Dressed to a "Tee": American Sewing Guild 2014 Conference

Grateful to be home after five fun-filled days at the 2014 American Sewing Guild Conference in St. Louis. It's like being at a family reunion!

I wanted to share some more of my experiences. I took some interesting classes. I usually take a lot of hands on sewing classes. This year I took a different approach.

Lyla Messinger taught a fun fabric-dyeing technique. We drew designs with Sharpie's on white silk scarves and then sprayed them with alcohol! Yes, plain old alcohol! The scarves were ironed onto freezer paper to provide stability. The results were beautiful!!!! I used a fabric marker to write the Ts and sign my name! Do you like my designer signature! LOL. I can't wait to share this technique with my Guild members!

scarf #1

Scarf #2

Louis Cutting-Industry Fitting Techniques - we learned some neat tricks on fitting and making adjustments on the pattern.

I took a very interesting bag making class from Cheryl Kuczek. She has the most beautiful bags. The thing I liked about her bags is they are soft on the outside and structured on the inside. She uses bold home dec fabrics. Check her out in the latest specialty Threads magazine on bags.

Our meals at conference were delicious!!! I know I gained a few pounds.


Nancy Zieman was this years' conference speaker. I was so honored to have heard her story. I got to speak to her after the luncheon and she really is a nice lady. She is holding a dress she made in 4-H. She is such a humble person. If you haven't read her book, it's a must read. Seams Unlikely.

I also took a class on dart manipulation lead by Professor Hisako Nakaya. Hisako Nakaya, owner of Professional Sewing Supplies of Seattle, WA, sells her extensive line of sewing notions and tools via mail order only. She demonstrated various techniques to transform a bodice using darts. I can't wait to try this on a real garment.

Joe Vecchiarelli gave a great demonstration on padding up your dress form. His company does the costumes for Dancing With The Stars! He explained that because of all the weight loss associated with dancing, the actors costumes were constantly being resized. So he starts off with a smaller than true size dress form and pads it up to the correct size. He then removes the padding each week as needed. His company sells a European dress form. Show price was $399, his web price was $799! I am going to try this on a dress form I already have.

I also took a very good photography class. I learned a lot of neat tricks that should help me to take better pics. The first thing I must do is take a look at the DVD that came with my camera. Our instructor said it is usually chock full of software and tips!!!

I also took a class on splitting designs using PE/Palette Embroidery Softward. Penny! She is the greatest teacher when it comes to PE/Palette. Check out her website. I purchased her new book and will be devouring it over the next few weeks!

On Monday we visited Tacony! What an interesting place. They gave us an extensive tour of the facility from the training room to the warehouse. We learned that they hold sewing retreats and dealer training at this location. No dealer can sell Baby Lock without first attending this training. The warehouse distributes Singer, Juki, Koala, Mederia, and several other sewing-related products. At the end of the tour we each received a gift bag filled with sewing goodies. Photo courtesy of Ramona Baird, ASG website.