The month of June has brought Colorado an unusually wet season, breaking the previous record for moisture set in the 1880s. Denver hit the first official 90 degree high temperature on June 27. These factors have given us lush lawns and gardens.
We have a little more abbreviated presentation this month, with several of our members doing 4th of July and mid-summer activities. We did however receive notes from Courtney, Dorothy and Thanh. We'll start with Courtney.
Courtney
Courtney, one of our members who lives in northern Colorado, sent a few notes about his activities:
Dear All,
Sewing machines have been a bit slow around here this month. I did acquire an EverSewn Celine for $46 that I have been playing with off and on. It is a modern computer-based machine. Since it has all the bells and whistles and I generally work on vintage and antique machines, I thought it would give me some experience with modern machines. I do have the home manual and the repair manual for the machine. Boy, do I like the ruggedness of the older machines.
One of the highlights of the month was getting to see and talk to Dorothy in person! There was a big shop hop here in northern Colorado, so I met her at the local quilting store, and we walked over and had lunch nearby. Lunch was OK but the conversation was the GREAT! I didn't participate in the shop hop because I have been working hard trying to finish some other quilts. I think I will have some to show on Saturday.
An old teacher friend ran across some of the Pathe movie shorts and sent me links:
From about 1934: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8iRmYlpKHE
From about 1960: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paX-gwtSTIM
Unfortunately, Pathe was more into entertainment than accuracy. The following are much better:
The History Guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3144SpUGbng
The Secret Life of Sewing Machines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lwI4TSKM3Y
Oh, I almost forgot. I have been asked to do a Featherweight Maintenance class on July 29, at the Quilters Corner in Erie, CO. I think the last time I taught the class was 8 or 9 years ago, so I am pretty excited.
Courtney
Dorothy
Dorothy, our member having the most experience with commercial sewing, also sent notes about what she's been doing:
Hello!
These months sure fly by fast!
I participated in the NoCo Shop Hop, for 5 of the participating 11 shops. All the shops I visited have Wonderful fabrics and are unique. I have to admit driving has lost some thrill and I stopped. I will order the other blocks after the first of July.
A Good part of one day was meeting Courtney in Greeley! Talked sewing machines over lunch. Great time!
Not much for my own collecting, but I am living vicariously through a friend who is setting up a 15-90 into a treadle cabinet. There is also one of the Chinese shoe patching machines getting close to final set up.for use sewing emblem. patches onto shirts. The Patcher is interesting in its absolute simplicity, no finishing touches other than the green color. It is advised that YOU do fine sanding to smooth out the bobbin area and surrounding areas for smooth sewing! I wonder about the first sewing machines and how much hand finishing was done at the factory to produce functional machines the lady could use!
Looking forward to Saturday!
Dorothy
Thanh
Thanh has been busy with some interesting workshops, which he tells us about.
Greetings,
I hope everyone's summer is off to a good start.
I had been looking forward to Shakerag workshops since I registered at the beginning of the year and boy, it didn't disappoint. What a wonderful week! It's so inspiring to be among talented instructors, participants and staff members who all come together to create a community for one week up in the mountains of Tennessee. It's my happy place.
I took the Artful Shirt class with Katherine Tilton who is such a fun teacher with a great sense of humor. She spent the week showing us her approach to designing her own shirts, how to combine patterns/fabrics, and some construction techniques. What I really liked about her approach is that she allowed each student to build on their own creative direction. At the end of the week, each of us created 1-3 pieces that really reflected our own sense of style.
I spent most of the week making a Japanese happi. I chose the happi because the pattern contains simple, mostly rectangular shapes which gave me a blank canvas to use. I came with some ideas and vision of what I might do, but my final piece was very different from what I had imagined. I altered the pattern for fit and used a hand-woven Japanese cotton for the body and sleeve, adding different fabrics for the collar and sleeve bands. I also appliqued and hand stitched some shapes onto one side of the front panel.
I created a short-sleeve, button down shirt for my second piece. I had sewn this pattern before, but this time I explored cutting up the pattern to combine different fabrics. I attached a picture which shows some of the class' work on the white board. My shirt is blue with large white dots and a gold placket. As you can see, I didn't get a chance to finish the shirt during class but did add the collar over the weekend.
For those who are curious, I sewed on the Necchi Lycia which was a joy to use. Lara, who took the class with me, used her Featherweight. She does a lot of piecing on it and takes that machine to her sewing group each week. It's become her favorite machine. I know because she's told me that "You can never have too many Featherweights".
While the workshop is done for this year, you make many connections with wonderful people. On our way back to Colorado, we stopped in Paducah Kentucky to visit a classmate. We only had a chance to stay a couple of hours before continuing our drive home. We had lunch and visited the charming downtown but we plan to visit the National Quilt museum the next time we're passing through.
One of this year's Shakerag instructors, Ana Maria Hernando is based in CO. She has a new project called Making a Mountain starting on July 14 at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. Participants can sign up in advance to help sew the piece together and she's asked Lara if she could borrow a couple of our sewing machines for people to use at the project. https://thedairy.org/making-a-mountain/
Looking ahead, the 2024 Shakerag Workshop lineup looks to be even more interesting for fiber arts:
Paula Kovarik | @yelowbrickstudio - Art Quilts (BTW, Paula has two pieces currently on display at the 39th Annual New Legacies: Contemporary Art Quilts exhibit up in Fort Collins)
Adrianna Aguirre | @threadtheorydesigns - Menswear Sewing
Arounna Khounnoraj | @bookhou - Stitching/Printing Embroidery
and for all the knitters out there, Shakerag holds a 3 or 4 day knitting camp to kick off the summer sessions. Next year's knitting weekend showcases "Knitting Getaway" with Ann and Kay of Modern Daily Knitting
That's all from Shakerag. I may report on the Dairy Arts exhibit next month if I get a chance to participate.
Thanh
In Closing
We appreciate not only the contributions of our members, but to the regular readership we have as well. Thanks to everyone.
Have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July.