Fifteen ladies from as far south as Baltimore area and as far west as Indianapolis enjoyed some creative sewing in New Jersey!!
The Holly Berries chapter of SAGA [Smocking Arts Guild of America] hosted the delightful and talented Gail Doane. Gail hails from Utah but is known around the globe for her beautiful designs, smocking and sewing talent. The project chosen for the three days was actually featured on the cover of Classic Sewing Magazine's second issue.
Starting with a quilter's 'Jelly Roll'...a package of 2.5 inch wide, by 45 inch long strips of co-ordinating fabrics, the ladies all created their own fabric designs for the front, back and sleeves of the jacket. Some design parts were decided on by Gail who packaged complete kits for us to work on. Including the soft cotton pique dress which features hem and sleeve caps made from the same 'joined' strips of fabric.
The fun is seeing six same fabric jelly rolls worked in totally different configurations resulting in very cute and sweet jackets. But the lessons learned involved more than just putting strips together. Color watch, design watch, balance of all combinations, things that are not communicated in written directions but rather by example and explanation. And Gail makes it all sound so easy...excellent tutor!!
Three days, 18 hours plus, and if the first photo is any indication..a good time was had by all.
SAGA is a non profit organization dedicated to promoting the fine arts of sewing and all things needle and thread.
Please visit HERE to see what SAGA has to offer!
The Holly Berries chapter meets at the Burlington County Library on the
Third Wednesday of the month from 12pm-3pm.
July and August are vacations.
Find directions here to the Library which is in New Jersey.
We meet at the Main Library in Westampton.
With this successful workshop completed...we look forward to another one in the coming year,
