Sievers Part 2…

My garment construction class at Sievers is unique in many ways, primarily because they offer a seven day option.  And believe me, several of the students who opted for the full seven days used every waking minute of it.  Starting at 9am, they would stop for lunch and dinner but work until 10-11pm most nights.  And still have handwork to do at the end. The other wonderful thing I love about this venue in particular is the amount of students that return year after year.  My class at Harrisville NH also has returning students, but none have come as many years as this group.  Which means that we have developed friendships beyond just the classroom, and I’ve watched their sewing skills grow, and their wardrobes increase, and their joy of the process blossom into what could almost be described as a passion.  Not necessarily to sew as to acquire garments that fit well and are created from a cone of yarn, handwoven into fabric, and tailored into a one of a kind jacket or coat.  And of course the only way to do that is to sew.  One garment at a time.

We had to ask Sievers to provide a second garment rack for the students who return each year and bring all the garments they have made during my classes.  The rack has some remarkable garments on it.

So I’ll just go through each student, starting with Stephanie, who was my only new student this year.  All the rest were returning.  Stephanie had garment construction skills coming into the class, but like many students I come across, they have not sewn for themselves in years, and though an experienced knitter, Stephanie has discovered the rigid heddle loom and the interlacement of cloth and there is no stopping her.  She brought commercial fabric from her old stash for the class, and she made my classic Daryl Jacket shape. First though, she made a muslin since we tweaked the fit quite a bit. That’s the first photo.  I did encourage her to use the colorful selvedge of the cloth as an accent on the band.

This is Lorraine’s second class with me, and she was so enthusiastic.  She downloaded a Burda pattern and pieced it all together from the 27 printed pages.  The directions were on her tablet. We had to do a full bust adjustment on the pattern first.  The jacket, of a poly jacquard, was designed to be backed with fleece, sort of a more padded look, so she had lots of new skills to explore.  Though the jacket called for commercial fold over braid, she took my advice and used bias strips of the reverse side of the cloth for her edge finish.  She has a lot of handwork still to do.

And there was Wally.  I think this is Wally’s fourth class with me, and I adore this woman.  Without disclosing her age, Wally has almost 20 years on me, and she has more energy than someone ten years my junior.  She comes to Washington Island with her paddle board and paddles around Lake Michigan.  She is a tiny thing, and wears clothes with such enthusiasm you can’t help but smile.  Last year Wally made a fabulous pieced jacket and we follow the jacket on Facebook, Where’s Wally’s Jacket.  In class last year, we all commented on a pair of knit pants she wore, in black, and she asked if this year, she could copy the pants and make more of this delightful and unusual garment.  The first photo she is wearing the gray version of the original pants, apparently she bought the pants in many colors.  The next three photos are the three pairs she made during the 5 day class after she copied the pattern from the original and figured out the engineering. The grey pair in the fourth photo is a knit with quite a bit of metallic that doesn’t show in the photo.  The last photo is of Wally heading out the door one night after class, with her jacket from last year and her newest pair of whatever these pants are called.  I want to be Wally when I grow up.

My seven day Sievers Students are like I said above, good friends.  Ginnie, Cindy and Terry have been coming for so many years, no one quite remembers how many, probably 8-10.  But I’ll start with Barb, who is best friends with Terry and came up all the way from NC.  I’ve actually taught this same class at Barb’s studio in Asheville a couple of times.  Barb is a fantastic weaver, and loves weaving fine linen.  Her dish towels are heirlooms.  I have one.  This is the second heirloom Christening gown she has made, this one with hand embroidered white work on the front, as a result of a class she takes in NC.  I’ve been teaching her bobbin lace over the last couple of years, and she made 66″ of lace, from the same linen she used to weave the cloth for the gown, to trim the bottom of the skirt.  There is also a cotton batiste slip Barb made to go under the gown.  Working this small is cranky and sometimes difficult.  Often it is just easier to attach pieces by hand rather than by machine.  Barb loves handwork so that wasn’t an issue.  Obviously the gown needs a serious pressing, it is linen, but since there is still so much embroidery to do, it didn’t make sense to spend time getting the gown looking perfect for the pictures.  When Barb was all finished, she started on another lace pattern I’d brought along.

Ginnie came to my house a few years ago for a NYC Buying trip with Peggy Sagers.  And I’ve been to her house/studio on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  We have helped each other clean out our fabric stashes.  Ginnie sews all the time and does some pretty wonderful stuff.  She made a couple of muslins for some bias tops and even though I took about a hundred photos, somehow I missed the striped bias linen one.  Sorry Ginnie.  Ginnie spent most of her time on a knit dress.  We hand basted panels carefully because the proportions were going to be so critical on her body which is not like the one on the front of the pattern envelope.  She was a good sport and spent hours working out the lines and layout of this pretty complex piece.  We all squealed in delight when Ginnie slipped it on towards the end of the class, and I must order the pattern and try one myself.  I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there are no hems in this garment.

Cindy has followed me the longest, way back to 2005 when I taught and gave the keynote at the Sheboygan, WI Midwest Weaving Conference.  Cindy weaves beautiful cloth, and this year’s project was handwoven deflected doubleweave from a class with Madelyn van der Hoogt, woven with  Alpaca from a friend’s animals.  We all couldn’t help pet the fabric every time we walked by.  Cindy now effortlessly puts bound buttonholes on her jackets, and can alter a bust cup like nobody’s business.  She actually reused a pattern from a previous year, making a jacket that looked completely different from the original.  She reversed the fabric for the facings to show how cool the back of the fabric is in a deflected double weave.  Note that the buttons were coconut from Walmart.

And last but not least, Terry.  Terry could barely sew when she first came to me.  She wanted to turn her handwoven cloth into something fun to wear and has returned year after year to make some wonderful things.  Terry and Cindy are close to the same size and Cindy let Terry use the pattern from the jacket she made last year.  We had a bit of tweaking but the fit was spot on.  Terry wove the center panels in a dye class with Heather Winslow, and then wove companion fabric to match knowing she wouldn’t have enough to make a jacket.  The two coordinated beautifully.  She wanted to try the patch and loop closure that I talk about in my closures lecture, and the scale was perfect.  This is her best effort yet, and we got a photo at the end of Terry in her new jacket with Cindy in her’s from last year.  In case you are interested, both were made from Vogue 9039.

One of the fun things we get to do during the classes at Sievers is to visit the other studio to see what students are making in the other class that usually runs at the same time.  I met Jo Campbell-Amsler who taught natural fibers basketry, and fell in love with the idea of making cordage from harvested Siberian Iris leaves.  And I think we have a Russian willow in the back yard that needs frequent pruning.  Jo and I are trying to figure out a way to do back to back classes at Sievers next year so we can take each other’s classes.

Once again, the ferry ride away from Washington Island signals the end of another year of Sievers.

I came home at 2am Monday morning to find a present waiting for me from my own garden…

Stay tuned…