November Meeting Program -- Smocked Gift Bag

The November meeting will be at 7:00 on November 16 at JoAnn's Fabrics in Fayetteville. There is a small classroom at the back of the store. Come early to do your shopping with your SAGA membership discount since we will probably not have time to shop after the meeting.

Susan will be teaching us how to make beautiful smocked gift bags. Below is the supply list for the November project:

18 by 22 in. piece of fabric pleated with 6-8 rows of pleats 1 in below the top of the fabric.
Finish the long top edge of the fabric with a serger rolled edge, or edge joining a piece of ½ lace edging.
18 by 22 in cotton or cotton/polyester blend).This will be for the lining if you wish to line the bag. They can be identical or fabrics that are contrasting.
½ yard of lace edging if desired
Embroidery floss for smocking design to match fabric or contrast.
Needle for smocking (#7 darner recommended)
1 yd. ribbon (no wider than 1/4") per bag (for drawstring ties)

Meeting Program - Tuesday October 26

Debbie will be teaching at the next meeting. Oct. 26th. She will be teaching a SAGA approved class, Fun with Fagoting. We will learn how to use the Fagoting stitch as an embellishment.
Kit includes 10 page handout, all threads, rickrack, lace and bias tape.
You will need to bring scissors ,crewel embroidery needle size 7/8 and double sided tape. kit fee 3.00
One artisan point will be awarded.
The meeting will start promptly at 7 pm. Please come early to visit and participate in Show and Share. The building will be open by 6:15.

September Program
Strawberry Christmas Ornament

The program for our September meeting is a Christmas ornament made in the shape of a strawberry. Diana, who designed this original ornament, will teach us to make this unique ornament. Kits will be $2.00 and will include floss, Styrofoam egg, and pleated fabric. Bring your smocking needle, scissors, and regular sewing supplies.

August Meeting Program - Chicken Scratch Christmas Apron

The class project will be to complete the smaller, pocket piece. You will need to bring embroidery scissors, and an 8" hoop that is tight! You will have Chicken Scratch embroidery directions and fabric (2 yards), to finish a bib or half apron. (Depending on the number of kits needed, there may be extra fabric available to purchase, if you need it for your apron pattern.)

Kits will be no more than $10. They will include fabric, directions, floss and needles.

Please let Cheryl know if you would like a kit.

July Program

The program for July is a woolen skate Christmas ornament. Diana will be leading the class for making this original ornament. E-mail Diana if you want a kit. Kit supplies ($2.00) will include wool, embroidery floss, beads, and the metal for the skate. You should bring basic sewing supplies: crewel needle, scissors, pins, thimble, and magnifier if you need one. You might want to bring a jingle bell or bow to trim the toe of the skate. We will have two pairs of needle-nose pliers to bend the wire for the skate, but if you have a pair and want to bring them, feel free to do that.

See you on the 27th at 7:00!

Program for the June Meeting

Here are photos of the project Debbie is teaching for our next meeting. Kit will include design plate, pleated fabric, needle, floss and tulle. Doesn't include striped silk fabric. You can put it in a project of your choice. Bring scissors and magnification. Cost of kit $4.00

May Meeting

The May meeting will be at the John Powell Senior Center Annex at 7:00 on May 25, 2010. The program will be by Bedetta and will be beaded embellishment on fabric. The completed project will be a beaded eyeglass case.

Supply list:

To make the beaded embroidery eyeglass case you will need the following:

1. 8” embroidery hoop, preferably a hands free hoop
2. #10 milliner needle or beading needle
3. 12”X12” piece of fabric interfaced for stability (I used dupioni silk with a smoother silk fabric for the lining and interfaced the outside fabric with a light weight tricot fusible interfacing.)
4. A piece of fabric 9” X 9” for the lining
5. A piece of low loft batting 9” X 9” for interlining
6. Polyester thread, either white or color to match beads and a sewing needle
7. Pencil or pen
8. Double-sided tape
9. Green glass seed beads 10/0 or 11/0
10. Pink glass seed beads 10/0 or 11/0
11. Light and magnification if needed

Kit will contain:
1. Tissue Paper-I drew my design on tissue paper and then basted the design on the silk thru the tissue paper.
2. Sequins
3. Swarovski flower beads

Visit to Fiber Arts Studio

The April meeting was a wonderful visit to the fiber arts studio of Jennifer Fay. We were first taken on a tour of the art studios in Arts Underground. Then, Jennifer told us all about dyeing polyester fabric using a heat/pressure transfer process, showed us some examples of her work, allowed us to try our hand at it. It was great fun! Here are some photos of our evening.

April Meeting

We are going to “Art Underground” on the Square in Fayetteville. Our host fiber artist is Jennifer Faye. She has planned a really cool, hands-on project that involves pleated fabric, dye, and fun – you won’t want to miss it! Meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

Optional Dutch-treat dinner will be at Tim’s Pizza on the Square – meet at 5:15 p.m.

Parking: You should be able to park on the square or a side street.

Directions: You will be coming down College Avenue, turn right onto Center Street and go to the square.

If you are joining us for dinner, come on over to Tim’s Pizza. If you are just coming for the meeting, take the elevator downstairs to Art Underground.

If you would like to carpool to the Square, let Carol know – we can meet at Evelyn Hill’s Shopping Center at 5:00 p.m. and leave cars there.

Carol sews at Mary Lou Nall Workshop

Saturday, April 17, was an all-day workshop by Mary Lou Nall, Bernina teacher extraordinaire. SAGA members, Diana, Carol, and Tawana attended. Saturday's classes were all about "feet!" The morning class was devoted to the most common sewing machine feet and how to use them, and the afternoon class was about some specialty feet and the fun applications using them. Here's a great photo of Carol as she demonstrates using the gathering foot to add a gathered ruffle to a straight piece of fabric. Good job, Carol!

Stitchin in the Foothills with Carol Ahles

Ozark Foothills was proud to host Carol Ahles on March 26-27, 2010. We had 19 stitchers from 6 states attending. Carol was a wonderful teacher who showed us how to use our sewing machines to do many different heirloom techniques, and then we finished up by constructing a beautiful baby blanket of Austrian flannel with hand-made lace attached with a corded hemstitch.

Thanks to Carol for sharing her knowledge of machine heirloom techniques with us, to all the Ozark Foothills chapter members who worked so hard to make this a great stitching experience for us, and to our guests who came long distances to join us.

March Meeting

Our March meeting will be on March 16 at Tawana's house. We will be learning to do a simple crocheted edging using a size 7 crochet hook and DMC size 8 Crochet thread.

January Meeting Program

Designing, Drafting and Constructing a Custom Size Garment Bag will be the program for our next meeting. Tuesday the 26th of January. The weather has settled down and we are going to get busy with the new list of Programs scheduled for 2010. The new officers are working hard, we all hope to see you there!

Here is a photo of the finished Garment Bag. It turned out a little different from my original vision, but that is how designing works. This is about creativity as much as making a garment bag, and learning to draft a pattern, and that is what I hope to stimulate here. Let's wake up our imaginations, and learn new skills.

Here are some things you will need to bring. A hanger that will fit the garment you intend to make the bag for. If at all possible bring the garment. If not, bring measurements of the garment Length X Width so the finished bag will fit the garment well. If you have no clue about size, you can use the measurements I used.
Here is where the creativity comes in. Decide if you want an Heirloom looking garment bag, a contemporary one that will make a good storage for fun style garments, or a simply one without much embellishment for just sturdy storage that will protect a garment from dust and the elements. Dig through all those trims you have deep in your stash, buttons, lace "scraps", rick rack, piping cord, or ready made piping, etc. If you have zippers stashed, this would be a good time to look through those. Make yourself a kit of what you find. Add to your kit, Rulers, paper scissors, fabric scissors fabric marking pen, tape, and #2 pencil an eraser and fine point sharpie marker and a note pad to record those design choices. I'll bring the paper for everyone to cut your pattern from.

Now about the fabric. Your decision of the type/look of fabric you want will depend on your design choices. Most of our time will be spent on how to make a bag to fit the garment, design choices for the construction, making the pattern and cutting it out and begin to lay out some of those embellishments and pinning them in place. Decide ahead of time if you would like a flat, one garment bag or one with boxed sides that will make it deep enough to hold more than 2 or 3 garments. Want a pocket in it for accessories, write down in your notebook what your want. Don't want to do a zipper? How about Velcro closing at the bottom? Again, this is your bag, based on your needs, but the pattern will need to be planned to work with your design choices. I am giving you some time to think about what you might want. We can move through the program quicker with some preplanning.

Here is some of what I have been inspired by: (See Photo) Fabric and bold rick rack from JoAnn Fabrics. Zipper, Ribbon, buttons. I am still searching through my treasures.

There will be fabric in white, pink, ecru, and blue and hankies available from our Treasure Closet if you would like to to have a simple bag and follow along in class with it or trim one with hankies for a crazy patch look for embellishment. The cost will be very minimal, but has yet to be decided. If you prefer, you can bring your own. You will need at least enough fabric to be double the length of your garment plus 20". So for a garment that is 30" long, you will need 80", which would be about 2 1/4 yards, 3 yards will cover most any design changes. You can mix or match or coordinate any number of fabrics for a composite pieced design of trims, fabric and embelishments. A glue stick can be a great basting tool for finishing later. It will hold those cute trims in place
If you would like to construct during the program, bring your machine.
Any inspiration yet? I hope so! See you at the meeting, Barb