Hey everyone!
Summer is officially here and our DIYStyle Party in Chicago is right around the corner (10 days ’til the BIG event!). Project Design is one of our features at the party, and we have a “Quick Take” vodcast from the Project Design show held in St. Louis, to give everyone a taste of what is in store for Project Design in Chicago! The indie designers at the show will also be selling some of their creations, so don’t miss out. Tickets are now available online starting today, and are available at the door. The ticket price includes the Project Design show *and* the DIY projects that you create at each of the stitch stations!

We’ll be uploading more “Quick Takes” thru the summer, until Season #3 of DIYStyle goes live in September. So keep watch, and if you can, join us in the Windy City on July 10th.

Keep cool. Cindy

The other day I met a friend of my mom’s, Tricia Crockett. She is a cool, hip, very stylish woman and a teacher at the Portland Art Institute in the fashion design department. We met because we are going to be teaching a class together at Fabric Depot in Portland this summer (look for more info here later) and we needed to figure out what direction we want to take. She was nice enough to offer to give my mom and I a personal tour of the Art Institute. I was very exited. The setting of the school is very urban, the building is extremely new and industrial looking….and high! We met Tricia at the front door and she took us up to the 5^th floor where the fashion design program is housed. The walls were covered with amazing pieces of art.  I had never seen such artistic looking designs and design boards. They weren’t just design ideas, they had an artistic representation, a specific look and an entire style. The idea boards displayed in the hallways were from the top students. I also was allowed to peek in the design studios and sewing room, and some of the girls let me take pictures of them in action. I also got to see some great Computer Aided Design projects that really got me interested in this fairly new aspect of design.  I have not been very fond of CAD before, but now I can see how you can incorporate your creative nature into technology. I would really love to learn how to use Photoshop. Maybe when I’m out of school! 

Best,

Melissa

Who would think that a baby baptism could bring about so many sewing opportunities? Hey all you creative chicks out there! Last time we connected I was very pregnant and ready to have a baby. Now I’m happy to announce the birth of our baby boy, Koen Matthew, born March 27th. He was a whopping 10 lb. 3 oz. and 22″ long (that’s over 2/3 of a yard in sewing terms). Needless to say, I’m still recovering from that one!

We had Koen baptized June 1^st and with that came some sewing opportunities! My parents and uncle came out for the occasion and I had the opportunity to repair a pair of my uncle’s jeans that had torn. Yeah, okay, so that’s kinda boring, but more exciting was the really cool yard sale find he brought me…”The Complete Book of Sewing” from 1943! It gives instructions for practically everything from how to choose your style, draft patterns, sew plackets, and even hand-bind oilcloth curtains. It is certainly a treat to read various chapters and see how sewing has evolved over the years (and how much is still the same).

About the neatest sewing op that came out of the baby experience so far has to do with the christening gown Koen wore. “Now hold on a minute,” you say, “no boy should have to wear a dress!” Well, his father wore the same gown when he was baptized and is good and manly, so no worries there. This gown has actually been passed across the country for multiple baptisms over four generations. It originated in Germany in 1904. My husband’s grandma asked if I could replicate it. So I spent the good part of an hour making detailed drawings and taking tons of measurements and pictures. I plan to draft a pattern and create a duplicate gown…from the six tiny pin tucks around the hemline to the ever so narrow 1/4″ drawstring channels that create the back closure. If only I could find some of the hand-woven German linen and hand-drawn lace it was made with.

Oh yeah, and I still have to stitch up those cloth diapers! Now that Koen’s growing has evened out a bit I know what size to make that will keep him going for a while. Hopefully I can steal a sewing moment or two between bottle feedings and diaper changes! We’ll keep you posted on all that.

Until next time…happy sewing!

Gena K.

Hi Everyone!

I’m finally done with finals and out for the summer! YEAH!! I actually got that tailored jacket done…I never realized how many hand stitches you can fit in a jacket. I also got all my fittings done for wool tailoring next year! I feel like I have accomplished a lot this semester. And, I’m now officially a SENIOR!

Another thing that comes every year around finals time is a meeting with our instructors for next year. As seniors, our main focus will be on our senior collection, so we had a meeting to cover what will be involved in that and expected of us. As an “unofficial” assignment we are to make and keep a senior collection design journal over the summer. This includes collecting items that inspire us whether it be a candy wrapper or a picture of a cool building. In addition we are to start collecting fabric swatches that we like and think may work too. For our collections we are to pick a theme, customer, and market. I am not sure exactly what my theme or customer will be but I will let you know (I hope to get inspired, now that I have a bit more time to slow down). I will keep you updated on how my journal goes this summer…maybe I will even let you have a peek!

Allyce xxxooo

Wow!

Our second season of DIYStyle vodcasts have wrapped, and we are celebrating with a DIYStyle Party in Chicago! We will be having a day long sew-in, at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, right in the open area of the hotel. Join in the fun on July 10th, from noon until 8pm, and create your own DIY fashions. There will be design labs and stitch stations set up with everything you need to make your own goods. Grab your girlfriends and make some Panties from the new DIYStyle Design It Yourself pattern from McCall’s, distress some of your own Denim jeans, perform T-Shirt surgery, and make an Eco-Bag for all your shopping finds. Project Design will take the stage, showcasing Chicago indie designers and a Fall Fashion Forecast will give you the scoop on what’s hot and what’s not! Upbeat music will keep everyone in the party mood. And….here’s the best part………it’s only $20 for everything!

Watch our website for more info to come soon. And, if you live in the Chicago area and want to help us get the word out, drop us a note. We want to show everyone how much fun we can have “Designing It Yourself” with DIYStyle!

 See you in Chicago

Cindy