Category: Sewing

Minneapolis Sewing Seminar

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Pati This weekend, I attended and assisted with a two-day seminar in Minneapolis, MN Feb. 8-9,2008 We had a full house – 82 women attended this sewing seminar! Hancock Fabrics staff in the area worked with their local American Sewing Guild to jointly bring in Pati Palmer for the event.

Pati is highly respected for her knowledge of the sewing industry. When you look through McCall’s, Butterick, and Vogue patterns you will see her name on many as the designer of the pattern. Pati has been involved in this business a long time, and has some great tips and suggestions on ways to make patterns fit properly. One of the attendees was willing to get a personal fitting in front of everyone! This allowed Pati to show us the steps she takes in fitting a pattern to the person. She took the pattern tissue and pined it together for fitting a person. She then walked us through the fitting step-by-step.

One of the sessions she did was her “20 top twenty tips for sewing”. If you ever get a chance to hear Pati Palmer at a sewing expo, etc make sure you take the opportunity – you won’t be sorry. Pati’s instruction included proper uses of interfacings, tips on tailoring, and more.

We all had a great time, and I have to admit, I personally got so caught up in Pati’s presentation (even though I have seen her speak before) that I forgot to start taking pictures until near the very end of the seminar!

Check out Pati’s website for more information on her work and to see where she will be teaching next!


Full House!


Pati’s Demonstration – using digital displays


Pati was happy to take time to help and answer questions afterwards.


Sewers (and future sewers) from all Generations were in attendance.

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

Recent Events

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I’ve been involved in the planning of two different events recently and have some pictures for you, so you can see what’s been going on!

carol-prettyman.jpgFirst, there was a series of quilt retreats in the Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska areas, Hancock Fabrics Demonstrator Carol Prettyman and Mary Ourecky hosted these. The quilt made at the retreats was a Tennessee Waltz quilt, and over 120 women made this quilt up at the various retreats. One more retreat in the Minnesota area is planned for this quilt (see event schedule for information). As you can see from the pictures, everyone had a lot of fun working on their projects, and they took home a beautiful quilt top at the end!

I’ve always enjoyed being involved in quilt retreats, they are a great way to get three days of intense teaching as well as a chance to make new friends that share the same love of sewing. (Not to mention the joy of getting away from all those other excuses that keep us from quilting!) Some of the retreats I’ve been involved with have a ‘core’ group of participants that return year after year – and they look forward to seeing faces from past retreats.

Machines
Sewing Machines Everywhere!
Ruler
Quick Break then back to work!
Ruler
Finished Project – Job Well Done Ladies!

mary-ourecky.jpgThe next event was in Nebraska, at the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island. I attended this event with Mary Ourecky, another Hancock Fabrics Demonstrator. This was our fourth year at this event, and we had a great time with the participants there.


We had several great models on display. The first photo shows several quilts: (starting at the left) is the quilt from the book Turning Twenty Around the Block (Hancock’s has a fabric kit for this quilt), next is Turning Twenty made from fat quarters, the next quilt was made using the fancy frame ruler from June Tailor to make the scalloped edge (see closeup of this quilt further down) and the 4th quilt was from the book “7-day Quilts” the name of the quilt is “Let’s Play Ball” I made it with space fabric instead. The next photo is a quilt made from fat quarters from the store’s Fat Quarter Singles program. The quilt pattern is called Rose Trellis.

Angel Micro
We took some great new fabrics with us such as this 60 inch fabric called “Angel Micro Solid”. It’s soft and fun to touch – would make a great backing for a baby quilt (I suggest using a tiny bit of quilt basting spray to hold it together while quilting).

demo
We had a great day demonstrating some tools – this is Mary with the Clover Yo-Yo Maker.

scallop quilt
We also taught about some of the different types of quilts and how you could use something like the June Tailor scallop ruler to dress up a quilt edging and make it unique to you.

All in all, it was a lot of fun to help with planning these events. But of course it’s even more fun to attend, and I’ve always loved being able to teach – so the Museum trip was a lot of fun for me. If you’re interested in some of the other upcoming events I’ll be involved in, check out my events calendar at the top of the blog.

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

Yo-Yos Everywhere!

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I’m still finding things to do with my yo-yos, I’ve made up so many as demonstration models recently that I really have more than I need. But they do add such fun to a project!

My first idea was to find something I could do with tiny yo-yos, once again these have been made using the Clover Yo-Yo maker (please see my earlier posts on how this great tool works). While I was searching for inspiration, I came across the pattern at the right. You may not be able to see the detail well in small scale, but if you click on it you’ll see what the pattern is. Basically, small aprons for a doll, bottle of dish soap, or other application. The retro style appealed to me, and I knew that at least some of my tiny yo-yos had found a home! Pattern number is Kwik Sew 3596.

2 Aprons Closeup
The apron fits onto a bottle of 30 oz. dish soap, and I discovered that one brand (the name starts with a “J” and has only 3 letters), comes in enough colors to let you coordinate your apron to the soap!

On the left are the finished aprons – each with coordinating dish soap. And on the right is a closeup of one of the aprons. Can you see the yo-yo embellishments used? There are three yo-yos at the bottom of the blue/yellow apron, and the red apron has yo-yos that have been used on the shoulder straps.

Imagine giving one of these as a housewarming gift to a student moving into their first apartment – or just as something fun to give to your neighbor who loves the look of these retro aprons! I am thinking about making them with a summer theme and giving one to all the ladies that come to my house for Easter this year. This would be a fun project to have an apron for every holiday – and they dress up the kitchen a little bit.

Now, what could I do with the large yo-yos? Once again I turned to the pattern books for inspiration, and I found McCall’s #5441. I used yo-yos instead of the large buttons that were suggested in the instructions.

I thought this would be a great idea for someone who buys lots of greeting cards in advance of birthdays or special holidays. You could have up to three month’s worth of cards in easy reach – one month to a pocket. It would also be great for those who make their own cards, or even for scrapbooking enthusiasts as a place to stash photos until everything is ready to create that new page in the book.

If you made this up in Christmas colors, it would be a nice place to put all the cards that come in.
Or, a variation of an idea I’ve just seen for this time of year – assign a pocket to each member of the household. Make this their ‘mailbox’ where notes of encouragement, love or praise could be left. The kids will soon get excited to check and see what type of message has been left for them!

I yo-yo, do you?

Check back with me next week to see what I’ll be doing next – the yo-yos have been fun, and we may return to them later in the season, but there is so much more to talk about! Oh, and a special treat tomorrow – check back!

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila