What a wild and wonderful week I’ve had at the American Sewing Guild National Conference in Atlanta. Though I long for my own bed, I’ve been on the road for so long I rarely get to actually sleep in my own bed, I was so glad for this opportunity to attend, and to teach for the American Sewing Guild conference. To say this is a completely different audience then I am accustomed too would be an understatement, yet there was still sameness about a group of strong talented women who share a passion of fiber. And there was a comfortable feel to the conference, the fashion show, the speakers, the vendor hall, soon I felt like I fit right in.
This is my first experience teaching for the American Sewing Guild, and I will say it was really really positive. An extremely organized conference, there was a rhythm to this event that never seemed to miss a heartbeat. Every bit of the conference occurred in the Atlanta Hilton, a gracious and accommodating venue, and all the volunteers and staff at the ASG worked hard at their jobs, no detail was missed. I did have to change classrooms, but that was to be expected because all four of my classes had very different needs. Since I was staying right above the exhibit halls and classroom space, it wasn’t hard to store my teaching materials in my hotel room.
The ASG provided breakfast and lunch meetings every day of the conference, great opportunities for more inspiration like Connie Crawford’s breakfast talk on the 2010-2011 fashion forecast. The fashion show was well done, I almost wished I hadn’t been modeling, I would have loved to have sat in the audience. It was open to everyone, there were 76 entries, and some pretty proud models. Most garments were modeled by the maker, and there were wedding gowns, and antebellum costumes, celebrating Atlanta’s heritage, there were all kinds of garments on all kinds of shapes, and it was a pleasure to mill around back stage getting a close up look at all the fine details. I think my two garments were pretty much the only hand woven garments there, and that was quite the novelty. I’m not use to that. I’m use to being part of a crowd of handweavers who are all wearing gorgeous textiles and no one is surprised that you wove everything you’ve had on at the conference.
The first class I taught on Thursday was particularly special to me, I shipped a bunch of Inkle Looms and taught a one day workshop titled “Weave your own Trim“. The inkle loom is perfect for non weavers to begin to play with the medium, instant gratification, by lunch time they were all weaving away on their bands, chatting about practical applications for making Chanel type braids and French Passementerie. They picked up Pick-Up techniques very quickly, and I sold eleven looms. So there are eleven new weavers out there! I’m so proud.
I even discovered YLI decorative Pearl Crown Rayon Serger thread, in miniature cones, perfect for fine bands and braids. They have a Candlelight Metallic yarn as well. There were also some wonderful yarns imported from Germany, fine perle cottons, and embroidery cottons, on very small skeins, perfect for Inkle Weaving, all handpainted in joyous names relating to famous painters. I have one called Frida! The yarns are from Tentakulum and available from the YLI website.
My Friday morning lecture was particularly special to me. I gave a talk on the collaborative process and my experience working with Loretta Phipps whom I had never met using yarns I would have never picked on the 2008 Convergence Challenge in Tampa Bay. Loretta and I designed and created a runway ensemble which has been traveling since the 2008 conference, this is the first I’ve seen it since June more than two years ago. I had since made a dress from the leftover scraps from the coat, and I wore it to the presentation, and the actual garments, with many thanks to the HGA, made it to the conference having been on tour with the Original Sewing and Quilt Expos.
I had a full class for my afternoon lecture on Seams and Edge Finishes, I was worried that participants from the Sewing world would find the material too basic, doesn’t everyone know how to do a French seam or a Hong Kong seam, doesn’t everyone know how to do a mitered corner on a bound edge? I was thrilled when so many participants came up to me and thanked me for my full color handout, slide for slide of the presentation, and for my thorough details explaining each of the techniques, and I got a hug from someone who wasn’t sure what Stitch in the Ditch meant, I was happy to explain it to her, we all come from different backgrounds and levels and training, and I was so pleased at all the kind words for my presentation.
The vendor hall was so different than what I’m use to at handweaving conferences. It was packed full of fabrics, independent pattern designers, sewing machine vendors, irons, cutting mats, pattern making software, and stuff for embellishment of just about anything you can fit under a sewing machine. This was craft project central! It was colorful, full of excited women, and sometimes hard to maneuver through the aisles. I stopped at Linda Lee’s booth, The Sewing Workshop, she asked to see the tote bag I wetfelted, stitched with Ultrasuede trim, and wove the Inkle trim for the handle. The pattern is from The Sewing Workshop, called the Daily News Bag.
I also spent some time at Susan Lazear’s booth Cochenille Design Studio. Susan attended Convergence in Albuquerque, and was one of the designers from the 2010 Challenge paired with Robyn Spady. Susan is the creator of “Garment Designer” software, and she spent some time demonstrating the product. I was very impressed by the software, I had had some earlier experience years ago with software from Dress Shop 2, and hadn’t found it very helpful. We’ve come a long way with computers, and I took the plunge and invested in the Garment Designer software taking advantage of the show bundle price. This software will also create the patterns for knitted garments, my jaw just fell on the ground when I saw the demo on that.
My last class was a fun hands on project, this was the first time I’ve taught this particular project and I worried about the timing. It was perfect. The students had four hours, and they jumped right in and most finished their mats with enough time to spare.
It was really fun to see all the bright fabrics and bias tubes come together at the end.
I am pretty exhausted. And I only have a week to get ready for my five day class at Harrisville Designs in New Hampshire. I hit the ground running this morning, dealing with the dead plants, from no rain and no water, nearly empty ponds and fountains, dealing with trash and recycling, yard waste and laundry. The drain on the airconditioning unit backed up, causing water damage in one of my ceilings, I managed to get that unplugged, and the one good thing about 100 degree temps with no rain in site, there is a chance the exterior walls will actually dry out and not mildew. I’m crossing my fingers.
Meanwhile, the flight home to Newark was easy and uneventful. I sat tucked in my little seat by the window on an Embraer Jet, watching the sun set, finishing up knitting my first pair of socks. I just have to graft the toes together, and I’m ready for winter. I’ve already put in an order to Webs for more sock yarn…
It sounds well organized! How many attendees/registrants?
I heard between 6-700. And this is an annual conference, they will be in LA next year and Houston in 2012.
I took your Seams and Edge finishes class in Atlanta and was just amazed at the lessons and tips. I really enjoyed the class and wish I was able to take your other classes as well.