It's KID'S WEEK @ Sew It Up!

We had the most delightful group of girls in all last week for our second session of KIDS SEWING CAMP for beginners. They were awesome! Very focused, enthusiastic, productive and polite! Their Mom's should be proud! Here they are with their headbands on!

 They also made pillowcases, tote bags, their very own skirt and a little zip-up wristlet bag!

 

Then, on Saturday, we hostessed our very 1st TEA PARTY!!!

AND . . . .  it was a smashing success!

All of the little girls introduced themselves, their dolls and told us how their doll came into their life ~ it was touching. They and their dolls dressed up too! Some wore hats, some had glitter in their hair or pretty ribbons. It was refreshing to see so many happy faces. We had tea, for the grown ups, pink lemonade for the girls, lots of goodies to eat for all. For the dolls, the girls made them each a necklace with teapot and tea cup buttons.  It was a wonderful way to end our week with kids being turned on to sewing! I overheard several at the party saying that as soon as they were old enough they were going to learn to sew!

Today, we have a group in of sisters, cousins and friends from Texas, Oklahoma & Colorado sewing a laminated "Beach Bag". The bags look wonderful! They sewed most of the morning and took a break for a picnic with sandwiches from Honey Baked Ham - yum!

 

The allure of THE DRESS!

    This summer I have been making lots of dresses. One reason is that they are cooler! Also, you do not have to think what blouse, tee shirt, etc to put with it ~ its an entire ensemble! AND, I really do think that they can be so much more comfortable than just about anything - except maybe pj's. I love to study the fashions of the '40's and '50's. There was such an elegance to the fashions then. In looking around the shop at our patterns and our many different fabrics, I am struck with a thought ~ why can't we wear those beautiful dresses today? Well, why not! With minor changes to the patterns, the right fabric choices as well as the right accessories, we can do this! Well, maybe not the hat:(  

So..... I am working on this now - everyday and night. I am consumed with thoughts of beautiful dresses.

Yesterday, Kay Whitt was in the shop and I was thrilled to compare thought with her only to find that she feels the same way. I think that she may have some new pattern ideas coming soon!

I am already planning a class, "Couture Sewing Techniques" for the NEW ORIGINAL SEWING &  QUILT EXPO that is coming to Ft Worth this fall. I feel like this is going to be a superb show! Everyone put it on their calendar: October 17th thru 19th, the Will Rodgers Memorial Center.

Sewing Circles

I was checking my email yesterday and saw one from my daughter "...Saw this and thought of you!"

  

          It was not the picture above (although I think it is pretty cool), it was a link to a database in the Massachusetts Historical Society titled 95 Sewing Circle Records, 1893-1961, 2 boxes, 4 cased volumes. If you did not know already my daughter is working on her doctorate hence the reason for her actually running across this bit of history. She was doing a search for "Women, Societies and Clubs, Upper Class, Massachusetts". I won't go into the details of why she was doing just this, but I wanted to share with everyone the description of just what was the '95 Sewing Circle:

"Meeting schedules, scrapbooks, photographs, and miscellaneous correspondence of the ’95 Sewing Circle, a club for upper-class Boston women begun in 1895. Most members of the exclusive club were born in the 1870s and "came out" in the early to mid-1890s. Although the title suggests a charitable purpose, it appears that most club activities were social in nature. Profiles of members, with photographs and vital information, are contained in the scrapbooks. Also included are 3 reels of movie film and miscellaneous club artifacts.

I have bolded and italicized what truly caught my attention. I love it! Women have been getting together for a long long time sewing and talking and sharing and laughing and sometimes crying. Sometimes we do sew for charitable causes, but mostly it is social. We inspire each other in our craft as well as support one another through the many trials of life. I know lots of women who are in "Quilting Bee's" and church groups that meet regularly. Here at Sew It Up Studio, we have been hostessing our "Sewist's Day Camp" this summer once a week in which you can come and go from 10an-5pm, working on your many UFO's!  Our "Sew It Up Club meets once a month in order that our customers may all share their projects with one another .  .  . and visit! One of our dear customers hosts a "Craft Night" monthly at her home. What a fantastic idea! I am thinking perhaps we need a "Lunch Bunch" this fall just to have an excuse to "talk sewing"!

I love our craft of sewing! And, it is so much more than just sewing! We should all try to introduce just one of our friends this fall to sewing. Just consider what they have been missing!