Welcome to Part 2 of our first ever heirloom sewing Blog Tour! If you are just joining the tour, take a peek over at our blog tour landing page for more information on this project. We are introducing the web to heirloom sewing techniques in a whole new way by taking you along with us as we sew this beautiful lacy camisole. This segment demonstrates the simple pattern drafting steps you can take to transform a basic tank-top pattern (our example is from Sleepwear Especially for You) into the pattern pieces you will need to construct this camisole. Kathy Barnard shows you that adjusting a pattern is not nearly as scary as it seems!
Welcome to the kickoff post of Whimsy Week, where we will be celebrating the release of designer Kari Mecca's newest book, More Sewing with Whimsy! Join us every day this week as we share behind-the-scenes videos, excerpts and previews of the book, a special interview with Kari, and best of all - GREAT giveaway opportunities every day! We will announce a selection of different special "Whimsy" prizes each day this week. Reply to the posts of the giveaway(s) you would like to win and we will announce the winners next Monday, August 16, 2010. Today's giveaway is an autographed copy of More Sewing with Whimsy! We will have 2 winners of this prize. More information can be found at the bottom of this post.
We caught up with Kari Mecca during our July School of Art Fashion, and put together a little video montage for you with a "hello" from Kari, some behind the scenes pictures and video clips from the event. Enjoy!
Today we have two autographed copies of More Sewing with Whimsy to give away! To enter, reply below with your name and email address. We will announce the winner of this and the rest of our Whimsy Week giveaway prizes next Monday, August 16th. Entries will remain open until then!
Check back every day this week for more fun Whimsy Week posts and giveaways!
Welcome to our first ever Blog Tour! In this post we will cover Part 1: General information and Terms. Giveaway information is at the bottom of this post. **Note: The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered and we hope you continue to enjoy the blog tour!**
In Sew Beautiful issue #132, we feature a beautiful heirloom camisole (pictured above) that we recreated from an antique nightgown. In the magazine article, "Vintage Inspiration," we give you basic instructions for constructing it, but we wanted to go one step further and take time out to teach the basic heirloom sewing techniques needed to create such a garment. To do so, we have filmed a series of video classes, and we have paired with 5 other fabulous sewing blogs to help get the word out about heirloom sewing in the form of a Blog Tour. Each of our blog sponsors has graciously offered to host a video class on these different techniques. Thank you to our friends at Sew, Mama, Sew!, CraftyPod, La Sewista, Southern Matriarch, and Quality Time for partnering with us!
In this post, we will kick off the tour with a brief introduction to heirloom sewing terms and materials, and we will introduce you to the special sewing supplies you need to get started with heirloom techniques. (This class has been broken into 3 parts.)
All of the supplies discussed in the general information videos (with the exception of the sewing machine presser feet; contact your local dealer) are available from our online store at store.marthapullen.com. To celebrate our blog tour and to encourage new and experienced heirloom stitchers alike, we are offering a special Blog Tour discount code worth 25% off of your order at our online store! Discount code is BLOGTOUR and this offer expires October 31, 2010. There is no minimum order required. Applies to regular priced items only; excludes pleaters.
And now for the giveaway! Including our blog, each of our tour stops are offering a giveaway worth over $160. That means 6 chances to win! Included in the prize package is:
a complete kit of materials for the camisole through sizes 3X
the book from which we drafted our pattern, Sleepwear Especially for You
the new issue of SB #132, which includes the camisole instructions and templates
a brand new June Tailor Shape 'n Press board
To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post -- be sure to include your name and email address so that we may contact you if you are the winner. Entries will remain open until Thursday, August 19th and the winner will be announced on August 20th, 2010.
Sunday concluded a whirlwind week for us here at Martha Pullen Company – our July School of Art Fashion wrapped up after 7 full days of sewing classes, shopping, special events and more! (Not to mention, we were racing our final deadline for the September/October issue of Sew Beautiful.) But all said and done, we had a fantastic time getting to meet some of our faithful readers and soaking up all kinds of new ideas.
With Associate Editor Amelia Johanson visiting for the week from Ohio, our two sessions on publishing your work in SB were a great success. We hope to see lots of submissions from new designers coming our way in the near future – you are an extremely talented bunch. Don't forget that you can always submit your article ideas to SB! We will create a file for your submissions and review them for consideration at our semiannual editorial planning sessions. Send a picture of your piece(s) and a brief description to kathy@sewbeautifulmag.com. Be sure to specify your article's focus!
Editor Kathy Barnard taught her first ever Pre-Day Class, Beyond the Basic Bodice, where students learned new drafting techniques for modifying a basic bodice dress into 6 different looks. Our students were awesome and Kathy and I had so much fun sewing with everyone. We have put together a little video/picture montage of her class to share with those who couldn't attend. We hope to see all of you in February for the next School!
P.S. Spend five minutes visiting the rest of the school at our other montage with lots of videos and pics from Lace Camp! Click here to see it. Special thanks goes out to our web designer Stacie, who puts together all of our videos for us!
Since we're finalizing our September/October issue, we thought we'd give you a little bit of a tease with a mystery preview! We can't wait for you to receive this fun issue. Subscribe today, order issues online or look for SB #132 on the newsstand by August 31st.
Check out this absolutely gorgeous wedding gown made by one of our readers, Rebecca Cook of Plant City, Florida (click on the pictures for a larger view). Rebeca stitched up this masterpiece for the bride, Amber, a family friend who has grown up with Rebecca's own daughters. The wedding was July 17th in Tampa, Florida.
Rebecca shared some details of the gown and wedding with us:
I began with Simplicity Jessica McClintock pattern 5237. The dress had side gathers and we wanted one up the back instead so I redrafted the pattern using theirs for a guide. I also added a gathered overlay to the bodice and a sash. I moved the zipper to the left side seam and used an invisible zipper. I then added a train to the underskirt. This bustled beautifully up under the gathers at he back of the dress. The gown is made of silk Duchesse Satin. The underskirt and sash are doupioni silk in ice blue, and the bodice overlay is white silk organza. The lace is Alencon re-embroidered with a silver thread and silver sequins. I trimmed the netting edge off to make it galoon edged and applied that to the underskirt hem using lingerie thread and a narrow zigzag . I also applied it to the upper edge of the bodice by hand sewing it on top of the overlay. I then cut some motifs from the lace to apply to the center front of the sash and over the gathers at the back of the dress hem. The hem of the over dress is embellished with rhinestone trim. With the white satin over the ice blue underskirt and the shimmery trims it gives the affect of a cloud with silver lining.
We have lived one house down from Amber's family for the past 8 years. They were all home schooled and spent most of their time together. When her mother passed away from breast cancer, Amber was just 17. She met her husband at Belmont Baptist church, as he was the worship leader and she was the pianist. After dating for 2 1/2 years they were married July 17, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. Her husband Heath, has just graduated from USF with a bachelor in engineering and she is finishing her degree in accounting this fall.
Thank you so much for sharing this gorgeous gown and story with us, Rebecca -- and congratulations to the bride and groom! Don't forget you are always welcome to submit your creations to us at blog@sewbeautifulmag.com.
Thanks to everyone to entered our Frannie pattern giveaway contest! We enjoyed reading all of your ideas and stories. Our two randomly selected winners are...
Amanda Swanson and Sharon Kirkpatrick!
Congratulations, ladies! Be on the lookout for an email from us so we can get a mailing address for you.
Thank you to everyone who entered, and don't forget that our Frannie patterns (Frannie, sizes 6mo - 4; and Frannie's Big Sister, sizes 5-8) are now in stock at our online store, so you can buy one of your own! Check back soon for more giveaway announcements and goodies from the SB team.
To continue on the blog tour, head over to our website for a list of tour stops. Have fun!
