Fandango to Whittier Museum

Hope you all had a very happy and safe July 4th!!!! This week we accomplished a lot !!!!

Serging: Make sure you marked your notches and dots before you take your pattern pieces off the cut fabric. We embroidered a pocket for our robes – last week. The next thing to sew up is the shoulder seams and sleeves in the armholes. Remember to serge your sleeve bands on before serging the sleeves to the armholes. It occurred to me, that the technique for sewing in the sleeves in the armholes – WITHOUT PINS – could be new for some of you, so I will demo this on Monday morning. THIS IS A GREAT TECHNIQUE. Once you learn it, you will use it all the time. You won’t be using many pins any more. After you sew up your shoulder seams and sleeves, it is time for a fitting. We need to place the pockets perfectly and we need to decide where we will be putting our belt loops. If you have the time, work ahead. Sew (straight stitch) up your pockets with the lining fabric. Slit the lining fabric and turn your pockets right side out. Iron them flat. We will need them ready for the fitting. If you have time, serge on your neck band.

Basic Sewing: Now that you have serged up your fabric pieces, it is time to repin the patterns to the fabric and mark your notches, and dots, etc. Make sure your notches are all marked with china marker, pencil, etc. Clipping the notches and dots through the serging will defeat the purpose of the serging which is to keep the fabric from unraveling. About ½ of you embroidered your pocket. Start sewing your nightshirt together with the shoulder seams. You can then put in your sleeves FLAT and start work on your neckline. I will demo all of this. I will also demo putting your pockets together. Then we can have our first garment fitting. We will see how the neckline fits after it is staystiched. We will place our pocket in a GREAT spot.

Patternmaking: We started working on our pants draft. It is time to finish it this week and start to make muslin toiles of the draft. The leggings can be tested in a 4-way stretch knit.
DON’T WORRY SO MUCH. I got many emails stating that they didn’t like what was happening to their drafts. You need to realize that the drafts will reflect what the measurements tell them. Once we make the toiles, we can tweak the fabric and take the tweaking back to the patterns. Remember, the final fabric pants are the end result of all the drafting and tweaking. Everyone’s measurements are different because everyone’s body is slightly different. When you manufacture clothing, you take an AVERAGE of the body type you want to fit. Trust me. This is how designers make millions in the mass market. Calvin Klein made his money by fitting rear ends. Donna Karen fits people with big boobs. Ralph Lauren lowered the crotch on gentlemen’s jeans. AND SO ON. This is NOT couture. This is for the millions of people who need to buy from the mass market and can not afford to spend $500 – $5,000 on one garment. Come and finish up the pants draft with me. For those of you who were not there for the last class, we are #17 of the two dart pants sloper in your handout. This is where we will begin on Wednesday, July 8th.

In Embroidery, we did pocket toppers. (Of course, I didn’t finish mine. I am trying to cover up a hole that my wondrous husband put in his shirt. We learned how and why to use a template. This week, we will be doing an all in the hoop project. It is the teddy bear from our text book. For those of you with embroidery machines, I would strongly suggest that you input this design DIRECTLY into your machine. It is too big for the amazing box cards. I did make it into a 4 by 4 design. BUT…I have NO IDEA how it will stitch out.

Of course, I did NOT get to put the Sewing 10 Commandments onto the blog site. I will need to do this…during the August break. Watch for it…it is coming. I found them all !!!!

This coming Saturday, July 11, there is a Fandango to the Whittier Museum. We will be eating breakfast in Laguna Hills and lunch in Whittier before driving back to San Diego. The Whittier Museum is having a room display of their Women’s underwear. The name of this exhibit is entitled: Underneath it all: The Evolution of Women’s Undergarments.” Sounds like a great learning experience to me !!!!! This is why I invited you all to come.

This Fandango has NOTHING to do with the school. It has NOTHING to do with my courses. It is just something extra I will be doing and if you want to come, you are welcome to come. The school has NOTHING to do with this. AND if you don’t want to come….this is fine. We will just be using the WCC parking lot. Some of you will be drivers. Some of you will be riders. We will be car pooling. IF YOU ARE A RIDER….MAKE SURE TO PAY FOR PART OF THE GAS TO GO. Be sure to make arrangements in this week’s class.

We will be having a docent tour at 1 PM at the Whittier Museum. The tour will include the entire museum. This includes the history of Whittier, Nixon, a military hallway and the gallery where the underwear exhibit will be. Note: Nixon grew up in Whittier. AND the museum is two floors. The docent tour takes about 1 hour. I am told there are many restaurants around the museum, so that we can have lunch before the drive back.

The entire Fandango is NO HOST. All food will be NO HOST. Breakfast may be eaten at Luisa’s Café. There is a pink umbrella there. This is one building over from A Time to Sew. A Time to Sew is on the Quilter’s run so it will be open at 9 AM.

I am making maps for the drivers. Those of you who have been on Fandangos with me previously, know that my maps are…NOT PERFECT. I have included phone numbers for you to call the shops/museum in case you need to. I suggest you make your own maps with the addresses I am going to give you here. OR program and take the family GPS. We will MEET AT THE WEST CITY CENTER PARKING LOT ON SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2009 BY 8 AM…….. I will be giving out the maps on Saturday morning.

A Time to Sew
Owner: Martha
27071 Cabot Road
Suite 101
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
949-282-0084

Whittier Museum
http://www.whittiermuseum.org/
6755 Newlin Avenue
Whittier, California 90601
562-945-3871
It is at the corner of Newlin and Philadelphia

See you all in class this week and on Saturday !!!!!

Leapin' Lizards !!!

This picture is Priscilla's final project from the Spring Semester. I couldn't resist posting it !!!!

The classes are still ALIVE !!!! I am so JAZZED !!!! This is the third week of each course. I do intend to run the courses until the Dean tells me to stop. Here is what’s up in each course. Over the July 4th weekend, I will set up the Fandango for July 11. It’s coming up ever so quickly !!!!

Serging: We learned a bit about fitting a paper pattern last week. Hope you all cut your fabric and are ready to serge. BRING YOUR SERGERS TO CLASS ALONG WITH FABRIC AND MAXI LOCK SERGER THREAD. This week, we will be threading our sergers, and testing our stitches. Once you have done that, you can begin to sew up the bathrobe. We will tie on your threads to the cover stitch machine and make your belt loops. It’s easy. I will show you. AND if there is time, I will demo how to embroider one pocket. I have enough stabilizer for each serger student to embroidery one pocket with a Deco machine. I have 6 Decos so waiting will be at a minimum. If you own your own embroidery machine, feel free to embroider a pocket at home.

Basic Sewing: Last week, we fitted our nightshirt pattern. We discovered that McCall’s pulled pattern 8524 from its pattern book. Some of you, are using different patterns. BUT…they are all basic. So don’t worry. This week, we will be SERGING our open edges. Sergers will overcast the edge of your fabric so that they won’t ravel. AND the edge will lay flat. The ONLY edges that do NOT get serged are the ones that are enclosed like the neckline and neckline facing edge. The facing edge that is NOT enclosed gets serged. It’s easy. I will show you. Yes, I know, there are overcast stitches on the straight stitch sewing machines. Why are we not using them??? Because they don’t lie as flat as a true serged edge. AND I decided to take this opportunity to introduce sergers to you. They are very useful when you sew. AFTER the serging is done, I will show you how to mark your cut fabric with notches, dots, and pocket placement. All of this is done in the seam allowance.

Patternmaking: This week we will be drafting woven pants from the handout I gave you. Make sure you have taken the measurements that were listed on the handout. Last week, we draped knit leggings and traced them off onto pattern paper. Bring your curved rulers, pencils, and ultra fine sharpie markers, !!!! You will be able to see quite the difference between the two patterns when we are done.

Computerized Machine Embroidery: Last week, we learned how to work with hot-fix crystals. It was fun !!!! I think I was the only one who mixed the crystals with permanent markers. I do intend to wear my shirt on Thursday night. I hope you all wear your shirts, too.
I was asked to write the directions for using crystals with Mylar paper. I thought I should reprint this here:

To use the Mylar paper with Hot-Fix Crystals:

1. Take an image. I like to use Microsoft clip art. It should be something she likes. Print it out.
2. Scotch Tape it to a table.
3. Take the backing off the CLEAR Mylar piece. Place it sticky side up over the Microsoft clip picture.
4. Tape this down in all 4 corners.
5. Outline the clip art with the crystals. MAKE SURE.....you place the crystals right side down on the Mylar. When you think you are done, replace the backing on the Mylar.
6. Turn the Mylar over to see what you created. You can easily remove the backing and move the crystals around - until you are happy.
7. Place the t-shirt on the ironing board. Place a pressing cloth over the Mylar. PRESS without steam for about 1 minute. The Mylar will get all wrinkly. This is how you know you did it right. LET THE MYLAR
8. COOL BEFORE YOU TAKE IT OFF. The crystals will be stuck to the t-shirt.
9. When you want to wash the t-shirt....use cold water and turn the t-shirt inside out.

This week we will be doing embroidered Pocket Toppers

You will need: A shirt with a pocket on it. This should be a woven shirt. I found an appliqué teddy bear embroidery design for this. I have paw prints (from the text) and I have the teddy bear appliqué pocket topper. (REALLY COOL !) Bring a 4 inch square of appliqué fabric if you want to do the teddy bear coming out of the pocket. The school will also supply the rayon embroidery threads. Bring tear away stabilizer. We will learn about templates and we will be using the Cartesian cross. Come to class with the vertical (y axis) line basted from inside the pocket on up over your shirt pocket. Make sure this line is dead set in the middle of the pocket.

Remember to check out the right side column of the blog. I have added new embroidery sites and inspirational creative messages.

Make Money with Your Skills !

All Set to Go !!!!

I am ready for Monday. It always seems to take me a week to prep properly and figure out all the ins and outs of each semester. You will find the 5 weeks JAMMED PACKED !!!

Print out the syllabus I sent you late Wednesday night in an A-Team email. Bring it to class along with a pen and paper to take notes.

I read all the evaluations from Spring 2009. There are things I can do and things I can’t do. I can’t do handouts in advance when I don’t know what I need them for. BUT…this being said, I will try to write more directions on the white board for you to take notes. No text book will be perfect. As you learn, you will acquire many books on a subject that interests you. You will find some things you like in all the books. That’s what makes your perspective unique. AND this is what you bring to class: Your unique perspective, your years of experience, your own personal point of view !!!

I try to not do a lecture in the beginning of the classes because there is no time to go back and repeat. I started this 3 or 4 years ago because I was asked to do so by the class. If I go back to doing lectures, first, those that come late will miss out. As you said in the evaluations, this is your responsibility. You will need to get the notes from one of your peers. I will not repeat.

The classes are not split by learning level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. My classes are split by what you want to learn. All learning levels welcome. I do not have enough students to take a class (for example: Patternmaking) and split it by level.

You seem to want more completed projects in the courses. I will present them this summer. If you don’t finish….you don’t finish. This summer’s courses will not have any certificates attached to them. 5 weeks is just not enough time to get very involved. Let’s see how it goes.

I can only let you borrow my personal things. School equipment or supplies can NOT be borrowed. This Spring, I lost 2 items that were written in my lending book. Contacting the students did not do any good. This makes me not want to lend anything. It is unfair, I know. BUT…what else can I do? As to bobbins and needles, which you are supposed to supply, I will begin charging for them. You will be able to buy them from me and I will take the money and go replenish my stash.

I do periodically bring in magazines. I leave them on the counter for all to look at. I call attention to them in the beginning of the class. If you come late, you need to get notes from your peers.

I was asked to do a class on Photo Fabric. We are still setting up the printer and plotter. The ink is $500 to buy the BLACK dye ink. HP does dye ink in color. BUT the black is a pigment ink. I am sure, this could be a class cost when everything is set up. The fabric paper is $20 per 10 sheets. Some of you, want classes on specific embroidery techniques. ARE YOU PREPARED TO SPEND THE MONEY FOR THE EMBROIDERIES??????? I asked this during the Spring semester, and got mixed reviews. Not all embroideries are free. AND remember: There are very specific copyright laws !!!! The school does NOT have the funds to purchase supplies for every class. Some of you, have trouble buying required text books.

The PROGRAM Sewn Product Business is all set to go. I now have a computer classroom at my disposal on Friday afternoons. This fall, I will be teaching Embird Editing in there. We will be able to go back and forth between 203 and 209. If this works out, I will try to do Sewn Product Business in there.

I love show and tell! I find it so inspiring. YET……..Show and Tell is a hot topic. 50% want it and 50% don’t want it. If you have something to share…let me know, I will give you the time to talk to the class.

Another instructor, this summer is doing a fashion image course. Check the website: http://www.sdce.edu/.

I tell everyone to save their cut embroidery thread ends and leftover dissolvable stabilizer. When all the cut ends are laid out over the leftover dissolvable, you can sew this up into fantastic molded bowls. This is a project form a sulky book. Sulky Secrets to Successful Stabilizing. (1998). Sulky of America. No ISBN number listed. This book has many beginners’ guides in it. Plus, the creative ideas are fabulous. This book belongs on everyone’s shelf. There is now a sequel to it. This is great also.

NEWS:

Angel had her healthy baby boy after 3 days of labor on Saturday, May 30th, 2009. The baby weighed 8 pounds 3 oz and was just shy of 20 inches. Congratulations !!!!!

So we are all supposed to recycle. So I called Waste Management. 619-596-5100. This is their main phone number. They told me they pay for recycling of aluminum, plastics #1-7 and all metal cans. They also take all glass. They didn’t exactly tell me the truth. What do you have in YOUR neighborhood? Let me know. We all need to recycle.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS !!!

We are thrilled to announce our next exhibition-

SEEING GREEN: Visions of a Changing Planet,
Art Quilts inspired by the environment.

Mark your calendars for the opening June 20th from 5 – 7pm at the Visions Art Quilt Gallery.
This will be a very special event as the San Diego Women’s Chorus will be performing selections from their Spring Concert “Hear Our Song: Making a Difference in Our World”

In addition, there will be an “Off the Wall Presentation: Watermarks featuring Linda Gass”.
Come and celebrate our World through Art.

QUILT VISIONS EXHIBITION AND EVENT DETAILS

Seeing Green: Visions of a Changing Planet
Opening Reception- June 20, 5-7 pm
June 20 - August 16, 2009

Off the Wall Presentation: Watermarks featuring Linda Gass
Saturday, July 18, 7 pm - Reception in Gallery to follow
$10.00 for QV members, $15.00 general public

A multi-media presentation will take you on a photographic journey to the places that inspire her textile art, from the wilderness areas of California to some of the significant water interventions in the American West. Presentation will also feature a San Diego Coastkeeper representative who will provide an update on local clean water issues and activities.

Please forward this email to any interested friends and family throughout the WORLD.

Visions Art Quilt Gallery is a non-profit, member supported organization dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of the quilt as art. Contemporary Art Quilts are now being recognized around the world as exciting visual art. This is the first facility like this anywhere in the U.S.

Quilt Visions/Visions Art Quilt Gallery2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100San Diego, CA 92106619-546-4872http://www.quiltvisions.org/visions@quiltvisions.org

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I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.

As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with ageing.Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will. I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.They, too, will get old. I know I am sometimes forgetful.But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever,but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day(if I feel like it).

MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART!MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE A RAINBOW OF SMILES ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART FOREVER AND EVER! FRIENDS FOREVER!

Make Money With Your Skills !!!!