ASG Chicago Member Wins IPCA Ticket to Paradise Contest

The 2013 Ticket to Paradise Grand Prize went to Eve Kovacs of Woodridge, Illinois, who used patterns from Saf-T-Pockets to create a skirt and jacket ensemble.
Photo: Charles Islander, C Islander Graphics and Photography

Courtesy of Threads.com …

At the International Textile Expo in Las Vegas, March 18-20, the Independent Pattern Company Alliance presented its annual sewing contest fashion show and awarded the top prizes to the contest winners. Each year, the IPCA’s contest challenges sewers to select patterns from one of the IPCA member pattern companies and then unleash their imaginations to create garments inspired by the contest theme. The 2013 theme was “Ticket to Paradise”, and contestants were encouraged to make garments that express their idea of “paradise”. The winning garments were selected from a field of finalists during the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington, earlier in March.

The 2013 Ticket to Paradise Grand Prize went to Eve Kovacs of Woodridge, Illinois, who used patterns from Saf-T-Pockets to create a skirt and jacket ensemble…

Click here to read more.

ASG Chicago Presents: Traditional Bargello Jacket Workshop with Joan Derylak

The Chicago Chapter of The American Sewing Guild presents A Traditional Bargello Jacket Workshop with Joan Derylak of Figure Flattering Quiltwear. This 2 day workshop takes place Friday and Saturday, June 21-22, 2013 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Fabrics Etc, 1105 South York Road in Bensenville, Illinois.

In this class students will create their own unique bargello jacket using 7 different fabrics, choosing from the Straight Bargello or Purple Garden. You supply the fabric and bring your machine, we supply the kit, which includes 4 copies of the pattern you select, lunch and snacks.

We will learn the basic techniques for creating bargello with tube construction and how to use this to design for our own uniquely beautiful Figure Flattering Quiltwear. Joan loves to see the creativity and enthusiasm, when a student first puts on her garment and looks in the mirror.  Most are surprised at the great fit and how the colors come together.

Friday morning:  Jacket fittings/alterations and marking our muslin. Students have 34 muslins in five styles to try on and choose from, bust sizes 32”-57”

Friday afternoon – Saturday:  Students will learn the basic techniques of bargello design, and how to apply this to a garment.  We will then sew, sew, sew.  Lastly will be a finishing/tailoring techniques demo.

Pre-class preparation required: Supply list and pre-class prep directions will be sent to you after you register.

Skill level: Purple Garden straight bargello jacket Beginner; Midnight Glacier slant bargello jacket Intermediate

Basic sewing skills are required.  Garment construction skills are helpful.

The Early Bird price for ASG Members who register by May 13, 2013 is only $135, which includes lunch, beverages, snacks and multiple copies of the pattern so you won’t have to do any tracing. The non-member price is $170.  Click here to register online or download a paper registration form. Don’t delay – space is limited!

Call for Fibre Artists!!!

The Third Annual Driftless Area Fibre Arts Faire, sponsored by Arlene Byrne/de la Pear, will be held June1-2, 2013 at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.  This year’s event will coincide with the June 1^st Artist Parade during the day followed by Gallery Night in the evening.

This festival is held outside at Shake Rag Alley. A large tent that will be constructed to hold several artists. There is limited spaces for individual tents. With this in mind priority will be given to returning artists.

Registration deadline is March 30^th. Notifications will be sent out April 15^th.

Artist interested in participating contact Jennifer Golubiewski, for registration guide lines and an application, at 608.287.6872 and via email at driftlessfibrearts@gmail.com.

J. Stern’s Tee to Dress Tutorial

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Stern

Check out Jennifer Stern’s How to make a Tee into a Knit Dress! tutorial. To view the entire tutorial click here for Jennifer’s website.

Workshop Alert: Don’t Miss Piecing with Silks, Satins & Other Fun Fabrics

Hope Quilt by Judy Zoeler

Workshop alert!!! Are you a quilter who feels your repertoire is limited to only cotton? Then we have just the workshop for you. Join us for Piecing with Silks, Satins & Other Fabrics with world-renowned quilter Judy Zoeler. For one day only Judy will conduct a hands-on workshop, Saturday, March 16th at the Holiday Inn Express in Palatine, Illinois.

Judy will introduce 20 students to the joys of quilting with silks, satins and other fun fabrics. Using her patters and fabric kit, Judy will help students create a fan-themed quilt square and learn special techniques for working with these beautiful yet delicate fabrics.

Space is limited and early bird registration is still available; $60 for American Sewing Guild members and $75 for non-members. Early bird pricing ends this Friday, February 15th. The workshop pattern, kit and lunch are included in the registration fee. To register and for more information click here.

You don’t want to miss this all day workshop. Sewing friends, quilting and good food – what more can you ask for? Hope to see you there!

Float Quilt by Judy Zoeler

Jennifer Stern Workshop Weekend

Jennifer showing students how to raise the rise of their jeans. To see more photos click on the pics.

The ASG Chicago Chapter hosted Jean & Tee Fit Workshops with instructor Jennifer Stern. 35 attendees gathered for the all-day hands-on workshops held this past Saturday and Sunday. During Sunday’s workshop with Jennifer’s patterns and expertise attendees demystified the dilemma of denim to alter patterns and construct their own custom fit muslins for jean construction. On Saturday attendees created custom tees.

Alice Smith traces her jean pattern

Chicago Chapter President, Wendy Grossman, shows off her new tee

Join us for our next educational event, Piecing with Silks, Satins & Other Fun Stuff with Judy Zoelzer Levine on Saturday, March 16^th at 10 AM at the Holiday Inn Express in Palatine. Early bird pricing is still available. For more information and to register click here.

Break free! Go bold! Rethink quilting with Jacquie Gering.

“Break free! Go bold!” That’s what Jacquie Gering wrote in my copy of the book she co-authored with Katie Pedersen, Quilting Modern: Techniques and projects for improvisational quilts. Free? Bold? Yes, exactly! ASG Chicago welcomed Jacquie on Nov. 10 to speak on the topic of modern quilting, fabric choices, design, and techniques. Leaving her corporate job a few years ago, Jacquie took up quilting with a drive like none other. Hundreds of quilts later, she is a strong believer in improvising, trial and error, and using the quilts we make every day.

No stranger to needle and thread, Jacquie explained that she sewed the majority of her clothes growing up. Once she had a job and could buy her clothes, the sewing machine was packed away for year and years. She credits an exhibit on the Gee’s Bend Quilters for igniting the spark in her to dust off her sewing machine and learn to quilt. “I didn’t really know the specifics of how to quilt when I started, but I figured there would be some YouTube video or other online course to watch, and there was!” she said.

By trial and error, Jacquie developed a quilting technique that has earned her respect of modern and traditional quilters across the globe.  Her quilts are full of stories about her life, family, and unabashed fearlessness to look at a traditional pattern in a new way. “There are a lot of categories for quilting now. It’s like art movements. If I were in a category, it would probably be ‘improvisational’ because I respect the traditional patterns and methods, but like to put a new twist on them.”

Voice of the Tallgrass Prairie Studio blog, Jacquie is a fairly recent transplant to the Chicago area (from Kansas City), but has made a name for herself within the modern quilting movement for the past few years. In fact, Jacquie and Katie’s book was highlighted in the current issue of Modern Quilting Magazine with a detailed article on their Stepping Stones quilt. For modern quilting, she explained that the technique or movement focuses a lot on solid fabrics and the use of negative space. Modern quilts often do not use borders, which is why bindings are so important. For example, in her tin ceiling quilt that used yards of fabric selvedge, she told the audience that she expected any color to work for the binding, but realized that a linen-cream solid was the only color that didn’t district from the rest of the pattern.

Personally, as a someone who is new to quilting, I found Jacquie’s lecture inspiring. Seeing her deconstructed log cabin quilt not only makes me what to make one, but also learn about the traditional log cabin pattern to understand how Jacquie pulled it apart. And now I am off, to be free and go bold!

Mac Berg Directs the Drama of Serging

You have a serger and aren’t sure what to do next. Do you remain afraid to plug it in or do you fearlessly embrace all it can do?

What we recommend for any serger owner (fearful or fearless) is a day or two with Mac Berg, sewing instructor and serger guru who has years of experience with these mechanical beasts. And that’s just what we did. On July 14, a group of ASG Chicago members crowed (literally) in a meeting room at the Holiday Inn Express in Riverwoods. (Writer’s note: Yep, the room was too cozy, but the facility was great. We definitely would recommend it as well as Tasty Catering for lunch!)

Mac Berg, in white t-shirt sitting at serger, spends time with ASG Chicago members.

Mac, who can be contacted for classes at macbergsews@gmail.com, explained that a serger is like a drama set in an apartment building where the tenants don’t speak the same language; however, when they find ways to actually communicate then something wonderful happens. It can be dramatic, but there are ways to avoid or benefit from that drama. The key to using any serger, as Mac explained, is understanding the basics and building from there. For example, in her apartment complex drama:

• Lucy, the left most needle, has a controlling personality. She controls the seam.
• Rosie, the right needle, is very calm, and she adds stability to the building and to the stitch.
• Bambi, the upper looper, wants to be the center of attention and she dates Rual.
• Rual, the lover…opps…lower looper, workouts a lot and is very strong, though he instantly reacts to stress and tension.

Once you know that neighbors, it’s a matter of helping them get along in a balanced stitch kind of way. A couple other players every serger owner should know are Knife and Tension, the maintenance team of the complex.

• Tension can be tense. You can follow what the manual states, or you can use the additional tension tools that just about everyone owns, which are the thumb and index finger. Tension disks, Mac explains, are just squeezing the thread so if you want to alter a stitch, try squeezing the thread with just your fingers. Try it. Go ahead. Then when we adjust our tension dials, we can create decorative stitches. For example, if Bambie has had too many tasty beverages at a party, she is a bit loose and she visits the lower side of the fabric where Rual lives. This makes Rual then tightens up and he runs away from her into the arms of Rosie or Lucy. Oh, the drama!
• Knife can be a little more complicated. Everyone feels differently about disengaging the knife when serging or changing the set-up. Mac suggests trying avoid disengaging the knife because if you forget to re-engage the knife the damage to the machine can be costly. Rather than disengaging the knife, owners can practice and gain confidence to serge against the knife; just because it’s engaged doesn’t mean it has to cut the fabric. If you do disengage your knife, Mac strongly recommends putting notes, signs, or any reminder to re-engage it. Also, remember that the knife is nothing more than a pair of scissors attached to the machine and you control where it cuts.

Using the serger, like any machine, is about building confidence and that is best done by using it and taking notes. Take a piece of paper and note what is indicated in the  manual and then as you play with it:

• Name of stitch
• Left Needle tension
• Right Needle tension
• Upper Looper tension
• Lower Looper tension
• Stitch Length
• Cutting width
• Differential Feed setting
• How the stitch should be used
• Attached (stable or tape) a sample of that stitch to the paper

Having this sample library will help when you want to remember what a change in the tension did to a stitch or how it gathered the fabric. Consider saving these papers in a binder with your manual for easy access.

As the day went on, Mac gave more nuggets of information to the class, such as:

• 3-thread wide is good to finish raw edges and to attach elastic. It’s the stretchiest stitch and most decorative.
• The closer the knife is to the needle, the more fabric it cuts; you can move it away from the needle, but try to avoid disengaging it.
• 4-thread is the perfect construction seam for knits.
• 5-thread seams are better for woven construction.
• Never put serger thread in your sewing machine, but sewing machine thread can be used in the serger.
• You can but more than one thread through a looper; think of it as a creative license to be decorative.
• The thicker the thread, the more the tension will need to be adjusted.
• Fingers are external tension devices.

Eventually, the apartment complex quieted down as Lucy, Rosie, Bambi, and Rual said goodnight to the ASG Chicago members who attended the class. Keep any eye on the ASG Chicago website for future classes with Mac or contact her directly (macbergsews@gmail.com).

ASG Chicago Welcomes Jay Watts as new Membership Chair!

Jay Watts, ASG Chicago Chapter Membership Chair

ASG Chicago welcomes Jay Watts as the new Membership Chair to the Chapter Advisory Board (CAB). Chicago is the 7th largest ASG chapter with more than 400 members, making Membership Chair a very busy position.

What does a Membership Chair do? This position is responsible for maintaining a record of members for the chapter, including new, returning, lapsed, transfered, and dropped members.  She also welcomes new members via email and supports the chapter in recruiting new members and provides information to Neighborhood Group Leaders.

Jay has an extensive background volunteering with the Cradle Adoption Agency and Hope House of Chicago. She explained that she belives strongly in giving back to the organizations and communities she supports, “Since joining ASG, I have continually benefited from ASG’s newsletters, chapter meetings, outings and educational workshops. I look forward to giving back through ASG.”

Welcome, Jay!

New and Improved: The ASG Chicago Web Site!

The ASG Chicago Chapter web site has undergone a facelift. Everything from Susan’s fabulous banner photo to ease of navigation is new and, if we must say so ourselves, much improved. But don’t take our word for it. Check it out for yourself. Then send your friends.

Thanks go to Priscilla, our hard-working Web Master (she doesn’t want to be called a mistress, and who can blame her?) for all her hard work to make this transformation. She and Susan researched other ASG chapter web sites and developed a site that we can all be proud of.