Posted on by Kathleen

ASG ROUND ROBIN May 8/18

Rockin' Round Robin

“TOTALLY BIASED ROUND ROBIN”
*ROCKED* the Atlantic Sewing Guild

On May 8, 2018, three talented and generous members shared their expertise with the Guild on handling various bias techniques.

When Josée (ASG Past President) told us she had a very interesting & different way of cutting long bias strips, she was definitely not kidding.  Her clear demonstration was so helpful – & a great way to avoid that old tedious marking & cutting across a single layer.  Many watched her explanation several times & took away her directions to remind us how to do at home.

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Faye (Treasurer) showed us the ins & outs of how to use bias strips for gorgeous Hong Kong seam edge finishing.  IMG_5147Her tweed jacket Morris Blazer finish was also particularly interesting, as she had to make up for a short front facing pattern piece.  Always quick on our feet & ready to “wing it” –  these ASG sewers!
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(President) Lorna’s method of using bias strips to aid sleeve cap insertion will save us from those pesky little gathered blips at the sleeve head.

Even though Pat M couldn’t be with us, we were able to peruse some of her beautiful

IMG_5127work with bias strips during Round Robin, and see the  colourful backdrops they provided during the always eventful Sew & Tell.

ASG Always Eventful Sew & Tell

Suzanne’s traffic stopping Deer & Doe Luzerne trench and her commodious Swoon tote.

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Welcome to new member Lisa who told us about making the Sew Over It Grace, her part in an on-line sew-along, in which sewistas from all over the world create a piece especially for their assigned person (rather like the old pen pal letter arrangements, but with a whole lot more work – & excitement).  Lisa will be also be receiving a surprise in return.  Interesting concept!
IMG_5007IMG_5009Our bee-keeper Donna’s two Jalie dolmans one in floral, cracking up our president with her quips, and in aptly coloured stripes.

Pat N continues her quest to sew all the jeans skirts with OOP Kwik Sew 1708.

Cindy co. copyCindy’s Cashmerette Concord T.

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Cathy took part in her first ASG Seaside Sewing event where she not only had a great time (& we enjoyed her being there!), but she also got back into garment sewing in a big way, sewing up shirts both for herself  (OOP Simplicity 9318) & her husband with McCall’s 6613IMG_5029

 

 

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Leeanne always finds really interesting patterns on the internet, an example being her Wiksten Kimono, which is a free download.LeeAnne

 

 

 

IMG_5049Anita in her TNT Jalie Helene shows one of those great Summit packs and OOP Cecelia Podolak Fearless T-shirt 109.

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Elte’s lively garments always cheer – and she doesn’t use a pattern!

 

IMG_5109Marcia’s stylish trifecta included her pretty-in-pink Blackwood Cardi,
the StyleArc Evie top, and Closet Case Ebony dress.

IMG_5058Nasirah won over that slippery fabric with her Kwik Sew shirt.

Arylene’s foray into sewing a cozy little pink Burda coat.

IMG_5066Nancy shows her linen/cotton Style Arc Vivienne with her always-special extra embroidered accents and her entire outfit IMG_5071 is also created by her, comprising Jalie top & cardi and OOP Kwik Sew 1708 skirt.

Angela, a member of many interests, shows her intricate self-designed seascape quilt and is up to her refashioning again, with a dress made of 9 tee-shirts, which we watched her drape at ASG’s most recent Seaside Sewing retreat.

A little robin told us that the usual good time was had by all!
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round robin

DON’T MISS Atlantic Sewing Guild last meeting of the 2017-2018 season

TUESDAY, June 13, 2018, 7PM, and our last ever at

Campbell Centre (BEHIND ST. AGNES CHURCH)
CORNER OF MUMFORD & CHEBUCTO

ASG Facebook link

ASG email address link

 

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Posted on by Kathleen

pdf’s your new BFF

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On April 10/18 Faye told 2 friends & they told 2 friends and sew on & sew on & sew on

FAYE UNRAVELS THE MYSTERIES OF .pdf’s in her well thought out & carefully prepared presentation

Although .pdf’s are all over the internet & we know they can be such useful tools, many of our members were stumped to interpret how to actually make use of them.  ♥Faye enlightened us with great info, including a real slide show (how long has it been?) along with examples of how she’s used .pdf’s.  Several of the guild have tried to use Portable Document File patterns (previously thought of as “pretty damn fasts”), but had no idea of the specifics that could manipulate them for our best use.  Come to think of it, of course a test square is actually there for a reason – & it is so good to know that there is actually a way to control their sizing, rather than throwing hands in air & walking away.  And who knew that registration marks serve the very same purpose as notches on our “real patterns”; putting the patterns onto USB’s will take up less space than keeping everything on your computer; & that it’s actually a good & useful idea to make a file name include all the words you can think of to describe it’s contents?! (that last bit was a revelation – & now we don’t have to remember the one arcane & clever phrase we’d used that one time only for naming purposes).  Thanks so much, Friend Faye!

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Our 2 Friends & Our 2 Friends & Our 2 Friends do SEW & TELL

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♥Sheila shows us how to turn a pair of husband pants into a skirt for herself – a little knack she picked up in the Refashion Class with Lorna & Angela

 

 

 

IMG_4843♥Reina snaps her cuffs, showing her cheery By Hand London wool coat.  Of course, we also wanted to have a look at that great Heather dress. IMG_4834  No question there will be several of these snappy numbers sewn by ASG members in future!

There it is! ♥Nancy’s sew cozy terry Butterick jumpsuit!IMG_4846

 

IMG_4854♥Angela did a great job calling members to her Refashion Class with Lorna & Angela. Here’s one of her refashions from skirt into dress!

♥Lorna’s New Look “scuba-ish” dressIMG_4861 with a flip of the fabric face between top & bottom.

 

 

 

 

♥Sahira always delights us with garments she creates for her lucky daughter IMG_4869IMG_4863IMG_4871

Our Friend ♥Pat’s Irish dance costumes are the stuff fantasy is made of – stunning stuff for those little performers!IMG_4898

♥Rhea in ASG perennial favourite, Jalie Hélène, as she shows us her granddaughter’s lovingly modified Pretty in Pink Love Notions Little Laundry Day TeeIMG_4905

 

 

 

And our Other Friend ♥Pat in her cozy Burda cocoon, as we witness the beginning of her adventures in sewing All -the-Jeans-Pants & Skirts! Pat collage

 

 

We’ll be telling 2 friends & they’ll tell 2 friends to sew on & Sew Right On Atlantic Sewing Guild Friends!

portraits collage corner crowds

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Posted on by Kathleen · 1 Comment

SHEILA’S UPDATED TAKE-ALONG LIST

Sheila

Sheila MacDonald, our long-term Atlantic Sewing Guild member is known for her organizational skills and persistence in finishing projects to high standards.  She has graciously given us the list of items that are included in her sewing luggage for those wonderful times when sewing away from home – at one of our classes; “SIN Saturdays” (Sew It Now), or longer sewing retreats.  We know that if we’ve forgotten something (other than the sewing machine – & yes, it has happened), Sheila probably has “several somethings” to help us out!  Following is the checklist she reviews when heading out (rather like an airline pilot, she is!).  It would be hard to think of something that Sheila has forgotten.  For those of us with upcoming Seaside Sewing, this will be a great help – thank-you Sheila for keeping us up-to-date!

Sheila's updated list

Posted on by Kathleen

FEBRUARY SWEETHEARTS

 On the day before Valentine’s Day, who better to greet ASG members than the lovely Margo Bergman?Margo

So many of us already follow Margo’s blog Creating in the Gap that we  knew it was going to be a very special evening with her in our midst.  No question that Margo♥ will have more devoted followers after her presentation this fine evening of February 13, 2018.

At the door we found her smiling face and just beyond, spied a colourful riot

Dresses ♥
Tablecloth jumpsuit!

of her creations.  We could see made up some of the very fabric that we’ve been holding onto in our own “Stash Closets” – a substantial spur to put scissors & thread to languishing potential.  No doubt we’re all members of the same “Fabric Petting Club”! (good concept BTW, Margo)

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FAR better than Home Dec use!

She began sewing buttons at the age of four, later graduating to a pink Kennie & clearly flew from there.  Margo obviously enjoys the sewing & producing her gorgeous clothes, but also believes in working hard to make progress.  She frequently moves the goalpost further out for herself.  “Do more work.  Do more work” – a good mantra to remind us that the final garments we see on her blog are lovely, but are the results of  mindfully putting in the elbow grease.   She might make it look effortless, but Margo assures us that she too has “wadders” & has no qualms in throwing them out.  Hurray for that – let’s all get rid of those albatrosses!  And while we’re at it, we can put to rest that the  idea that “selfish sewing” is anything other than perfectly fine.

ASG loved ♥ Margo’s visit (thank you so much) and we also enjoyed meeting her dressed-up “friends”.IMG_4645
Thanks as well to Fabricville  (see Margo’s feature) and to the Halifax Hair Design Centre for the best door prizes evah.

WITH MARGO’S WARDROBE A FITTING BACKDROP,
WE SEW & TELL

Suzanne♥ continues her fast & furious output with the ASG fave: her funky Jalie Helene cardigan; a Joy’s Find navy in Grainline Morris blazer and one of Margo’s faves (seen above), the True Bias Ogden cami

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Marg♥ shared her grandson’s new quilt with us – which seems to coordinate nicely with the Map of the World behind.  May he live in health with happy travels!

Bev♥ sewed up the Loes Hinse Euro pant pattern for her classic cords, trying out instructions in the latest Threads mag for the waistband and in-seam pocket

Pat♥Pat’s latest Jalie pants

IMG_4722 copy♥Nasirah’s OOP Simplicity 5463 beautiful paisley shirt

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Edgar♥ in a new McCall’s 6044 shirt & his first foray into trousers,  Kwik Sew 4045

Wearing her Cecilia Podolak Fearless Tee Anita♥ pulls from her deep “bag of tricks” a new collection of her cozy felted hats & mitts.

♥Norma‘s Jalie 2682 with the interesting folded neck
& creamy cozy Silhouette’s Nina top #211

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Eltee♥ is one of our most joyous new ASG members.  She cuts without having to use patterns  & we may be privileged in a future meeting to have her do a presentation on her methods. (cross your fingers)

 

 

RingMaster Christina♥ created her own Fantastic Menagerie – how gorgeous are these guys?
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Margo thought she might be missing out on a monthly party with ASG and we think she’s right – it’s all about fun!

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Special relaxation & enjoyment time with ♥beautiful sewing friends♥ !

Planning upcoming ASG events…

IMG_4663Angela♥ tells us about the Refashioning Class she and Lorna♥  are doing on March 22 & 24. ASG Refash Class info
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Cindy♥ and Nancy♥ hatching plans for double-barrelled Seaside Sewing May 1-3 & May 4-5.

 

 

DON’T MISS our next meeting featuring “ALWAYS BIASED”

ATLANTIC SEWING GUILD
TUESDAY, March 13, 2018, 7PM
Campbell Centre (BEHIND ST. AGNES CHURCH)
CORNER OF MUMFORD & CHEBUCTO

ASG FACEBOOK PAGE

ASG email link

Posted on by Kathleen

Warm Clothing Appreciated

UPDATE FROM FAYE MORRISON

I thought you might be interested in the final tally of our Community Sewing Day. I can’t express my thanks enough for the wonderful effort put forth by our Atlantic Sewing Guild sewers. Our first round of items, based on donations of items like socks, mittens, etc. was already delivered and from what I understand was immediately depleted.
Our latest, and final delivery included 47 pairs of sewn sleep pants; 3 pairs of pyjama sets suitable for females; 18 scarves; 1 knit hat; 1 knit scarf;1 XS pair of waterproof gloves; 1 woollen embellished shawl.
An impressive delivery!

Posted on by Kathleen

FEBRUARY 13 MEETING GUARANTEE

ASG Members are guaranteed to shake any February blues at our next meeting

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We have the fab, fun and fresh Margo Bergman making a presentation to us!  Margo is quite the sewing celebrity in these parts with her popular sewing blog, Creating in the Gap.  She will be bringing us tales of adventure in blogging and in creating her lovely (& colourful!) wardrobe, showing how the process fits into her life.Margo wardrobe

Margo is our kind of people! She loves clothes and is a self-declared fabric addict, a pattern hoarder who just can’t stop making things.  The sewing projects she does are many and varied.  Margo is a good example that it is indeed possible to produce beautiful clothes using, typically, local sources.

Right now Margo’s doing a crazy brave thing in her life &  she serves as an object lesson for those who tend to hold back: it can be wonderful to take a step into the unknown.  She has “secret skills to break out when a situation calls for it”, like so many of us who don’t necessarily acknowledge this in our daily grind .  Maybe she’ll even explain how to back up a truck & trailer or more importantly what she’s created using a Christmas tablecloth!

Margo heartThe day before Valentine’s Day will be a marvelous time to join the Atlantic Sewing Guild to have a close up look at both the clothing and the Gal Creating in The Gap! (See Margo’s quote from Ira Glass here.)

NEXT MEETING OF THE ATLANTIC SEWING GUILD
with MARGO BERGMAN
TUESDAY, February 13, 2018, 7PM
Campbell Centre (BEHIND ST. AGNES CHURCH)
CORNER OF MUMFORD & CHEBUCTO

ASG FACEBOOK PAGE

ASG email link

Posted on by Kathleen

COMMUNITY SEWING DAY 2018

A Plethora of Pyjama PantsA Note from Faye Morrison
 ASG Treasurer
& Community Sewing Day Organizer

I would like to thank all the members of the Atlantic Sewing Guild for the tremendous outpouring of support enabling us on February 3 to produce so many sleep pants for those who are homeless or on the fringes. Through the auspices of Mobile Outreach Street Health (MOSH), these garments will be used by those who will be laundering their clothing.

While I organized the day, I could not have achieved it without the donations of fabric, elastics, cording, and funds to purchase additional elastic. The volunteers who donated their time should be given accolades because our production was the result of their substantial efforts. We were able to achieve lots of sleep pants and many of the larger scraps made wonderful scarves/hats. Above is a photo showing some of their wonderful efforts because all of it could not be shown on one table and some are still out with our volunteers for to finishing with elastic when we ran out.