Sewing Summit Classes

My Sewing Summit classes were great. They were fun, informative, and I managed to get almost all that I wanted. I actually had to look back at my wish list to see what I didn’t get, since I really liked all of my classes.

I started off with a Creative Journey class with Amber and it was great to listen to. I enjoy hearing the process of how people got to where they are today, because I recognize the importance of knowing where you came from and how hard you worked to get to where you are today.

Next up was fabric selection with Jeni. I used her Art of Choosing series to when organizing and sorting my fabric after we moved in and really loved it. I now fold my fabric the same way and sort it before putting it away. The class really helped me think mostly about color saturation. The dark and light of it all. She showed two of her side braid quilts and pointed out that because of the saturation of the fabrics, you were able to see the fabrics a lot more clearly in one then the other. I am planning a side braid as well and have my main fabrics picked out already and need to pick a background. I don’t want the pattern fading into the background.

My first sewing class was a piecing class with Amy. I spent way too long trying to get my quarter inch seam to be a quarter inch. I admit I usually just sew and I know where a quarter inch is because I use a quarter inch foot as often as I can. I know that making sure your seam is correct is the key to getting a pattern right, so I liked taking the time to set it up. Amy had cute fabrics picked out for us to use and enough blocks to make a smaller sampler. I am the person who either cuts the first step of the quilt, then the second step because the sewing might be a touch off OR I cut it all out and make it work. It would be nice to not have to make it work so I cut all of a project out and let’s see if I can put my new skills to use.

There was open sewing each night, provided by Babylock, and I had only taken one project to work on. I knew I would be too busy to start something new or to want to work on something that took a lot of attention. Plus I didn’t want to pack a lot because I knew I’d have a lot to bring home.

This is the Atkinson Classmate pattern. It has a lot of fabric pieces, and you use something I never used before called soft and stable. This was also the first time I sewed with vinyl and it wasn’t as bad as I thought, and I also didn’t take the advice to use tissue paper with the vinyl. It is clear so definitely tough to see, and I didn’t pin it since those holes don’t go away.

I took this to Sewing Summit just needing to finish the binding. While I did manage to sew the binding on during open sewing, I didn’t finish it until I got home. I love this case, lots of pockets and space for supplies, and it is not a hard sewing project. It does take a very long time, but I have a lot of vinyl now so I am thinking of making a couple as gifts.

Next up ~ more classes!