(As promised no names are attached to these wondrous “Collections” –
so have fun figuring out who goes with what!)
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.
Faye (Treasurer) showed us the ins & outs of how to use bias strips for gorgeous Hong Kong seam edge finishing. 
Her 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!
(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
work with bias strips during Round Robin, and see the colourful backdrops they provided during the always eventful Sew & Tell.
Suzanne’s traffic stopping Deer & Doe Luzerne trench and her commodious Swoon tote.
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!
Our 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’s Cashmerette Concord T.
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 6613
Leeanne always finds really interesting patterns on the internet, an example being her Wiksten Kimono, which is a free download.
Anita in her TNT Jalie Helene shows one of those great Summit packs and OOP Cecelia Podolak Fearless T-shirt 109.
Elte’s lively garments always cheer – and she doesn’t use a pattern!
Marcia’s stylish trifecta included her pretty-in-pink Blackwood Cardi,
the StyleArc Evie top, and Closet Case Ebony dress.
Nasirah won over that slippery fabric with her Kwik Sew shirt.
Arylene’s foray into sewing a cozy little pink Burda coat.
Nancy shows her linen/cotton Style Arc Vivienne with her always-special extra embroidered accents and her entire outfit 
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!
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!
♥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
♥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. 
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!
♥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” dress
with a flip of the fabric face between top & bottom.
♥Sahira always delights us with garments she creates for her lucky daughter 
Our Friend ♥Pat’s Irish dance costumes are the stuff fantasy is made of – stunning stuff for those little performers!
♥Rhea in ASG perennial favourite, Jalie Hélène, as she shows us her granddaughter’s lovingly modified Pretty in Pink Love Notions Little Laundry Day Tee
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! 
CONCENTRATING
OBSERVING
This was our first 6 DAY
(3+3) event, but won’t be our last!
STAY TUNED FOR AUTUMN SESSION
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!
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
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)
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”.
Thanks as well to Fabricville (see Margo’s feature) and to the Halifax Hair Design Centre for the best door prizes evah.
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
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’s latest Jalie pants
♥Nasirah’s OOP Simplicity 5463 beautiful paisley shirt
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
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?
Special relaxation & enjoyment time with ♥beautiful sewing friends♥ !
Angela♥ tells us about the Refashioning Class she and Lorna♥ are doing on March 22 & 24. ASG Refash Class info
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!
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 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!
The 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.)
