Shibori - Part I

True to the name "Sew Incredibles", we had a great program on Shibori tonight presented by Martha & Sandie.

Happy Martha works on her shibori project

Many gorgeous samples were shown by both Sandie & Martha and then we got to stitching on our mini shibori projects, which we will dye next month at our meeting.

Barbara admires Sandie's work of art 

Martha's dyed piece - using cranberries!

Some more of Sandie's beautiful shibori

At show & tell, we had a few lovely surprises. A beautiful skirt made by June (sorry I didn't get a photo!) and Sandie presented Lucretia with this adorable stuffed hippo for her new granddaughter.

Lucretia with the stuffed hippo for her granddaughter, made with love from Sandie

 Lucretia shared a beautiful photo and story of a "Quilt of Valor" made for her son by Sandie and women from her synagogue that was presented to him after he returned from a tour in Afghanistan. Here a photo of Sandie and Lucretia's son with the Quilt that was made for him.

Sandie & Lucretia's son with his Quilt of Valor

Truly touching - this group of women are true friends. We are not just friends who sew - we are a support system for one another. I am so glad to find this group of loving, supportive and generous women. Thank you for being Sew Incredible, ladies!

More pictures from the July meeting

the detail on Mary's skirt - modified V1291

Barbara's two skirts - one from the Kenneth King class

Desi's cute black skirt and Jalie top

Jan's adorable skirt with cool trim

Rita's Koos skirt

Lisa makes jewelry - gorgeous silver bracelet!

Summer Party & Skirt Challenge

Last night, we had a wonderful summer party at Cecilia's home. She has been our gracious host of our summer party for many years. The food was delicious as were the desserts. Too bad I didn't get photos of those - darn!


This year's challenge/theme was a skirt challenge. Many of us made skirts that we proudly displayed during the "Show & Tell" portion of the evening. Here are some photos.

These two were cutting up, as usual!

Mary won the skirt challenge with her beautifully detailed skirt!

She used Vogue 1291 for the skirt pattern, and added the yoke at the top from New Look 6345. And she added the buttons to sort-of control the origami pleats.

Rena's Alabama Chanin skirt

Sandie came with skirt-a-palooza, but I loved her Siamese cat top from fabric purchased at Sew Main St 

Rita's precious skirt!

Barbara's cute outfit, including a tee and fitted skirt with fly front zipper and pockets!

Ginny made an appearance with a fabulous outfit made from Louise Cutting's "Relax a Little" pattern and a batik she bought from Thai Silks. Great stuff!

Next month's meeting is back at the church and we'll be discussing Shibori with a presentation led by Martha. Desi will be ordering blank silk hankies for many to use. Please let her know by 7/31 if you'll need a silk hankie so we'll be sure to order enough.

(hand) sewing circle

Sashiko by Hellenne

Hand-dyed pearl cotton from Sew Main Street in Woodstock

Rita, Desi, Rena

Terry and Janimal

Last night we looked further into the subject of embroidery, starting with one of the simplest - sashiko. We finished with more complex stitches including bullion stitch. And we sat in a circle. A sewing circle.

boro cloth by Martha

Sew Main Street

SING was well represented at Sew Main St, new fabric store in Woodstock thanks to Desi's research and invitation.

We did lunch at firehouse and then invaded this cute new non-quilting store.

Lots of cute cottons including jersey and canvas. Oh and the voile prints were gorgeous and yummy feeling.

There was also Radiance, a cotton-silk blend. Her silks and linens haven't come in yet.

Cute patterns for bags and simple garments.

Here is some cotton jersey I bought.

Pillowcase dresses for Kenya

A few weekends ago, many of our Sew Incredibles ladies met at Lucretia's beautiful home to sew up some pillowcase dresses for children in Kenya. The church where we meet is taking them on an upcoming mission trip and will deliver them in person. As usual, Lucretia was a gracious hostess. As we sat and stitched for three hour intervals, many of us agreed that while we were doing work for charity, we were getting so much benefit from our time together. Sewing friends are such a blessing. It was great to get to visit with each of you who attended. I treasure your friendships, ladies. We are TRULY Sew Incredible!

Our final tally for the total dresses and shorts (for the boys) completed:

• 103 dresses
• 16 pairs of shorts

Here are some photos from the groups working each day. 
(Full sized photos here)

Martha enjoying sewing on her Singer Featherweight

Jan pressing hems and casings for us. Thank you, Jan!

The group from Saturday

Lucretia putting elastic in the casings and cutting armholes. She also pre-cut all of the dresses for us!

Hellenne sewing on the bias strips for the straps

Rena's daughter came and stitched with us, too!

...and then we turned her into a model for the dresses

She loved the photo shoot

I mean, really enjoyed it!

What a sweet girl!

The group from Sunday

Spring Fling 2012

The ASG Atlanta chapter held their annual Spring Fling event yesterday and as usual, the Sew Incredibles group was well represented. The theme of the event was International Cultures and each group was asked to decorate a table according to the customs/traditions of a country of their choosing. Our country was Japan. Here are a few shots of our table decorations:

Jan M., Sandie and Jan G. all participated in the international fashion show - featuring garments inspired from cultures all around the world.

Jan M. took home first place with her wonderful representation of Japanese culture and fashion. Her outfit consisted of the following items, all of which were made by Jan!

• Haori - lined jacket, Folkwear Pattern 129, fabric,cotton jersey in ginko/lotus design with pale yellow cotton polyester lining
• Kanzashi - hair ornament from remnants of the jacket fabric plus silver bead dangle and rhinestone center
• Hanjuban - white cotton undershirt with side ties
• Susoyoke - underskirt, white linen with cotton waist tie
• Obie Belt -kimono silk fabric and tie from Original Quilt & Sewing Show. Lining from Haori lining.
• Tabi - socks of white cotton with ankle designs from the internet
• Purse of white cotton with blue sashiko stitching and the lining from the Haori jacket

Sandie represented many countries with her outfit: Indonesia, Israel and Japan. Here's a photo of Sandie in her outfit:

Jan G's dress was modeled by Sandie. It was made of all Liberty of London fabric purchased from fabric.com - the design was inspired by the British flag. What a creative and wonderful dress!

Lastly, there was a quilt raffle to benefit Ovarian Cancer. The teal quilt, which is the signature color for Ovarian Cancer awareness. Over $200 was raised via the raffle and our very own Rita M. took home the quilt!

April meeting - Swimmy Suits with Rena!

Our former fearless leader (Rena) dusted off her presentation skills last Thursday to share her knowledge and expertise with us related to sewing suits of the swimmy variety as well as leotards and dance costumes. Somehow, I only got one this shot, featuring the bottoms of one of the many swimsuits she's made, but here are a few samples of the others she's whipped up for her kiddos.

In her presentation, she stressed that many patterns can be used for not only costumes, but for swimsuits as well. For example, one pattern was used to create both this swim dress

AND this dance costume:

After the presentation, many of us participated in our favorite part of the meeting - Show & Tell!

Here are a few of the highlights:

Hellenne's bags made of Japanese fabric, accented with Sashhiko stitching done by hand!

Japanese fabric can be found at Super Buzzy

Jan made an adorable stuffed cat for her daughter:

And Lucretia made this awesome quilt for her grand-daughter!

Other notable topics/links/websites that were discussed:

• Spandex House
• Stretch House
• Sew Sassy - great for swimwear notions
• Chez Ami fabrics
• The Selfish Seamstress (don't miss her Selfish Seamstress accessories)
• Burda magazine
• Ottobre magazine (great swimsuit pattern in the 2/11 issue)