A Modern Sewing Blog.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Fellowship of the Literary skirt.

Today I'm bringing you a post that I had up on my own personal blog. Because it was sewing related and I think we can all relate to sharing the craft we love so much with others. But first, some housekeeping. Row by Row starts tomorrow we're selling kits with the pattern for $10, if you don't want the kit the pattern is free. The first person to come into the shop with a finished quilt will receive a Color Me Happy Fat quarter Bundle!

We've started a rewards program. After you spend $250 you'll receive a $20 gift certificate. Lastly, we'll be closed on the 4th of July.

SKIRTS:
I sew a little. More then I did whe
n I started and, haltingly, made pajama pants for my sisters and in-law siblings. I am definitely more proficient then the first time I made a dress that was so ill fitting it’s makes me shudder. I wore it anyway because the fabric cost money and it was hard to make! There are photos and not only am I wearing a poorly made dress I’m wearing it very post baby. Come to think of it, that dress is packed away. I should take it out and make the boys Hawaiian shirts or something out of it. I am NO expert and, I don’t really know why I like it but I do. Fabric is so pretty and full of possibilities. It’s nice to use my hands to create something that won’t get weedy and die, or be eaten.

12 years ago my husband and I were shopping for our first washer and dryer at one of those stand-alone appliance Sears and I walked past this little blue sewing machine. It felt like a breeze blew over my heart. My spirit stirred and I just felt like I needed to take that machine home. It felt so frivolous, that’s quite an investment into something you don’t know if you’ll like. Yet, there was something inside me that knew…

All these years later and I am wearing a dress I made as a write this, a dress I rather like. Yesterday I wore a skirt and blouse I made and I think they look cute and vintage and not necessarily home made and there are pieces to a birthday dress on the floor in my studio. Last week, I gave a sewing lesson to one of my best friends. We share a lot in common, she is a writer, mother and all around sweet person. I wasn’t holding my breath that she would like to sew. After all, how could we have so many things in common? At any rate I know that there is a pretty big learning curve to this craft and a lot of people just can’t get past that.

The first of the literary skirts. Delicate and beautiful just like Jen’s main character.

Not only did she like it but She came away with the prettiest skirt. I am not kidding when I tell you that it looks like something from Anthropolgie! She wore it to writer’s group and the rest of that sacred club have decided that we all need skirts. Skirts that sort of match that we can wear as a sort of uniform to our next conference! No one has ever been this wonderfully cheesy with me before and I am over the moon about it! We’re using the same base fabrics and then accents that speak to each of our individual books we’re working on. Isn’t that just the best thing you can think of?!!! The Fellowship of the literary skirt, that’s what this project is all about, and I LOVE it. Some of them already sew, some don’t. We’ll work on them together and hopefully after July I will post a wonderful, sweet, cheesy pic of our skirts filled with our hopes and dreams of our literary future.

The tree of life for our memoire, maps for our Scottish warrior who's a catagrapher, music for me and words for us all.

It is a blessing to share small things with people you love. Silly things that pull us together and make us laugh. I’m glad me and my needle and thread get to be part of that.

If you like this skirt we have a tutorial on this blog for free click HERE and if your interested in this post maybe you'd like to check out my personal blog. Click Here to peruse.

Happy Sewing,
Love,
Jessie

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Row By Row

Summer is here! And with it comes the Michigan Row by Row. We're very excited to be part of the shop hop this year. The hop starts June 21 and goes through September 28. Each store had to design their own row and the pattern for each one is free. We'll also be selling kits for ours. We hope you'll come in and we can't wait to see what the finished products look like.
Here's a sneak peak of ours. 

Just a glimpse of what's to come.
We've also been getting in new fabrics. New Kaffe's, Moda's and I can't believe I'm writing this, new Christmas fabric. I suppose those of you who are really organized will be starting that kind of thing soon, but as for me I've got to do some gardening and swimming first. 
To see this and more of the Gardenvale Collection click HERE.
New Kaffe 

If you are one of those organized people who loves to get a jump on the holidays
check this beautiful collection out. HERE.
Hope your summer is going well.
Happy Sewing,
Love,
Jessie and Sue