types of pattern instructions.  There are no paper patterns included so I’m assuming you have to draw it out. Oh, wait you have to buy the book I am Cute Dresses by Sato Watanabe .  Hmm going to need to check that one out.   I think what I liked best about this issue was the designers who took apart a favorite dress and made a pattern out of it to perserve it for continual use.   You can see their step by step instructions.  The Cloth website is great.  You could surf around that for hours.   As this month’s title says there are indeed “84 page of sewing inspiration”.    But, still at 8.50 I don’t think I’ll be purchasing it every month. Gotta save my money for those sewing books!

Anyway, this fair was funky, retro, great for families all though I was in sticker shock at the prices of a hotdog 7.75!  Ok, it was a foot long but really?!  It cost me and my boys 15.00 for fries and soft drinks.  I got to get better at bringing my own snacks.  Beyond that there was a lot to see and do, and kids seem to have fun, plus it was indoors except for the rides.  Hotter than Hades but still worth the heat.  I would go again next year and bring more cards from Denver Sewing Collective ( I ran out).  Always trying to spread the love.  Did you go?  Is anyone still reading this?  Sorry for the long delay.  Work. Life. Sewing.  Gets in the way of blogging sometimes.