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

November Meeting Project

Our November meeting will be at a different place and on a different date!! We will meet at Tawana's house on Monday, November 23, at 7:00.
Our project will be a wool embroidered ornament. Stitches used will be blanket stitch, back stitch, and French knots. Cost of the kit for the project is $4.00. Items in the kit will be pattern, wool fabric, thread, needle, beads, ribbon, and bell.
You will need to bring paper scissors, fabric scissors, a thimble (if you use one), and don't forget your sewing glasses!
Please email Tawana if you want a kit prepared for you.

October Meeting Program

To see an enlarged version of the pincushion, click on the photo above.

Debbie will be teaching our October Meeting Program - 7 pm, Tue. Oct 27, 2009, at the John Powell Center, Springdale, AR. She will show us how to make this beautiful wool pin cushion. It measures 4"w 7"l 3"h. The Kit will be $5.00.

The kit includes precut hand dyed 100% wool for bottom, 100% felted black wool for top and sides 5 colors of wool thread for embroidery, glass seed beads and pattern.

You will need to bring the following items:
tapestry needle
embroidery needle
scissors
clear ruler
white chalk pencil
( 2 ) 3/4" buttons. Debbie used mother of pearl. You can add these later.

Stitches used in this project:
Ladder stitch
Siennese stitch
Single loop stitch
whipped double running stitch
fern stitch
design also covers French knots and bullion knot

Debbie will have extra rulers and chalk pencils.
Please email Debbie and let her know you need a kit.

September Meeting

The September meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 22, 7:00 p.m. at the John Powell Senior Center. Diana McGruder will teach us how to put a beautiful monogram on a white linen baby pillowcase. The cost of the pillowcase is $5.50. You will need to bring floss, needles, paper scissors, transfer marker, tape, embroidery hoop, and a light box if you have one. Bring whatever color (s) of floss that you would like to use. White on white is particularly beautiful, but you may use any color that you like. The monogram will have additional simple embroidery accents.
See you there!

Program for August - Bonnet Stand

Click on the photo to enlarge


Here is the project for our August meeting on Tuesday the 25th. You should have recieved your list of what to bring to make this bonnet stand. Everything else will be in your kit. Barb will be teaching the program.