Five Day Sievers Achievers…

First, we are having trouble again with subscriber notifications.  The plug-in reverted to some invalid settings, or something like that, while I was away, so if you are reading this and didn’t know I posted yesterday, scroll down for part one…

Meanwhile, my annual Garment Construction Intensive at Sievers began with a wonderful and large group, there were ten in all this year.  We break this class, (affectionately called now a “Sewing Retreat” by one of the regulars, because her husband can’t understand why she keeps repeating the same class), into two parts.  There is the usual five day, and for those who want more of a good thing, or have more ambitious projects, there is an additional couple of days option.  One of the five day participants actually ended up staying one additional day so she could finish her complex garment.

They copied their patterns after the initial fitting, and then laid out their fabrics. Three of the four making Daryl Jackets had handwoven fabric.  Lorraine had a printed corduroy, and found out quickly how difficult it is to work with a fabric printed off grain.  But she valiantly pressed onward and did a great job!

They sewed like the wind.

They had buckets of handwork.

They all finished their jackets except for Lorraine who actually could only stay four days since work was calling her, but she was far enough along for the group photo to have one sleeve in.  I’m confident she will finish.  She plans to add a zipper to the front of hers.

My Indiana ladies, Linda, Cindy and JoAnne all looked wonderful in their handwoven Daryl Jackets.  They all had really gorgeous fabrics, nicely woven.  I hear they had a great weaving teacher! Linda (below right) is actually Linda Adamson of Tabby Tree Weavers in Indiana!  If the wovens they brought are any indication of the level of instruction at Tabby Tree Weavers, I highly recommend them for classes!

And the group photo on Thursday afternoon showed garments in various forms of construction.  This small ritual at Sievers of taking a group photo towards the end of the class is really important to me.  This is my eighth year at Sievers, and I have eight class photos on my wall.  I remember each of the students I taught, and what they made.  My five day students are all in the front row with me, I”m on the left.

Wally is one of my returning students, her third time with me, and she brought a huge challenge.  She ended up staying for an extra day.  Wally brought a stack of gorgeous assorted black and grey fabrics, some metallic, some knit, all lovely and all coordinating.  She also brought along a vintage white brocade tablecloth.  Her plan was to piece the assorted fabrics together, and her pattern was copied onto clear plastic.  Unfortunately she forgot to bring the original pattern with photo and directions.  I can put things together without directions, but with no photo for reference, I wasn’t sure how the collar piece was suppose to attach since it didn’t seem to fit the body of the jacket.  All Wally could remember is that the word Pacific was in the name. It was pretty hilarious watching all the students pull out their phones and start Googling Pacific Jacket and seeing who could find it first.  I believe it was Ginnie who nailed it, Lorraine Torrence’s Pacific Rim Coat, and once I saw a photo, I was good to go.

I suggested to Wally that she use my traditional piecing technique fusing onto a backing, which simplified things for her, and she got right to work.

She changed her mind regularly about what would be the collar and lining, and what would be the binding strips, but that’s all part of the process.

She spent a couple days just sewing on the binding strips.

She used the brocade tablecloth for the lining.

Her jacket is a masterpiece.  We all loved it and congratulated her, and rumor has it that she wore it to the Lyric opera in Chicago Monday  night.

More tomorrow on the seven day Achievers!