Important social sewing update!!!

For anybody that doesn't already know, GJs are moving.
They are moving on the 24th of May, which means that our next social sewing on the 30th of May will be at the new location.

Their new location is:
31 Steane Street, Fairfeld VIC 3078
( Cnr Sparks Ave & Steane St )

I have also updated this information on the social sewing page of my blog.

Unfortunately the new location does not have great public transport access. There are a couple of buses that run along Darebin Road nearby (the 510 and 250 I think but check that) but I'm not sure what the Saturday timetable is like. Some of the lovely ladies attending have already offered up their car pooling services so if you need a lift hopefully something can be sorted out if you shout out.

An update about Social Sewing in 2015

Apologies to those of you not in Melbourne that this isn't relevant to, but I have some updates relating to Social Sewing that I need everyone to see:

1) The April social sewing date has been cancelled. It was on Anzac day and they have only just told me that they're not open that day. Frustrating, but that's what it is. Unfortunately there aren't any other dates available in April. Please update your calendars so you don't accidentally turn up and it's not on. If you're interested in going somewhere else or doing something else that day, let me know. Perhaps we could finally organise that picnic?

2) Housekeeping - I have been asked to remind everyone to please clear up after themselves before they leave. Please return extension cables to the baskets, and clear up any rubbish and fabric scraps. They will vacuum up threads on the floor, but other than that please try and leave the room as it is when we arrive.

3) Heads up that GJs are moving. In late May they are moving to Darebin Road in Fairfield. Our bookings for the rest of the year still stand, but will be at the new location, which I am assured also has a work room and has more parking than the current location. Apparently the building is being torn down to put up apartments instead. I'll let you know when I have more information.


All the details for social sewing can be found here. If you're in Melbourne and have never joined us, you're more than welcome to, we're a welcoming bunch and the more the merrier!

Any questions let me know, otherwise I'll see you in a fortnight at the next social sewing.

Social Sewing - November

Apologies for not posting a reminder for October's Social Sewing, thing have been pretty hectic as late in Chez-Rachel.

But looking forward, November's Social Sewing is less than a week away, this coming Saturday the 16th of November. I hope to see you there!

Also, remember the dates for the rest of 2013 and for all of 2014 are all listed here: http://www.mymessings.com/search/label/Social%20Sewing
(I believe we might be having a Christmas Party after the December one, so make sure to mark that down in your diaries!)

Social Sewing - Reminder for September and dates for 2014

Just a quick reminder that our next social sewing is this coming Saturday, the 21st of September. If you're in the area and don't have other plans then you should come along, it's lots of fun! I believe this month has a somewhat unofficial theme of 'swimwear', as a few of us are going to dive in to bathers sewing and give each other some moral support. Of course, you don't have to sew bathers to come along, as always bring whatever you want to work on.

We have sorted out our dates for 2014, so make sure to visit the social sewing page and mark down the dates in your diary: http://www.mymessings.com/search/label/Social%20Sewing
Or, if you use Google calendars and want invites to all of the social sewing dates, let me know and I can add you as an attendee so they're automatically added to your diary.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing you next weekend!

Social Sewing - Reminder for August

Woohoo, now I'm back in the country I can go to this month's Social Sewing  The next Social Sewing is just over a week away, on Saturday the 18th of August.

You know the deal now, all the details for this social sewing all the details for this month and future months are available on the Social Sewing Page linked at the top of my blog.

Can you please let me know if you're planning on coming by commenting on this post. Thanks in advance!

I'm looking forward to seeing you all again! (And any new faces of course, new faces are welcome too)

Social Sewing Reminder - July

Melbourne ladies, remember that even tho I'm not around this month, there is still social sewing. The lovely Sarah is housing social sewing this month, so make sure you go RSVP on her blog post here: http://sewsquirrel.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/july-social-sewing/

Have lots of fun without me and I'll see you in august.

Social Sewing - Reminder for June

It's that time again, the next Social Sewing is a under a week away! The next date is Saturday the 22nd of June. As usual, all the details for this and future Social Sewing can be found on the Social Sewing Page linked at the top of my blog.

As per usual, can you please let me know if you're planning on coming, as I need to make sure that our booking with GJs represents how many of us will actually be there. Thanks!

I look forward to seeing you at social sewing next week.

Social Sewing - Reminder for May

Just a quick reminder; the next Social Sewing is a week from today; Saturday the 18th of May. As usual, all the details for this and future Social Sewing can be found on the Social Sewing Page linked at the top of my blog.

Can you please let me know if you're planning on coming, as I need to make sure that our booking with GJs represents how many of us will actually be there. Thanks!

PS: Have you heard about Frocktails? If not, you should head on over to Kat's post about it and take a look, it sounds like it's gonna be FUN!

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you at social sewing next week.

Social Sewing - Dates for the rest of 2013

At the last Social Sewing day I booked in dates for the rest of the year as follows:

• Saturday 18th May
• Saturday 22nd June
• Saturday 20th July (hosted by Sarah)
• Saturday 17th August
• Saturday 21st September
• Saturday 19th October
• Saturday 16th November
• Saturday 14th December

So put them in your diaries ladies!!

All the information about social sewing, including all these dates, is also on the Social Sewing Page linked along the top of my blog.

As usual, I will be posting reminders a week or two before the day, so please let me know if you are planning on attending so that I can make sure that we're expecting about the right number of people. Some of the dates we'll be sharing the room with another small group.

Social Sewing - Reminder for April

Just a quick reminder; the next Social Sewing is a week from today; Saturday the 20th of April. As usual, all the details for this and future Social Sewing can be found on the Social Sewing Page linked at the top of my blog.

Can you please let me know if you're planning on coming, as I need to make sure that our booking with GJs represents how many of us will actually be there. Thanks!

I look forward to seeing you there!

Social Sewing Reminder

I just wanted to pop in quickly today with a reminder about this month's social sewing, which is this coming Saturday, the 16th of March.

As usual, all the details are over on the social sewing page. If you can let me know if you're planning on coming that'd be great, so I have a vague idea of how many of you to expect.

I'm really looking forward to it, and hope to actually get some sewing done this time!

When Social Sewing Goes Bad (and more dates)

So, we had our February Social Sewing day on Saturday. However, not all went to plan, and neither myself or the darling Kat actually got to do any sewing. Wanna hear why? Then read on! If not, scoot on down to the bottom of this post for new Social Sewing dates (or go to the Social Sewing Page)

So, picture this. After a quick stop at Rathdowne Fabrics on the way, we're arriving at GJs for our day of sewing. I'm upstairs in the work room starting to get ready, thinking about how much tulle I'll need to buy for my crinoline, and I hear a shout come from the stairs. "Rachel, can I get some help" I hear coming from Kat. I go over to the top of the stairs to give Kat a hand, assuming that she just needed a hand carrying things up the stairs (she is 30 weeks pregnant after all).

As soon as I see Kat though, I see not all is well, she's a bit laid down, a few steps up the stairs and unable to move. I quickly grab her bags out of her hands, dump them at the top of the stairs and come back down to help some more. Her dress was caught on her sewing machine case (one of those wheel-y ones, like a wheely suitcase but for a sewing machine). I unhook her dress and take the case, and then we discover that she'd cut her leg.

I'm frantically trying to get someone to help us out, and Mel comes to help us, and flags down some GJs staff for help too. By this point I had actually looked at Kats leg and was in proper panic mode; she hadn't just scratched her leg, or even cut her leg, there was a massive gash up the inside of her left calf!

The scene of the crime, with Sarah, Oanh and myself keeping Kat company

The staff at GJs were absolutely amazing, and within a few minutes an ambulance had been called, a clean cloth and gentle pressure applied to the wound, and everyone was pumped full to the brim with Adrenaline! By this point we'd worked out what had happened - the base of Kat's machine bag is slightly broken, and there was a piece of metal near the bottom that had moved out when she picked it up, which it turns out was incredibly sharp!

It didn't take long for the Ambulance(s) to arrive (an ambulance, and also one of the MICA paramedics). The paramedics were fantastic, applying a bandage to Kats leg before driving her to the hospital. Now, I wasn't about to let her spend the day at the hospital on her own, so I went with her to keep her company.

A fuzzy pic of the ambulance ride

We arrived at the hospital at about 11:15, but didn't get called in to see somebody until about 2pm. Thankfully I had put my knitting in my bag for Social Sewing, so while trying to keep Kat company/entertained/distracted I had some knitting to do.

My waiting room knitting

However, as the injury was her leg, we then still had to wait until a bed was free for them to do the actual stitches. Finally at about 3:20 a bed was available.

Finally, a bed!

After what looked like some very painful injections with local anaesthetic, and two layers of stitches! Including 10 stitches in the outer, skin, layer we were finally able to leave! (While I do have pictures of the unstitched wound, I will be kind to your sensitivities, and won't post them here! I believe Kat may be posting a pic though, so if you're interested look out for that on her blog!)

Stitched up!

We got a taxi back to my place, where many of the social sewing ladies were waiting to see that Kat was OK and to return us our stuff (that had been unceremoniously left at GJs when we departed in the ambulance).

Trying to improve the day, we then all gorged on some of my home-made ice-cream, Kat was picked up by her husband, and the rest of us chilled in the pool for a bit.

The day wasn't a complete wash though, while at Rathdowne Remnants I got the following lace (some regular, some stretch) to use with my #sewingdare; yes, I am determined that me-made undies will be in my not too distant future!

My #sewingdares lace

Aaaand, what I promised right at the beginning of this post, more Social Sewing dates! While I was at the hospital, Mel was kind enough to book in some more dates for social sewing up until June. This means that the upcoming dates we have booked in for Social Sewing are as follows:

• Saturday 16th March 
• Saturday 20th April 
• Saturday 18th May 
• Saturday 22nd June

These dates, along with all other Social Sewing information, are listed on the Social Sewing Page of my blog.

If you're in Melbourne I hope to see you at one of the dates! I promise, Kat's injury really was the exception, usually the events are incredibly safe!

Community Minded...

Don't you just love the sewing community we have? I know I do! There's so many different ways to get involved and everyone is so kind and encouraging. I thought today, in lieu of an actual garment post as I suck at getting photos, I would talk about some community type things...

First up is Social Sewing! Just a quick reminder that next Saturday, the 23rd of Feb, is our next Social Sewing Day. If you're planning on coming can you please let me know so I have a vague idea of numbers.

A few of us were planning on making it a crinoline sewing day, buying the tulle at GJs and getting started on making our own crinolines with some moral support thrown in. If you'd like to join us with that too then you're more than welcome!

Have you seen that JuliaBobbin is hosting the second round of her "Mad Men Challenge". In case you haven't heard, all you need to do is sew something up that's inspired by Mad Men and send her a photo (or blog link) by the 19th of April. I am so definitely in! Sadly I couldn't join in last year as I was too busy with other things, but this year I'm definitely joining in!!!

Lastly, #sewingdares!! Have you seen #sewingdares around the place? The lovely Gillian started issuing dares to people on twitter, and then on her blog. It's all in good fun, and just aimed to get you to try something just outside your comfort zone. I wanted to join up straight away but needed to be realistic; this was while I was still doing the sew-along, I didn't have time for a dare! However, now the sewalong is over I do! So the other day I asked Gillian for a dare and she came up with a great one:

"Make something to wear under a dress"

So many possibilities!!! I think making the crinoline as part of this dare would be cheating though, as I was already scheduled to have a go at making one at Social Sewing. I've been wanting to try undies for quite a while, so might try that but will need to grab some elastic. Or leggings are a good possibility too... As I said, so many possibilities!!


Also, I have some exciting news; I've (finally) booked my flights to come across to Europe for three weeks in July! I'm really excited! I'm also hoping to meet up with some of you lovely stitchers while I'm there; Who is free on Saturday 3rd of August for a meet-up in London?

Are there any nice community type things that you've seen around or are joining in with? Will you be joining in with the things I've mentioned? And lastly, does anybody know of any good resources for people beginning their sewing adventure?

Social Sewing goes on the Road

Last Saturday we went on an adventure. A group of fearless sewing enthusiasts met up, bright and early on a beautiful sunny day, with the plan of buying lots of fabric! Yes, the Social Sewers went on a little road-trip! 9 fabric stores were visited over 8 hours, and countless metres of fabric were purchased, and even more were stroked, gushed over, and even hugged.

We started the day at GJs, then Rathdowne remnants, then moved onto 5 stores that I'd never been to before; Darn Cheap Fabrics, The Cloth Shop, Cutting Edge Fabric, The Button Shop and Astratex, and finished off at The Fabric Store and Alannah Hill. We then rounded off the day with dinner at Rockwell and Sons. You can get the details of our full itinerary over on the fabulous Kat's blog, who organised the whole day - so massive thank you Kat!

(In this pic is a sneak peek of my new dress! Finished before going to bed the night before! Blog post coming soon...)

I'm not entirely sure how many people we had in total as some people popped in and out throughout the day, but there were many! There was even representation from a whopping four states and territories; Victoria (obvs), ACT, Tasmania and South Australia!!

I'm sure by now you're wondering what I bought, I was very restrained, buying only three pieces of particularly special fabric (having my stash out on display in my room is helping my resolve to sew with it and remember that I already have fabric before buying more!) But here they are:



At the top is some delicious silk/cotton from Darn Cheap Fabrics, it's just so beautiful and drapey, and might possibly become another portrait blouse. On top of the silk/cotton are some blue buttons to finish off my Whole Wheat Cardigan. Then the fabric with the birdcages is another lovely drapey viscose fabric from Astratex that I just could not walk away from (there was hugging of the bolt before purchasing it too). And on the bottom is a lovely wool suiting from The Fabric Store. I was being strong until I saw Kirsty buying this one, and it's so soft, and it was half price, what's a girl to do?!

And while we're on the topic, don't forget that the next Social Sewing is on the 23rd of Feb. We hope to see you there!

January Social Sewing Reminder and more!

Just a quick reminder that 2013 social sewing will be kicking off in two short weeks time! The first date for this year is Saturday the 19th of January! I hope to see you there!!

In case you don't know what social sewing is, you can get all the information here. But in short, it's our (very informal) sewing group that gets together about once a month for stitching and chatting. If you're in Melbourne you're more than welcome to join us!

Also, at the Jan Social Sewing we're going to have a little swap. A few of us have done a bit of a New Years clean out and have some stuff that needs a new home, so if you have anything you don't want anymore that you think somebody else might be able to use instead (patterns, fabric, notions etc) then please bring it along! We shall do a swap near the middle of the day, maybe just after lunch.

Also, the lovely Kat is organising a fabric shopping trip of titans ("Social Sewing Goes on the Road") on Saturday the 9th of February. If you're around in Melbourne (or can get to Melbourne) it's looking to be a fabulous day! Check out all the details here over on her blog.

PS: I'm absolutely thrilled at the response for the Hollyburn Sew-along! I'm very excited that so many of you are joining in! Stay tuned for more posts from Monday.

November Social Sewing - Are you in?

The next date we've organised for some Social Sewing is just under 2 weeks away, so I thought I'd post up a quick reminder about it.

Here are the details:

• Date: Saturday 17th November
• Location: GJs Discount Fabrics, in Brunswick- they have a big workroom with big tables and lots of floor space, power points and light. You would need to bring your own machine. 
• Time: 9-4 (their opening hours, but you can absolutely come for as much or as little of that as you like) 
• Cost: $10 per person (paid to GJs when you arrive) 

If you could please let me know if you're planning on coming by comment or email so I can keep GJs in the loop as to a vague idea of how many of us to expect.

Please feel free to pass on the information to other Melbourne sewists who might be interested in coming along.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Also, I think we will try organising some dates for some more social sewing's in early 2013 while we're there on the 17th, so if you're coming along please bring your diaries, and if you're not able to come, please comment here or email me with any dates that do and don't work for you so we can try and factor it in if possible while choosing (this includes you interstate people that keep threatening to come along - we WILL organise dates around when you could come and visit!)

Social Sewing - October - Are you in?

The next date we've organised for some Social Sewing is less than 2 weeks away, so I thought I'd post up a quick reminder about it.

Here are the details:

• Date: Saturday 27th October
• Location: GJs Discount Fabrics, in Brunswick- they have a big workroom with big tables and lots of floor space, power points and light. You would need to bring your own machine. 
• Time: 9-4 (their opening hours, but you can come for as much or as little of that as you like) 
• Cost: $10 per person (paid to GJs when you arrive) 

If you could please let me know if you're planning on coming by comment or email so I can keep GJs in the loop as to a vague idea of how many of us to expect.

Please feel free to pass on the information to other Melbourne sewists who might be interested in coming along.

I look forward to seeing you there!

(If you can't make it to this one, there is another one scheduled for the 17th of November as well)

Social Sewing: recap and more dates

Yesterday I got together with some other local sewers for some Social Sewing. Twelve of us turned up at GJs, projects in hand, for a fun day of sewing and chatting (in approximately equal measure). 

   

The large tables were perfect for tracing patterns and cutting out fabric, so quite a bit of that was done. Sewing up or modifying muslins was also a popular activity, since there were many other sewers on hand to assist with pinning and offering opinions. Correct me if I'm wrong girls, but I believe the only finished item of the day was Mel's beautiful Franke vest?

The afternoon also turned into a little bit of a Cambie-fest, with at least one being cut out, one being sewn, and I think 5 different people trying on Helen's's beautiful cambie (please correct me if that number is wrong) - one of the the bonuses of catching up with sewers is that you don't always have to make something blindly without trying it on first!

Kat very generously brought along a whole stack of fabric, patterns and thread for us to have for FREE! (see above pic, and that's mid raid by us) I know, so generous!!! I came home with some absolutely gorgeous striped shirting and some spools of thread.

Above is nearly all of our group - sadly Heather had to leave early and this pic was snapped just as we were being kicked (protesting) out of GJs at 4 o'clock when they closed. From left to right: Helen, Kristy, Alison, Oanh, Mel, Claire, Belle, Sarah, Kat, Me, Danika.

People were enthusing about doing it again by lunchtime, so we've organised two more dates to get together for social sewing, so if you're in the area we'd love for you to join us! We will be catching up on the Saturdays the 27th October and 17th November. All the other details are still the same, but just a recap:

Location: GJs Discount Fabrics, in Brunswick- they have a big workroom with big tables and lots of floor space, power points and light. You would need to bring your own machine.

Time: 9-4 (their opening hours, but you can come for as much or as little of that as you like)

Cost: $10 per person (paid to GJs when you arrive)

And as last time, if you're planning on coming please let me know either by comment or email so I can keep GJs in the loop as to how many of us to expect. I look forward to seeing you there!

Social Sewing Update

Just a quick update on the Social Sewing - so far 10 people have let me know they're coming, so it's definitely going. However, it's a more the merrier type thing, so if you're interested please do consider coming by. As a reminder the details are:

• Location: GJs Discount Fabrics, in Brunswick- they have a big workroom with big tables and lots of floor space, power points and light. You will need to bring your own machine.
• Date: Saturday 29th September
• Time: 9-4 (their opening hours, but you can come for as much or as little of that as you like)
• Cost: $10 per person

If you haven't already, please let me know if you want to come by commenting on this post (making sure that your email address is listed, if it's not please include it), or by emailing me so that I can make sure GJs know approximately how many people to expect.

Social Sewing?

Would anybody be interested in some Social Sewing?

After having such fun at the Melbourne Sewers Meetup I was freshly reminded how enjoyable the company of fellow seamstresses can be. I used to get my regular fix at the Melbourne Burdastyle Sewing Club, but since that was disbanded I have only had a couple of other garment sewers that I've caught up with. I know how much fun I have at the sit and sew days for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild, so thought I should just get around to organising something similar, that is, if anybody else is interested. As well as being lots of fun (I hope), it's also super handy to sew with other people occasionally, for example you can get help with fitting, hemming or a tricky technique.

I was thinking of the following:

• Location: GJs Discount Fabrics, in Brunswick- they have a big workroom with big tables and lots of floor space, power points and light. You would need to bring your own machine.
• Date: Saturday 29th September
• Time: 9-4 (their opening hours, but you can come for as much or as little of that as you like)
• Cost: $10 per person

Are you interested in joining me for such a thing?

If you are, please let me know, either by commenting on this post (making sure that your email address is listed, if it's not please include it), or email me so that I can make sure GJs know approximately how many people to expect.

Even if you can't come on the 29th, please let me know if you'd be interested in coming along at some point, as if there's enough interest we could make it a regular thing and then I'll know to keep you in the loop!