Sublime Stitching Floss Launch Party, Alexander Henry, Monaluna & More!

We are SUPER excited to host Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching for her floss launch party! Get all the details here, then join us on Friday Dec. 14 from 6 - 9 pm. Take a gander at all the prizes Jenny is giving away!

And in fabric news, we have received the first shipments of wonderful fabric from Quilt Market, with even more to come. We have some lovely Joel Dewberry from his 'Notting Hill' collection:

David Butler's newest 'Seven Wonders' - we love the subtle colorways and beautiful patterns:

Some fantastic & colorful fabrics from Alexander Henry... clockwise from the top left corner we have four colorways of the newest lawn calle 'Logan' (it's AMAZING in person), some great quilt weight prints, home decor weight 'Tribeca' and home decor weight 'Keely'. The colors almost pop right off the fabric!

Also just arrived is some Monaluna from the 'Havana' collection - hooray for organic fabric!

And word on the street is that we just got even more fabric in today... so keep your eyes peeled for another post soon to let you know what's in stock!

Decades of Style Tea Party!

1940's Girl Friday Blouse

Sew L.A. is thrilled to announce a Decades of Style Trunk Show and Tea Party! 

Join us on Saturday, November 3rd from 6pm till 9pm for the opening of our week long display of vintage amazingness! The show will be hanging at Sew L.A. for a week (through November 11th) , but only at the party will we be offering a 20% discount on ALL DECADES PATTERNS and the chance to win one of the three newest designs: the 1930's Beach Romper, the 1930's Leading Lady Gown, or the 1950's Object d'Art Dress. If you have never seen these GORGEOUS patterns made up before, now is your chance - they are breathtaking.

Janet, the talented owner of Decades of Style, will be joining us for our tea party, and we are requesting appropriate attire for the event - your best vintage outfit (handmade or not), hats & gloves too! Of course, all are welcome regardless of attire - we just like to have an excuse to dress up!

We'll have many types of teas and beverages, along with sweet and savory snacks - scones, finger sandwiches, cakes, tarts - yum! And just to whet your appetite even more, here are some pictures from our first ever Decades trunk show, back in 2008...

1920's Tulip Kimono

1944 House Dress

1930's Butterfly Blouse

1916 Sanger Skirt

1931 Matinee Blouse

1927 Cloud Cape, front

1927 Cloud Cape, back

And here's a picture of my favorite hat (NOT a Decades of Style pattern). We all look forward to seeing you at the party!

New Classes for Fall 2012!

We are so excited to announce our newest classes for the Fall semester! There's a little bit of branching out happening, so we have included a fantastic embroidery class along with our usual sewing fare.

First on the list is the Miz Mozelle Dress from Jamie Christina Patterns. I fell in love with the details - the bias trim, the keyhole neckline, the sweet collar - and then was impressed by how professional the pattern was. Nicely drafted with very clear instructions - just the thing for a new class. I'm super excited to teach people how to make their own bias tape in this class - it will open up a whole new world of trimming! The dress below is made from Nani Iro's Waltz in turquoise with lime cotton trim.  This intermediate class is scheduled for two dates: Fri. October 5th and Sat. December 1st. 

For The Kimono Kid, Rebecca will be teaching this adorable kimono style pajama top from an Oliver + S pattern! With all the super-cute Ed Emberly fabrics from Cloud9 in the shop, there's no lack of choice for the main fabric. This top will fit 6 – 12 months (chest: 19”) through size 8 (chest 26 ½”), and the class will teach you how to sew the band smoothly and how to navigate inset corners. The two-session class is offered twice this semester: Sun. October 21st and Mon. December 3rd.

Ed Emberley for Cloud9 Organic Fabrics

We are thrilled to welcome Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching fame to teach here at Sew L.A.! Jenny's fame has been spread far and wide as she takes the embroidery world by storm with her brilliant designs. She's teaching three intro classes this semester - with all the supplies you need included in the class fee - and in December we'll be offering a project class for everyone who has taken the intro class already. 

Intro to Embroidery is scheduled for Sat. October 13th, Weds. November 14th and Sat. December 1st. 

Jenny Hart

Devon will be teaching the Liberated Log Cabin quilt top class, which takes the traditional piecing method and skews it just enough to make it really interesting! You can pick a fabric to use as a central theme, then mix & match your other fabrics from there. The class will create a 40 x 54" quilt top, and is only offered once this time around, starting Sun. October 7th. It's open to anyone who has taken our Quilt Making Basics class or who has similar experience! 

Lastly, I'm introducing a new Sew L.A. pattern & class this semester, the One Day Wallet! It's a quick and easy project that allows you to utilize some of the gorgeous prints we currently have in stock. It's a second level beginner class (you only need one other beginner class before this one), and it's offered on Sat. October 6th, Sat. November 24th, and Weds. December 19th. 

How Summer Gets So Busy - Renegade, Kids Camp, Promballoona!

Phew! I'm exhausted. Isn't summer supposed to be when you get to put your feet up, read a book and drink lemonade? That is definitely not the case here at Sew L.A.! Here's some of the stuff we have been working on so far this summer...

We had a bunch of lovely ladies join us for Kids Camp, and a few returned for a second week! 

Learning how to gather:

photo by Hollye Chapman

 Cute Skirts!

photo by Hollye Chapman

 Dresses for all!

photo by Hollye Chapman

photo by Hollye Chapman

 Week two started out with bags and super-cute PJ pants:

photo by Hollye Chapman

Some lovely tops and a red sailboat Tess' Dress...

photo by Hollye Chapman

 Some quilts, just for fun!

photo by Hollye Chapman

Zippered wristlets! 

Design sheets for Kitty Zipper Pillows - everyone picked out eight different fabrics and planned where they would go.

A tunic top that's more of a dress, snazzy pj's and a puppy pillow, a red top and a patchwork pillow! The crazy person living in my head allowed the more advanced kids to work on individual projects. I'll repeat... phew!

Smack dab in between the camps, we attended the Renegade Craft Fair in downtown LA for two days of handmade goodness. I love going to Renegade because I get to see all the amazing & creative stuff people are making - sometimes I get tunnel vision when it comes to sewing and I forget how much I love other kinds of art and crafting. 

Here's the booth that we shared with the lovely Christine Haynes, who recently debuted her first two adorable sewing patterns. Sew L.A. represented by offering some awesome kits for our most popular projects in addition to patterns & books, but everyone loved the sample sale we had and the bin of one-pound-of-fabric scrap bags!

 

 

Both days were gorgeous and sunny, with just enough of a breeze...

I splurged and got a beautiful throw from Linea Carta , a SEW SAY WE ALL tee shirt from Robo Roku, and a dogs-in-space onesie from Orangeheat:

And lastly, but certainly not leastly - Sew L.A. welcomed the fantabulous Oonaballoona from Kalkatroona for her birthday Promballoona! Oona is a sewing blogger exraordinaire, and we were all thrilled when she asked us if she could have her party here. Thanks to everyone who came out for the dancing, drinking, chatting about sewing and general silliness!

The birthday gal!
photo by Christine Haynes

photo by Christine Haynes

If you missed this party, keep your calendar open for the last Friday in September - we'll be celebrating Colette Patterns Fall releases AND our five-year anniversary! Huzzah!

Renegade Los Angeles!

Join us on July 28th & 29th for the Renegade Craft Fair, at the Los Angeles State Historic Park (aka the Cornfields). The fair will be from 11am - 7pm both days, and we'll be there with bells on - and with cool kits, patterns, a sample sale, pencils, handouts, class info... super fun! Click on the link above for more info, directions and all the amazing artists who will be in attendance!

Quilt Market 2012 Interlude - Kayo Horaguchi

While at Quilt Market last month, of course we stopped by the Kiyohara booth to see the newest Kayo Horaguchi madness/amazingness, and sadly they did not have fabric samples out in time for the show.

BUT! Never fear, intrepid readers - samples have been released and I went to take pictures of them! I have to say - if Yoshiko Jinzenji is my favorite 'sophisticated' fabric designer, then Kayo is definitely my current favorite for 'whimsical' and 'hallucinatory', as you can see by the pictures below.

This one is called 'Sugar Plum', and all the animals have forks! FORKS!

These two have much more subtle coloring, but they are so beautiful - I'm making dresses in my head.

All of this fabric will be arriving late August, so keep your eyes peeled on the website! And stay tuned for the second installment of our normal Quilt Market coverage, posting in a few days.