American Sewing Expo Day 1

What a day! I attended day one of the American Sewing Expo in Novi, MI. 4 seminars, 1 fashion show and several booths later, here's what I have to report:

My first seminar was with Rhonda Pierce of Schmetz Needles. If you've been reading this blog since the spring you know how much I love twin needle stitching! I wound up buying a variety pack of needles from Lucy's and now use their needles exclusively. I love the quality of the needles and how they come in holders so it's easy to return them to their proper place, thereby not getting them mixed up. As soon as I saw the Schmetz super needle during the lecture I knew I had to get a picture.



The lecture was super informative (now I know what all those numbers mean on the packaging!) and I learned about needles I never knew existed (triple needles? double eyed needles?). And Rhonda is super nice. We had a great chat in her booth. I bought the "I made this button" and Rhonda took my picture for their photo gallery.

The takehome message for me from that lecture for me was how to determine if a needle is too dull to use: run it across your fingernail. If it leaves a mark, it has a burr, and should no longer be used. (Alternatively, run it across knit fabric and see if it snags.)

I attended the Simplicity "Hot Jacket" seminar which was AWESOME. The Chanel style jacket is hot for fall, and Simplicity has an Amazing Fit jacket pattern 2284 with multiple cup sizes. Deborah Kreiling from Simplicity brought the jackets in several sizes. Her goal was to have everyone try on samples and she would help figure out the right size and any necessary adjustments. I wore my Simplicity 2473 Project Runway dress and she recognized it right away and had me model it for the class. She said I did a great job on the dress, which felt amazing coming from a person who works for Simplicity! Then she asked what size my dress was, and had me try the 12 in a B cup. The audience oooohed. I was shocked at how well it fit as I would have started that jacket in a 14. I also tried on the 10, but it was too small in most places. The 12 was too small just in the bicep. I asked her if she thought I needed a swayback adjustment and so she pinned that in. The jacket looked great. We also determined the short length would be more flattering than the long length.

The main takehome point from that lecture is to start with the right pattern size in the shoulders and adjust everything else to fit-- a point I had never considered before. Also it was great to see how the same jacket size and bust fit different people.

I also attended a lecture on 20 tips for improving sewing and a lecture about fitting pants.

Other highlights included attending the Simplicity fashion show with the actual outfits that were photographed for the pattern envelopes:




And finally meeting Deepika, founder of Sewing Pattern Review(photo taken by Antoinette's friend "Leslie in Austin". I brought my SPR bag with me that I got at SPR weekend Philly.


So it was a long day and I'll do it all over again tmw: 4 more lectures, one more runway show, and several booth visits!

Ok, so I'm staying in an extended stay place, and my room is right next to the boiler room, and there's something that keeps cycling on and off in that room, and it's driving me insane. My room faces the freeway and the fridge in my room keeps cycling on and off as well. I had the a/c on last night too and that was making noise. I prepaid the room to get the cheapest rate. Should I suck it up and stay here 3 more nights or should I move to another hotel? I asked if I could switch rooms and the answer was no, but maybe this weekend if someone else cancels their reservation. Maybe this should just be a character building experience? (Also, after I stayed in the cheapest place in Geneva in 2002, I vowed never to stay in the cheapest place again...I am renewing that vow now...)