Sew Camp ~ August 2021

I got home from Sew Camp last Monday and I had an absolute blast! It was so invigorating to meet up with my sewing friends, talk and laugh, watch movies and TV shows together, fabric shop and sew a little bit. 

Sew Camp pre-pandemic was all about the sewing. This one was definitely heavier on the relationships and talking part. It's been awhile since I've seen my Sew Sisters in person and I wanted to drink them in! LOL! I took a lot of pictures so this post is very picture heavy!

Once more this was a private Sew Camp. My friends and I rented out Gaylen's B&B for a four day weekend. Did you know that she did that? I know she advertises it and a couple of other sewists have done it. If you want to spend some quality time in a safe place during these pandemic times, I would definitely reach out to Gaylen.

I left for camp on Thursday morning, headed to Lancaster via Amtrak. I have to say this was one of the nicest trips I've taken on Amtrak because I rode in business class. Loads of legroom, outlets to charge your phone and thankfully 2 seats to myself. 

I did take my Janome 9450QCP to Sew Camp and taking it on Amtrak was really easy. My regular little rolling suitcase is strapped to the top of my Tutto Sewing Machine Case using straps provided in the case. I love this case because not only did my sewing machine fit in but all of my sewing tools and projects fit too. There are so many pockets to place items which makes it a perfect carrier for sewing adventures.

We did base our Sew Camp on previous Sew Camps we've attended.  Everyone arrived on Thursday afternoon/evening/night. Most of us had dinner together and set up our sewing spaces.

Andrea and her Bernina Sewing Machine and Serger

LaQuana sewing on her Janome back-up 

Carol who flew in from Chicago is sewing on the Janome Gaylen keeps on hand

Friday ~

We traveled to Fabric Mart and shopped until we dropped. Fabric gems were purchased by us all.  Carol even came with an empty suitcase to fill, which she did!  

The obligatory shot with our goodies outside of Fabric Mart with Julie

Shopping in the store - so many goodies

Gaylen

LaQuana did not buy this piece!

Gaylen and LaQuana wearing Me-Made

(I may have bought some of that paneled fabric that Gaylen is wearing)

Carol in Me-Made

Julie cutting for the team...

We stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant that I would like to eat at again. Next was a trip to Cedar Lane Dry Goods Store where we picked up buttons, bias binding and I got another cotton quilting panel print. I'm determined to get another panel print shirt made!

Last stop for the day was the Centerville Bulk Foods store which I highly recommend.  We bought candy, spices, and soup mixes. I've already used the chicken rub on a pan of baked chicken that was gobbled down quickly by me and my granddaughters.  

After that we headed back to the B&B. My fellow sew sisters headed to the Sewing Room after dinner but I did no sewing on Thursday or Friday evenings. I was so tired from my work week that I needed to decompress.

Saturday & Sunday ~

We decided as a group that we were only sewing Saturday and Sunday and not visiting any of the other fabric/notions stores. I mean we did come to sew and along with many conversations, that's what we did.

Q is the Queen of the Selfie and I loved this picture she posted to Instagram

...okay we also watched every episode of Making the Cut Season 2 and a few other movies too while we sewed and chatted.

So what did I sew? While I brought four projects with me, I only worked on two while there. I made another Vogue 9299 tunic and a seersucker version of the Verano dress. When I got home I worked on a maximized version of the Style Arc Jules Tunic.

Carol left Sunday evening. LaQuana left Monday morning and Andrea and I left Monday afternoon. It was THE perfect weekend! I highly encourage you to get your tribe together and plan a weekend. The last scheduled Sew Camp is this week and then Gaylen will release a schedule for 2022.

I will say finishing up these pieces at home sparked my sewjo. My cut pile is calling my name, as well as several of the new pieces of fabric that came home with me. There will be formal blog posts later this month/early September. My daughter has a full August with birthdays and school starting soon for the first time in 18 months.

Parting Shot ~

The granddaughters spent the final days of my vacation with me and I can't believe how much they've grown!

...as always more later!

It's a Month of Basics!

I said in a previous post I had no plans for my sewing for January.  While I was on Holiday Break, I cut out four shirts, one blouse and an Ilford Jacket by Friday Pattern Company.

After I cut everything out, I realized that I do have a plan. I really want to sew basics. I know my shirts in their crazy prints, plaids and stripes don't qualify as basics but they are to me. It's a main part of my work outfit that consists of a cardigan/hoodie/sweater/topper, shirt and jeans. 

When it's really cold I substitute a turtleneck/cowl sweater in the mix. I realized that of the six Pembrokes I own, I reach for the beige and black versions the most. Which means I need more solid colored ones in lighter knits. More basics...

I've started with the shirts first, probably because they're in the pretty and fun colors! I have two almost completed.

First shirt - Blue & Black Plaid with a batik overlay

Fabric from Fabric Mart

Second shirt in black n white embroidered shirting

Fabric from Marcy Tilton

I will finish them up this weekend and start on another one from the pile. Some inspiration shots from Anthropologie...

Next I want to put together a cut pile of Pembrokes...I think I will use some of the white, gray, navy and a yellow organic cotton knits that I have in the collection to make a few more. Pembrokes make up quickly and are an easy sew. I will probably  write one blog post for all of them for documentation purposes only. Hopefully in a decade, I will be able to remember them too!

So that's what my January will be...more tops cause we all need tops in our lives and basics!  For 2020, I'm going to try and write more process posts instead of jamming all of the information in the post of the finished garment. Y'know go back to blogging the way I use to before the onset of Instagram. 

Well that's my blogging plan for 2020.  I hope you will follow my sewing adventures as I share more going forward!

One more thing...
If you live in NJ and want to spend time at a sewing retreat Urban SewCiety is featuring a two day sewing event - February 8th & 9th. You can sew one day or both. Saturday is from 9am to 7pm and Sunday is from 9am to 5pm with meals provided. The difference between this one and Sew Camp is that you can go home to your own bed every evening. I will be there for both days and hope you can join us! It will be fun to sew together!


...as always more later!

A Visit to Urban Sewciety ~ A Local Fabric Store

As sewists we all know local fabric stores that aren't chain stores are few and far between.  I mean everyone can find a Joann's or Hobby Lobby near them. However, most of us can't name a good local fabric store that carries a nice range of fabrics, patterns, notions and has classes.

That's why when I heard about Urban Sewciety on Lauren's IG account, I had to find out about them.  Visited their IG account, Website and Facebook page then scheduled a trip with a local sewing friend because who else to take on a sewing adventure than a sewing friend, right?

For my friends in the NJ, NY and PA area this shop is easily accessible by car and by NJTransit trains. It's a five minute walk from the Westfield Train Station and easily accessible from the NJTurnpike & Garden State Parkway. Also, there is plenty of parking which can be challenging in downtown Westfield.

The shop is light and airy, relaxing and comfortable.  It has a wonderful selection of indie patterns, quilting cottons, interfacing, a smaller selection of apparel fabrics and NOTIONS! I love that they realize you may want to purchase everything at one shot to get a project completed.

When we came in there were classes going on in the back which was so cool! There is an extensive list of classes on the website for garment sewing for adults and kids, as well as crafting classes. Most especially though, they do sewing classes for the Girl Scouts. Since I was a Girl Scout, that organization is near and dear to my heart, so was thrilled to see they were assisting the girls with skills and badges!

So how about a few pictures of the shop ~

A view of the classrooms ~

...and this is the Ladies Room...

(don't you just love this!)

Now you know my philosophy, I can't visit a new fabric store without purchasing something.  This time it was two indie patterns I've been wanting.  The Adrienne Blouse by The Friday Pattern Company and The Hinterland Dress by Sew Liberated.  Both are paper patterns (of course) in extended sizes. The Adrienne Blouse is up to a size 4x and The Hinterland Dress to a size 24. Of course a piece of fabric...I chose this one because I don't have much green fabric in the collection (which is relative I know compared to normal people's fabric collections). Someday, hopefully soon, it will be a shirt.

As we were leaving, we saw that there were clipboards by the stairwell advertising upcoming events.  There were two that caught our eye...

Now you know I'm down for a sewing retreat...and as soon as I got home I signed up for the retreat as did my friend Melanie. It's a two day retreat. Saturday from 9am to 7pm and Sunday from 9am to 5pm with all meals supplied. If you're in the area and you're free on those dates, you should sign up and attend with us.  It would be fun to sew with you!  You can sign up here!

Even if you can't attend the sewing retreat, I hope you will visit Urban SewCiety. I'm sure you will be as charmed with it as I was and will visit them again and again. We need to support our local sewing stores if we want them to thrive!

...as always more later!

Sew Camp Summer 2019

I know y'all must be tired of reading about my Sew Camp adventures BUT y'all these are some of the best sewing weekends.  Not only do I get to go to Fabric Mart's brick n mortar store, I get to spend time with sewists who love this artform as much as I do.

With that introduction, I'm giving an overview of my five days at the Carriage Corner Sew Camp but this post IS picture heavy.  Suffice it to say that I had a good time and that I bought a lot of fabric (not as much as last time but enough).  Suffice it to say that the conversation was poppin' and not all about politics.  Suffice it to say that there were sewing techniques shared and some pattern fitting done...mostly though it was a sewfantastic time!

Camp was five days and we arrive on Thursday afternoon, set up & sew. 

Cennetta showing what she brought to sew

Arleen & Barbara arrived Wednesday afternoon so they were full on 

sewing when I arrived on Thursday afternoon! 

The sewing set up!

On Friday we travelled to Fabric Mart by van since there were 9 campers and it allowed us to all go together. I will say that we blew in, took control and shopped until we dropped!

Barbara in the van on the way to Fabric Mart

At the check out table at Fabric Mart

Shar from Sharbozz joined us at Fabric Mart

Andrea with all of her bags

Gaylen sharing what she bought

400 yards were purchased by the crew and I only purchased 34 yards

After lunch we headed back to the B&B and had a fabric show and tell. Cause y'all there were some interesting bundles purchased! Since I shipped my fabric home, it was not part of the show and tell. It was, however, waiting for me when I got home.

Here is what I purchased... 

5 yds each of black & blue ltwt denim, 5 yds black midweight 3ply silk

4 yds of lt. blue & dk blue sandwashed silk, 3 yds linen/cotton blend floral print

4 yds blue/black/white stripe cotton shirting & 5 yds black floral linen/cotton blend print   

After the show, we sewed the evening away. I went to bed around 1am and there was still a crew sewing. 

Saturday after another delicious B&B breakfast we headed to the quilt store ~ Zooks in particular ~ by way of A&E Candies and the Cupcake Shop. 

Checking the rows and rows of amazing cotton prints

Cennetta deliberating

LaQuana trying to convince us to purchase a batik

We met a fellow Sewist (Samswife2) who follows our blogs

Here's my haul from Zooks...

3 of the prints are 4 yds purchased for shirts or shirtdresses

& the last gingham is a 2 yd gauze that Bonnie and I shared.

It was a great walk there and back after which we headed back to our sewing machines. We had dinner out and then more sewing. I went to my room after dinner to call my family, change my clothes and I fell asleep...waking up at 12:45am.  I could hear the crew still downstairs so I headed down.  Ended up sewing to 5am, turning the lights off about 90 mins before the morning crew started in.

Cennetta sharing a technique

More technique sharing

Gaylen getting the best shot!

Sunday was more of the same. Breakfast then sewing until we couldn't sew anymore. Though I did call it a night around 1am.

Monday after breakfast we decided to take pictures of everyone's garments, who hadn't left already, because the lawn at the B&B is so well landscaped. Those who left early had theirs taken on Sunday afternoon.  Below is a composite of SOME of the garments that were photographed. There was some serious sewing going on at this Sew Camp! 34 garments completed in total!!!

A group shot after pictures on Monday afternoon

I took four garments to make but started with my two most challenging pieces and ended up with 2 finished garments...ALL done...nothing to complete when I got home! I was happy with that since I really wanted the experience. 

So this is what I made...

Detailed blog posts about their construction will be coming soon.

I highly recommend getting on Gaylen's email list for Sew Camp. Besides all of the shopping and interaction, the ability to sew uninterrupted for hours without having to clean or cook makes this a fun, relaxing and very productive time.

There is a 3 day Sew Camp in September and while Gaylen already has some sign ups, I know there is some availability if you're interested. Mostly though get on the mailing list because she usually opens registration about three months before Camp starts.

...as always more later!