It's In The Bag

Last Wednesday the Sewphisticuts learned how to make an "easy-peasy" bag, led by Pat M.  Sewing this bag gave us a chance to learn and share bag-making tips and techniques.  The bag was originally designed to be a catch-all bag for your car, with a strap to hang it from the gearshift.  But we thought up some other uses as well, from hanging on a doorknob to catch keys and other items that you want to have handy as you come and go in the house to a scrap-catcher bag next to your sewing machine or serger.  By the end of the meeting everyone had finished their bags; we had a variety of color choices and even one with a design addition (Judy added a pocket and rolled-over edge to hers).

In other business, we decided to skip our December meeting due to its proximity to Christmas.  Everyone had other commitments that made moving the date problematic.  So we will hold a dinner meeting in January, weather permitting, that will be our program planning meeting as well.

We had some Show-and-Tell items also - pictures follow here.

Connie made a baby quilt from a panel.

Kathia's Halloween bags

Tote bag for large cutting boards

Cut-work embroidery by Kathia

More embroidery by Kathia

Making a Difference

Last Saturday, October 22, members of the Hudson Valley Chapter of ASG did their part to make a difference for someone less fortunate.  Once again the Poughkeepsie Plaza graciously hosted us, letting us use an empty store space.  The staff at Sew 'n Vac lent us sewing tables and chairs, and later a vacuum to tidy up after ourselves.  Quite a few people spent part or all of the day pinning, pressing or sewing to make pillowcases, caps, neck gaiters and scarves to be donated to local shelters.  Here are a few pictures from the day, showing only a few of the many folk who helped out that day.

Getting Ready to Make a Difference

At our October meeting, the Sewphisticuts zoomed through a stack of fleece, cutting it up into the strips and circles that will be stitched together into fleece caps and scarves.  The Charity Chics group already did much of the preparation for making pillowcases, so when our Make a Difference Day event rolls around on Oct. 22nd, we'll be ready to sew.  Speaking of that event, we need folks to sign up for that day.  The event runs from 10 am to 3 pm, but however long you can stop in to help is appreciated.  Set-up will most likely be done on Friday evening.  If you can help out that night or anytime Saturday, please contact Connie Pennisi and let her know.  Help at the end of the event is especially appreciated as it takes a bit of work to restore the room to an empty, clean storefront.

In chapter news, there is a Serger workshop being planned for next March.  It will be limited to 8 people, but if many are interested a second one may be scheduled.  More information will be forthcoming about that.  The annual meeting and luncheon are coming up on Nov. 6 at Hudson's Ribs and Fish.  You should have already received an email about that.  Please note the deadlines for sending in your response and ballot.

Our next meeting in November will be a sewing meeting, with Pat M. helping us to make the nifty lined bag that can be used in a multitude of ways.   A list of necessary supplies will be sent out ahead of the meeting.  We will also discuss scheduling of the December dinner meeting.

We had a few Show and Tell items; pictures follow.

Connie's quilt in pretty pastels

One of Peggy's napkin rings

Judy's shawl - finished after MANY years!

The story behind Judy's shawl is that many years ago she had it almost complete, but disliked the fringe that the pattern had called for the finish the edge.  After our program about crocheted edgings, she thought about replacing the fringe with a crocheted edge.  Peggy helped her find a pattern that might work with the design of the shawl, and Judy proceeded to finally finish her shawl!

When being biased is a good thing

The program on Wednesday night was "Bias Binding", courtesy of Judy, who showed us a method to make a continuous strip of bias binding.  First she had us try it with a piece of paper.  We cut it along a diagonal, then taped the pieces back together as directed to make a parallelogram, then marked the width of our binding.  Then we wrapped one side around to meet the other, slightly offsetting our marked strip ends, and found we had made a tube.  The strip we marked spiralled along the tube, forming the continuous bias piece.

The next step was to try this with fabric.  The hardest part was matching up the marks to form the tube, but with a little help from Judy, everyone got their samples sewn up.  They began to cut them apart just far enough to see how the strip would form, but left them unfinished so as to have an example for later reference.

Two examples of bias binding on a neckline.

Bias binding can be used to finish quilts or any curved edge.  In home dec sewing it's often used to cover cording to make piping.  Judy showed us some examples of using bias binding to finish necklines of garments instead of a facing.  Since a bias edge will not ravel, the raw edge of the bias on the inside of the garment can be left as is.  She also showed us an example of piping used in a child's garment to accent the seam of a bodice and skirt.

So think about using bias binding in some of your next sewing projects!


There are lots of events coming up soon, from the Dear Jane trip, the East Fishkill Library reception, Banksville Fabric trip,  to the annual meeting.  So check the chapter calendar and mark your own accordingly.

Make A Difference Day is fast approaching.  Connie has been taking the lead on organizing it and has the Poughkeepsie Plaza booked for Saturday, Oct. 22 from 10 am to 3 pm.  This year's projects are  pillowcases, fleece hats and scarves to donate to local shelters.  Our October meeting will be used to prepare for this, so we plan on doing a lot of cutting and pinning to have things ready to sew that day.

Our November meeting will be a sewing program led by Pat M., who will help us as we make a handy fabric bag with handle.  Originally sized to be a trash bag for your car, it can be customized for other uses as well.  More detailed information will come out about that later.

December is our dinner out.  Venue yet to be decided.  Suggestions and ideas are welcome.

Show and tell pictures follow. 

Pat's rug made of scrappy strips.

Tanya's bags made of cork fabric (yes, cork!)

Peggy's sleeveless tops

Peggy's capris and blouse

Sue K's Challenge piece

and the try-out piece.

Sue K's Circle quilt

Using left-overs from the circles

Even more of the circle scraps!

Free-form crochet bags from the April workshop
left, Maura's bag; right, Cyndy's bag

Everyone needs a challenge now and then

Our topic this week was "Challenges" and only five brave souls decided to deal with it.  (For those who couldn't make the meeting - only teasing!)  Rosealice couldn't be there but weighed in with the challenge of making placemats look nice, so she wondered if perhaps a program on that topic would be a help.  Peggy brought along the undies she made by copying her favorite pair.  Since that style was no longer available, she drafted a pattern from an existing pair and made some new ones.  She said the most challenging part was figuring out how to attach the fold-over elastic.  Pat stated that her challenge was dealing with attaching bindings around curves and creating mitered corners.  We talked a bit about our experiences with those and gave her some techniques to try.  Kathia's latest challenge was that she learned to knit.  She was working on a christening blanket and doing a creditable job dealing with seed stitch, garter stitch and stockinette stitch.  Maura brought along her challenge which was a length of peacock-patterned embossed vinyl that she hopes to turn into a purse.  Several members suggested using a leather needle and perhaps investing in a teflon machine foot to make sure the vinyl doesn't stick.

In October the East Fishkill Library will display work from ASG members for the month.  If anyone in the group has items they would like displayed, bring them along to the September meeting for collection or contact Maura to make arrangements for drop-off.

There is no meeting in August.

Two possibilities have arisen for November's program: placemats or a car trash bag (see picture here).  Please contact Maura before the end of July to express your preference so that program planning can begin.

Car trash bag project

Enjoy some photos of the Show-and-Tell members brought.  See you in September!

Bolero from scuba fabric

Reflective patches added to denim vest

Zippy bags!

Small quilted table mat

Kindle holder

Bag with pleated pocket

Beach bag

Stretch denim capris

Tee shirt

Sewing Room Tour and Dinner

 Last Wednesday the Sewphisticuts held their annual sewing room tour and pot-luck dinner.  This year, Peggy hosted the group again since she had redone her sewing room since the last time the group had been there.  Her upgrades were part of some other renovation work throughout her house, so her revamped sewing room now includes an air-conditioning system, beautiful new floor and new lighting overhead.  She re-arranged some furnishings in the room and turned a former cornice from her dining room door into a shelf with pegs for hanging tote bags.  The group also enjoyed delicious food in the new (one year old) sunroom.

The only business conducted was a discussion of what to do for the July meeting.  The service project of sewing for Days For Girls was discussed and the decision was to postpone it until members have had a chance to try some of it since the sewing requirements are quite exacting.  Instead, the July meeting will be a combination of advice-seeking and advice-giving,  as members are encouraged to bring along their sewing challenges.  These might take the form of a project idea that you want to try but are not sure how to start, or one you attempted but have been stuck on, or one you successfully completed. 

And we had some show-and-tell:

Tonya showed one of her bags.

Maura made a tankini for her daughter.

 

An Alice-themed bag by Tonya

The inside of the Alice bag

Pat's zippy bags

Pat's nifty window pouch

Ronnie's embroidered snowflakes on a light strand

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Ronnie's embroidered tote bag

Identical dresses in 3 sizes for her granddaughters.

Minnie Mouse dress

Dress by Ronnie for her granddaughter

One of many dresses Ronnie made for her grands.

Pillow Talk

 Our May meeting was dedicated to service sewing:  we would make post-surgical pillows for patients at local hospitals.  We reversed our usual order of things and did Show-and-Tell first so that we could then go straight through with our sewing until the end of the meeting.  After Show-and-Tell, we got a nice assembly line going.  Connie had cut out the squares ahead of time, so we were able to pin in labels, sew, turn, stuff and close up about 30 pillows in an hour.  Nice work, everyone!

Peggy's crazy-quilt zippy bag

Peggy's large tote bag

A lovely little bag by Pat

Tanya's Zombie bag

Sue's thread-painting project

Maura's jeans:  classic on left, pull-on stretch on right

Everyone hard at work making pillows