Sewing – Page 57

April 12, 2019

Finding ASG on Social Media

To regularly see our social media posts on your feed, which is your customized daily news list, you can follow us on social media. If you would prefer not to set up social media accounts or choose not to follow us, our accounts are public and you can still view our social media Facebook or Instagram pages without logging in just by clicking the links.

To follow us on Facebook:

Log in to Facebook and go to our Facebook. If the link doesn’t work for you, just search inside Facebook for American Sewing Guild – Headquarters.
Once you’re on our page, click on the “LIKE” button to follow us and see our posts in your personal feed.
Need help navigating around Facebook? Check out this Youtube video tutorial.

To follow us on Instagram:

Log in to Instagram and go to our Instagram. If the link doesn’t work for you, search inside Instagram for asguildhq.
Once you see us, just click on the “FOLLOW” button to see us in your feed.
You can also follow any post flagged with our hashtag by searching for #americansewingguild and clicking the “FOLLOW” button. Many chapters with Instagram accounts use this hashtag so, if you follow it, any post using this hashtag will also appear in your feed.
Need help navigating around Instagram? Check out this Youtube video tutorial.

Not on social media yet?

If you don’t have Facebook or Instagram accounts, it’s simple to set them up. Here are a few tips.

Facebook

Desktop/Laptop: If you’re using a desktop or laptop computer, go to https://www.facebook.com/ and use the Sign Up function. You will need to enter a first and last name, mobile phone number or email and set a password. You will also need to enter a birth date and check the appropriate Female/Male box. Click the Sign Up button and you’ll be ready to go.
Mobile Device: To use Facebook on your phone or tablet, you will need to download an app. Go to the app store on your device and search for Facebook to download the app. If you have already set up your account, all you will need to do is log in to use the app. If you have not yet set up an account, follow the same directions noted above within the app.
Need some help? Facebook provides easy-to-follow tips for setting up your account.

Instagram

Desktop/Laptop: If you’re using a desktop or laptop computer, go to https://www.instagram.com/and either log in with your Facebook account (Facebook owns Instagram) use the Sign Up function. If you need to sign up, you will need to enter a first and last name, mobile phone number or email and set a password.
Mobile Device: To use Instagram on your phone or tablet, you will need to download an app. Go to the app store and search for Instagram to find and download the app. If you have already set up your account, all you will need to do is log in to use the app. If you have not yet set up an account or don’t have a Facebook account to use to log in, follow the same directions noted above within the app.
You can only post to Instagram from a tablet or smartphone, but you can browse other users’ photos on your computer as well.
Need some help? Instagram provides tips for setup.

Social media participation is a personal choice. There is no one-size-fits-all decision. But since we have begun using it to share news with current members and attract potential new members, we want to help anyone who has the interest take that step. We hope these tips help any of you who would like to make the choice to follow ASG on social media.

~ Sheryl Belson

April 5, 2019

How have you used your ASG fabric?

Calling all members!

What have you been making from our ASG fabric? We are currently looking for original designs that our members created from our very own unique fabric—the one with the dress forms and the ASG logo.

We were thrilled when we received nearly 1,300 submissions for our 2018 contest. Despite the great response, many members told us they wanted to participate, but they just couldn’t think of how to use the fabric. So if you designed, or are willing to design, something made with our own ASG fabric, we would love to share it with our ASG family and inspire others to show off their ASG pride with a unique item just for us.

Your creation must feature the ASG winning fabric from MyFabricDesigns.com (no longer in business) — the fabric with the dress forms and the ASG logo.

You may use any of the colors featured and can modify the size of the print right on the site. You have a choice of over 20 fabrics, from cotton to silk to French terry and many more.

While the ASG winning fabric must be used, your design can also feature other fabrics as well. These may be the coordinated prints from the site or something of your own choosing.

The fabric is printed to order and takes about 10-14 days to be printed and shipped.

My Fabric Flash Drive Holder

To kick off this new undertaking, I am including a simple pattern for the Fabric Flash Drive Holder I created for protecting my flash drive, and we are debuting it for National Flash Drive Day. The little pouch was created to hold a simple flash drive, or even the larger specialty one that I use for my embroidery designs. Of course, you can use yours for all kinds of small objects. I’ve used a technique I saw recently that allows the pouch to be created easily with no exposed seams on the inside. Check it out and see what you think.

If you have a design you would like to share:

Please use the format I have used to create my design. A sample Word template can be downloaded here to use.
Write up the instructions and be sure to take pictures in jpg format.
Submit your project instructions and images using this form in the Member’s Only area.

We can’t wait to be inspired!

~Contributed by Rosemary Fajgier

March 29, 2019

Take Your Garment from Ordinary to Edgy

There are lots of ways you can exercise your creativity to transform your everyday garment sewing to fabulous and unique.

Consider these ideas, whether sewing a garment from scratch or upcycling a ready-to-wear piece that’s a bit on the uninteresting side.

Use more than one fabric when you are making a new garment. Using different and maybe “focus” fabric in a panel, yoke or collar, cuffs and button placket and turn it from ho-hum to really interesting and personal.
Replace the plain plastic buttons on a ready-to-wear shirt with a collection of mismatched buttons to make a garment unique.
Add a striped or gingham finding, cut on the bias, to all the edges of a blouse (for example -collar, cuffs, pocket, front edge, hem). Consider adding flashier buttons as a fun addition.
Change the color of the fabric you are using by dyeing it – or over dye a ready-to-wear garment if the garment doesn’t suit you.
Change the opening on a garment you’re making from a straight edge to a curvy or zigzagged one. The fit will not be affected with this change.
Piece or applique the fabric you are using to make some parts of the garment and it will become an individual expression of your taste and style.

There are no images in this gallery.

Whatever you do, start with a simple shape, make sure you fit the pattern and then unleash your inner Yves St. Laurent!

~Lorraine Torrence

March 22, 2019

Button, Button, I’ve Got the Buttons

This is my week! It’s National Button Week and I love buttons. I REALLY love buttons. In honor of this auspicious week, I want to tell you a story about the buttons I have loved. Then I get to reveal an exciting new members-only discount. No peeking! You’ll have to wait until the end of the article!

My fascination with buttons began when I was a child. My mother’s button box served as one of my favorite toys, second only to my Barbie doll. I remember sitting for hours sorting and exploring the beautiful buttons the large tin contained.

Button Bling

One of my favorites was a blue and green button that sparkled in the sunlight on a wool jacket she had made. Her philosophy was that the buttons made the garment, and today would be called the “bling” that made it special. I remember the “Life Saver” buttons that were the focus of my brown calico dress. No one noticed the dress, or the beautiful white Peter Pan collar. Instead everyone commented on the buttons, proving her point.

Playing with those buttons is one of my favorite childhood memories, so I was devastated when I returned home from college and found that the entire collection was gone. She had downsized. How could she just throw away all those beautiful buttons? What had become of them? These questions plagued me until I decided to do what any practical person who wanted to preserve her sanity would do. I started my own collection!

Having little money in those early days, I started out cutting buttons off old garments. Then gradually, I added to the collection by buying them. First it was just the ones on sale. Then it was any that attracted my attention.

Specialty Buttons

Now I have quite a collection. I have large buttons, and teeny, tiny buttons. I have completely round buttons, and flat buttons. I have some that say, “I love grandma” and others that say “Mood.” I have buttons that are pumpkins, skulls, snowmen, snowflakes, Christmas bulbs, cats, dogs, rabbits, cars, dice, gingerbread boys, fish, etc. I even have buttons that look like Olympic medals and police badges.

Benno's Buttons

You may ask yourself, “Does she ever use these buttons?” The answer is yes—sometimes. I put the seashell buttons on a jacket. Some of the snowflakes reside on a sweatshirt along with snowmen that form a tic tac toe pattern with trims. And the pumpkins can be seen on one of my fall purses. And if you look closely, the next time we meet, you may just get a glimpse into part of my collection.

Special Offer for ASG Members

Now about that discount… We are excited to announce that Benno’s Buttons will offer all ASG members a 15% discount. You can find the discount code in the Member’s Only Special Offers section of our website. Benno’s Buttons has been a respected nationwide supplier of quality products and services to apparel designers and other industry professionals for many years. They offer so much more than just buttons! Check out their pin on buttons, lace, appliques, trim and more. You definitely want to check out the Benno’s Buttons website. And if you are shopping in the Dallas area, be sure to stop in to say hello and thank them for their generosity and support of American Sewing Guild.

~ Rosemary Fajgier; Individual button images from Benno’s Buttons

March 1, 2019

Could You, Would You, Make a Vest for Dr. Seuss Day?

March 1 is Dr. Seuss Day. Every year when it comes around, I am reminded of this experience.

I am fortunate to have a son who is always willing to help me out. When I needed to have my large embroidery machine serviced, he carried it in without a hint of annoyance. He never complained while I chatted with the shop owner. He carted my bolts of fabric to the cutting table and waited patiently. So when an extra bolt appeared on the pile, I really couldn’t complain. I knew it had to be his. But when I looked at the orange fabric—it was furry, no fringy, no stringy, no… very different.

“Without a doubt, I knew this was going to be my next sewing project — payback.”

Cautiously I asked, “And what did you have in mind?” He replied, “I thought it looked like the Lorax. I figured you could make me a Lorax vest for Dr. Seuss Day.”

OK, ordinarily a vest is easy—but it had to be shapeless like the Lorax. Then it had to close in the front, but buttonholes just wouldn’t work with this . . . fringy, stringy, furry fabric. Hmmm… I found an open front hippy style vest pattern in my stash. Feeling quite smug, I figured I could whip out this vest in under 2 hours. I laid out the pattern and began cutting. That’s when my luck changed.

The fabric backing was a stretch knit that rolled terribly! If cutting furry fabric wasn’t difficult enough, cutting one that stretched and rolled was nearly impossible. After just a few snips of the scissors, fur was flying everywhere. Then the knit backing started to run like a nylon stocking. OMG! I had to darn the fabric before I could even stitch the vest together. Grrrrr, sewing was supposed to relieve stress, not create more. Was this worth all the effort? Wouldn’t it be easier to just buy one? But where could I buy a Lorax vest to fit a grown man, and how could I get it in just 2 days? So I persevered all the while chanting my favorite mantra, “Finished is better than perfect, finished is better than perfect, FINISHED IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.”

Two days later I emerged from the sewing cave looking like a mutant with orange hair everywhere but carrying a completed vest in hairy hand. Ignoring my orange hairy body, he put on his vest and said he would wear it to work the next day, Dr. Seuss Day. And he did, with LORAX written on his name tag.

The vest is not an example of sewing perfection. But it is perfect for him. How do I know? From the twinkle in his eye and the smile on his face when someone said, “Nice vest,” and he replied, “Yeah, I’m the Lorax, and my mom made it for me.”

Was it worth all the stress? YES, every hairy minute! And that’s why I sew.

~ Post by Rosemary Fajgier