March MADEness!

March MADEness! No, it's not a typo!!

It's not exactly madness at the Midnight Oil Smockers' meetings and we're certainly not playing basketball, but we do manage to get a lot of smocking and sewing done. (Hence the MADEness title!)  Finishing garments or other projects makes one feel like a winner every time. This month was no exception! 

Peg Pocket Dress Sew-in

Our first gathering of the month was on Saturday, March 18, when a few members met at Quiltworks to continue our progress on the Peg Pocket Dress, which was the featured garment of a Trisha Smith class in February. It's always the hope that a dress will get finished at one of these sew-ins, and perhaps if we didn't have such a great time visiting with each other, we might get more done. Of course, a lot of the fun in creating treasures is the actual process of doing them, and being able to do that with friends may slow things down a bit, but it certainly adds richness to the periods of sewing. 

Leslye led the group of sewers, and thankfully she brought the dress from her 1st Peg Pocket Dress class with Trisha. (She's now taken the class twice, lucky lady!) Having this dress to study really helped when one of the chapter members would get stumped by the pattern directions.

 Laura, hard at work on the bodice of her dress.

 Leslye is SO helpful, and she organizes these sew-ins. Every group needs someone like her!
 Juli is working away on her dress.

 Trena's work space. She gave us a refresher course on how to make a "hot dog" hem. (Look it up on Youtube!)

 Joanne is always cheerful! But when you're spending the day sewing with friends, why wouldn't you be?

Perhaps Susanna is thinking through the old saying, "Measure twice, cut once"?

Trena, trimming her piping. Having the right tools makes any job easier!

Lunch Recommendation: Trena, Laura and Denise took a break at lunchtime and headed to The Backyard Grill on Jones Road, which is a few doors down from Quiltworks. What a great place!! We highly recommend it.

March Monthly Meetings

Morning Monthly Meeting Program: Needles

 Leslye presented a fabulous program on needles. She explained the difference between needle names and sizes, as well as manufacturers. Her examples were extremely helpful and her handouts were very informative.

The consensus: We're all going to be looking for Tulip needles! They sound wonderful.

 The needle guide she handed out to each of us. Thanks to Wendy Schoen for giving permission for Lesley to hand these out to all of the MOS members.
Cathy made and distributed neat little needle holders that were the size of matchbooks.
(Photo coming soon) Thanks Cathy!!

Evening Meeting: Sergers

 Kathleen, the owner of the Sugar Land Sewing School, presented the evening meeting on the use of sergers. Her tips and guidelines were incredible! She is one talented seamstress, and she makes her techniques sound so easy. Everyone left determined to dust off their serger (or go buy one) and get started on sewing more projects.

 Brenda and Teresa listen and learn from Kathleen while having a good time doing so. 

Thanks to Lana and Bill at It Seams To Be Sew for letting us meet at their shop. They are great hosts! 

Coming soon!

March Sew & Share: Boy Challenge, UFO/Stashbuster entries & lots of other beautiful garments.