June 2012

Our June meeting will be held Tuesday, June 12 at 7pm. We will meet for dinner at 5:30pm at Holiday Ham in Germantown for anyone who would like to join!

Program

For our program this month, Chris will be demonstrating how to do Surface Embroidery (embroidery on smocking). This will mainly be a demonstration but if you would like to practice some of the stitches, then please bring: milliners or straw needles, floss, embroidery scissors, and a small pleated sampler.

Wee Care

Please bring in your completed gowns and be prepared to sign out some more! We have a few orders to fill and would also love to start a stockpile of gowns for when we are hit with last minute orders!

Please bring any show and share that you have to our next meeting! But, in the meantime, check out this sweet dress Dianne made for her great niece Maisye's first birthday!

Sweet Maisye's Dress

And, here is Laura's daughter Emily in her completed basic yoke!

Lee Pattern and "Count Your Blessings" plate. 

  See you all on Tuesday! Our July meeting will be a Salad Supper and Sit 'n Sew!!

May 2012

Our next meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday , May 8. We will meet for dinner at 5:30 p.m. at the Holiday Ham in Germantown.

Program
We will be learning how to pinstitch! You will  need to bring basic hand sewing supplies.

If you have your Basic Yoke Dress, please bring it to the meeting for Show & Share. If you no longer have your dress, please bring a picture.

And speaking of pictures, here is a picture of DiAnne's granddaughter Hazel in her beautiful dress. Isn't she just the cutest thing!

If you are looking for smocking designs for a Wee-Care gown, look at the Newsletter for the Cactus Cablers. They have lots of designs at cactuscablers.org.

April 2012

The next meeting of the Memphis Area Smocking Guild will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10. We will meet for dinner at 5:30 p.m. at the Holiday Ham in Germantown.

Program
We will continue on our Basic Yoke Dress with a lesson on hemming. Jane will  also show us how to make a scalloped hem. No supplies are needed. Please bring your completed or nearly completed dress to the meeting. We all want to see your beautiful creations.

Here are pictures of Jane's beautifully created Basic Yoke Dress. She also made the wonderful little boy outfits to match the dress. The Dress is Lee by Children's Corner with the Bessie sleeve. The larger boys suit is a Jeffrey by Children's Corner and the baby romper is by Kathy Crisp. The dress is smocked with Brooks by Ellen McCarn and both of the boy's outfits have designs from the Chella Thornton book.

We had a great time at the Jeannie Baumeister workshop. We made a slip and a daygown, and had fun shopping for treasures that Jeannie brought with her. Here are pictures of our fun weekend.

 

I wish all of you a Blessed Easter. I hope all of your special sewing is finished to perfection just like Jane's - and matching doll dresses,too! Jane made these dresses for her grand niece and step sister, hopefully to wear for Easter.

March 2012

Our next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 13. We will meet casually for dinner at the Holiday Ham in Germantown at 5:30 p.m.

The program will be taught by Rose of the Lace Cottage. She will be teaching on collars for our Basic yoke dresses. She will teach an easy way to make a ruffled collar. If time permits, Jane will teach the scalloped hem. No supplies are needed.

Those of you who have wee care gowns out, please finish them and bring them to the meeting.  

Jeannie Baumeister class supply list

Fabric marking pen or pencil
fine white 100@ cotton sewing thread (cotona #80 for stitching lace and DMC #50)
cutting out and fine embroidery scissors

fine pins

18" see thru ruler and Lace Shaping Board (can be small)
Size #10 or #11 Sharps needles, #9 milliner (straw) needles.  
Optional but helpful: Magnification and a light plus cord 

We have a few members that still need to renew their SAGA membership. It is important for you to do this now so that we will remain in compliance with the SAGA guidelines for affiliate chapters.

As we are all preparing for Easter, take a look at Easter preparations of the past!

February 2012

February is National Smocking Month!

Please join us at our next meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 14. We will meet casually for dinner at 5:30 p.m. at Holiday Ham in Germantown.

The program for Tuesday night will be a continuation of working on our basic yoke dress. We need to begin moving towards completion. We are going to discuss piping and the placement of it on your dress as well as buttonholes. You will need to have either made your piping or purchased your piping if you are uncertain how to make it. A variety of pipings are available at Lace Cottage as well as mini-cording to make it. Please bring your dresses with you as well. Next month Rose from Lace Cottage will be showing us how to make a perfect collar!

If you have not already paid your dues, both local and National, please note they are now due. Remember that National dues must be paid online at the SAGA website.

Please continue working on your Wee-Care gowns and remember to return them at the meeting.

We are so excited to be hosting Jeannie Baumeister of the Old Fashioned Baby March 30-31! There is still time to register so please contact Laura Hill at mrslaurahill@gmail.com for more details or just bring your checkbook to the next meeting. The deadline for registration is March 1, so don't delay! We look forward to seeing you there!

Jeannie Baumeister Workshop March 30-31, 2012

Wonderful Petticoat Ideas for Babies and Toddlers

One Day Course (Friday, March 30)

In this class, Jeannie will guide you through the steps needed to draft your own A-Line or Yoke slip using your dress pattern. You will learn which slip style best suits your garment and lots of wonderful ways to embellish your petticoat. Different hem, neck and armhole finishes will be explored as you work on a petticoat in class. You will learn about hems with ruffles, lace and tucks, including a growth tuck! The yoke finishes include bias facing, lace, buillon picot and shell hem. Featherstitching is the classic embroidery stitch used on petticoats and several designs suited for them will be included in this class. You will leave class with sample stitches, a handout full of ideas and a slip that is well on the way to being complete!

Kit Fee: $23

Kit Upgrade Fee: $12 (Sizes 1, 2 and 3)

Course Fee: $54

Total for baby sizes: $77

Total for upgrade sizes: $89

Kit includes: 100% cotton batiste fairy fabric, needles, floss, entredeux, paper, pencil, slip pattern and complete illustrated instructions

Baby’s First Daygown - Brand New Pattern!!

One Day Course - Saturday, March 31

Spend the day with Jeannie hand stitching a beautiful day gown from her brand new pattern, Baby’s First Daygown!! Many techniques will be taught in this class, including: Applying lace to fabric, stitching entredeux to fabric (the old fashioned method), evenly gathering lace and stitching to entredeux at neck edge, and an old fashioned hem using the running stitch. The featherstitch and buillon rosebud will be used to complement the gown as well! Gown completed at home by machine. 

Kit Fee: $27

Pattern Cost: $12.50

Course Fee: $54.00

Total: $93.50

Kit Includes 100% cotton lawn, lace edging, entredeux, embroidery floss and antique buttons. Pattern not included.

*Course Fee paid to the guild, kit fee checks made out to Jeanne Baumeister.

January 2012

Happy New Year!

Our first meeting of the year will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 10. We will meet for dinner at 5:30 p.m. at Holiday Ham in Germantown.

At this time, the program is undecided. We will either have a lecture/demo on plackets, or we will cut out our yoke dresses.

There are no supplies needed for the placket lesson. For cutting out you will need your Basic yoke Dress pattern, all of your fabric - including fabric for your collars, trim, and sleeves, if they are different form your main fabric - your smocked skirts, pins, rulers, tape measure and fabric cutting shears.

It is time to pay dues. Please go to the SAGA website to pay your National dues online. Local dues will be collected at the meeting. Please bring a check.

Jeannie Baumeister will be in Memphis on March 30-31. No information about her classes is available at this time. If this information is available by the time of the meeting on Tuesday, we will be taking checks for registration. Bring your checkbooks, just in case!

We had a wonderful Christmas party at Kittie's house. Thank you Kittie!

This is a picture of Emily, daughter of Laura, wearing her Christmas dress. The beautiful dress is Jodi by Children's Corner. Beautiful baby and talented mommy!