Sharon Sews

Feb. 8 and 9 found me sitting in the basement of a Hancock Fabric store soaking in tips on fitting and sewing from sewing and fit expert, Pati Palmer. Each day consisted of two lecture-style seminars with a dinner/shopping break in between each. Pati Palmer Pati proved to be an energetic, humorous speaker who was generous in sharing her knowledge of fit as well as sewing tips. She has such a great attitude about our bodies - our bodies are perfect! - it's the pattern that needs to change. See that smile on her face? That's how she is - she just radiates joy. Pati Palmer shares a laugh with seminar attendees Most of what she covered is information that can be found in one of her books - Fit for Real People , Pants for Real People , Jackets for Real People or Mother Pletsch's Painless Sewing - so there were very few tips that were new to me, but who cares? This was a chance to see Pati Palmer! She's a sewing expert and whenever I have a chance to attend a seminar by

In between the two-day seminar, I managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing. That means the velvet jacket ( McCall's 5527 ) is nearing completion. Lining For the lining, I used another silk from Fabric Mart - a cream colored silk with a floral print and a scroll design outlined in black. I'm sure many of you recognize it and probably have it on your own stash. The cream coordinates with the cream in the velvet and the scroll mimicked the paisley pattern. It doesn't match - and I struggled with that - but I kept reminding myself that the lining would not be seen when the jacket is worn. The construction of the jacket is complete with the exception of hand sewing the hems - both the bottom and the sleeves. Oh yea, and that darn buttonhole. Perhaps I'll add a large snap with a decorative button instead. Collar problem I'm having a bit of an issue with the collar. The under and upper collar are both sewn in the velvet. I had eliminated the inner collar "stay"

I just spent two days at a lecture/seminar with Patti Palmer of Palmer/Pletsch . The seminar was sponsored by Hancock Fabrics and the American Sewing Guild , Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter. One of the things I liked the best was being able to see the model garments from the Palmer/Pletsch McCall's patterns up close. Honestly, the photographs do not capture the beauty of the fabrics used in these garments. And I gotta tell you - those models on the pattern cover envelopes are tiny! The jean sample from P/P's jeans pattern looked like they were for a young girl around the age of eight or ten. In addition to the McCall's model garments, Patti brought along two designer Vogue model garments! Of course I could hardly wait for a break to go peek at those. It was crowded and a bit difficult to get decent photos but I did get a few. Vogue 2943 First off, Vogue's 2943 Belleville Sassoon dress is so beautiful. I'm not sure what the fabric was and Patti was surrounded by p