Better Late Than Never – Right?
In all honesty, I’ve been putting off doing this recap because I don’t have a ton of photos – and I ran out of the ‘swag’ that was in the attendees gift bags. Then I remembered that S2 had taken a lovely photo and I asked to use hers.
FabricMart Spoils
The 2nd Sew Camp was as wonderful as the first. We were very lucky in that the only guests at the B&B were sew camp attendees and that meant I could really focus my attention on sewing and spending time with the Sew Camp Attendees. We had 3 ladies who booked into the B&B for the entire Sew Camp and 2 ladies who joined us for Saturday only. As Sew Camp does, we started Friday with breakfast and pastries before heading out to FabricMart. Everyone purchased fabric and at least one piece of that newly purchased fabric got sewn up over the weekend. Friday dinner was a happy hour, with lots of little finger foods, but it’s been suggested we have more of a cocktail hour next time. You can always bring your own adult beverages, we are just limited in what we can serve – just FYI.
C stitching her machine knit sweater together – this was completed over the weekend
S1 and the front of her Charlie Caftan from her FabricMart purchase
Saturday morning had at least one of the ladies in the sewing room bright and early – before breakfast even. Which is absolutely fine! She grabbed her coffee and headed into the sewing space to get a head start on her project. See, B brought a very involved, couture jacket to work on and she was doing tons of handstitching. I think it was late Saturday before she started basting things together. H arrived around 11a and S arrived just before noon. Once we got everyone set up – it was time to take a short break and have some lunch. Then people went back to sewing, knitting and conversing. C – had finished the back of her sweater and was getting started on the front. A few of ladies took a break and run out to Rumspringa to sample some beer. Saturday dinner was a baked pasta loaded with sausage and cheese, served with a salad. We skipped desert. Several of the ladies stayed up quite late sewing – again, that’s the plus of being at a retreat you can sew as long as you want – stopping only for food. Sunday was more of the same.
Sunday, there was more sewing. S & B stayed for lunch which included an amazing blueberry buckle that B made. It was so yummy!
As is always the case, I really enjoyed spending the weekend with like minded crafty ladies. I found sound of C’s knitting machine incredibly soothing. I loved watching B’s progress on her jacket and can’t wait until I catch a glimpse of it on Instagram. Meeting S and her husband felt like we had reconnected with old friends – I wish they were just a little bit closer so we could get together more often – but I’m hoping she’ll come to the next Sew Camp and the menfolk can go off on beer tour. Just this past Tuesday, I was in New York at the #nysewcialhour and it was great to catch up with C & S and find out that S finished her Charlie caftan and it was perfect for her recent vacation!
Simplicity 8419 Donated by Simplicity Pattern Group
New Look Pattern Donated by Simplicity Pattern Group
This time around – I decided that maybe we should have some ‘swag’ to give out to all attendees. I started by reaching out to Simplicity Pattern Group and Cashmerette. Both of these fabulous companies offered up goodies to be given to our group of lovely ladies. Simplicity sent a box with 2 current patterns – New Look 6517 (I can’t wait to make those floaty pants) and Simplicity 8419 (I might have bought a sheer polka dot fabric for View C at FabricMart) and Cashmerette offered a coupon code good on PDF pattern purchases which was incredibly generous. I made little thread catcher bags from a pattern by Crazy Mom Quilts using up stashed quilting cottons and a fun decorative stitch on my machine; I also made donut pincushions. Jay threw some beautiful hardwood cutting blocks into the mix. I had asked him to make these from the scraps of wood left over from making shoulder stands and the multi-point pressing tools, because the little green mat that came with my buttonhole and eyelet cutter set was ruined and I needed something to cut on. We had 2 door prizes – Saturday we gave away a shoulder stand which S2 won and Sunday we gave away a multi-point tool that S won.
If you are thinking about attending a future Sew Camp the details can be found on the Sew Camp tab and the dates for 2018 have been set – March 23-25, 2018 and September 21 – 23, 2018. I’m thinking about making something for the goodie bags that will be the same every time. Originally I was thinking about the donut pincushions, but in different colors each time, but now I’m not sure. How about a few patterns weights that keep getting added to? What are your thoughts?