Sewing Summit 2013

Lindsay from Lindsay Sews, Veronica, and Justine from Sew Country Chick 

Hello sewVery readers! I'm Caila from CailaMade and today I'm taking over Veronica's blog to tell you all about Sewing Summit 2013 and what I learned about her while I was there!

Veronica and I have known each other in the virtual world for about a year, but we actually met for the first time last weekend at Sewing Summit. We shared a room with two other girls, and had an absolute blast talking about fabric, sewing machines, blogging, and everything else in between. I really enjoyed following her around to get pictures of her over the weekend. Can you appreciate the very serious look on my face in the picture below? 

Caila from CailaMade and Veronica

Before I jump into the Veronica-stuff, I should probably tell you a bit about Sewing Summit. Sewing Summit is an annual sewing-and-blogging conference attended by approximately 250 people. We gathered together to take sewing classes, learn about growing our blogs and businesses, network with others in the industry, make new friends, and ultimately have a lot of fun with people who speak our creative language. Veronica and I both took a lot away from Sewing Summit, including some really great friendships.

Veronica and Lindsay

Here are my Top 5 Favorite Things About Veronica:

1. She is one of the kindest, most caring souls you will ever meet. Veronica always has good things to say about everyone, is considerate, a good listener, and great for "talking shop" about blogging. 
2. Veronica LOVES her children. It's evident all over her blog, and I could hear it in the way she talks about them. I tell you, they are so lucky to have a mom like her. 
3. She can sew like a boss. Seriously. Have you seen the leather accent tote she made at Sewing Summit? It's beautiful! 
4. Veronica blogs because SHE LOVES TO SEW. This is one of the number one things I took away from a weekend with her. She doesn't blog because she wants to make a million bucks. She doesn't blog because it's the next big "thing." Veronica blogs because she loves to sew and she wants to share it with you. I think that's what makes her so trustworthy as a person who writes about sewing patterns and shares projects and tutorials. You can trust what she says, and find inspiration in what she sews. 
5. Veronica has beautiful hair! Yup. You ought to see it in person. She got a haircut while she was there (done by Melissa Esplin's sister, in one of the hotel rooms) and it pretty much shimmered the whole weekend. 

Carving stamps in Miriam's class 

From what Veronica shared with me, I can tell she really enjoyed her classes. She took the following ones, and I'm sure she would tell you more about them if you asked: 

• Designing fabric, by Pat Bravo
• Sewing with Leather
• Printing on Fabric with Miriam Tribe
• Personal Branding with Olivia Omega
• Working with Brands, by Bernina
• Making a Metal Frame Pouch (the one she sewed was amazing, by the way).
• Making a Leather Tote
• Building a Creative Business, by Alicia DeRigo

Veronica carving a stamp. 

Eight classes in one weekend--that's a lot of creative inspiration! Veronica shared with me later that the highlight of the weekend was meeting her online friends in person and making new friendships. 

Our roomies: Jen from iCandyHandmade, Lindsay, Veronica, and Caila 

I could tell that one of the other highlights for Veronica was visiting more of Salt Lake City with some of the other women who are just as addicted to fabric and sewing as she is. Shopping for fabric with sewing friends is really one of the highlights in life, don't you think? 

The only regret I have after Sewing Summit is that I didn't get more pictures of Veronica and I! To tell you the truth, we were too busy talking to stop and snap a shot (and I was too busy sneaking around getting candid shots of her carving stamps). 

Before I go, here are a couple more pictures of Veronica with her TRULY INCREDIBLE leather accent tote. I can't believe she actually made this in one class: 

Gorgeous, right? After the weekend we were pretty tired, but it was worth it. Veronica said, and I agree, that Sewing Summit is a trip she looks forward to all year long and it did not disappoint. After all the talking and late-night sewing, we all went home and did this: 

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this peak into Veronica's weekend at Sewing Summit. Have a great weekend!

Caila, you did a pretty terrific job of summing up my Sewing Summit experience!  It was great to finally meet you in person, too, and I hope to see you again soon to hang out and talk more.  I appreciate all the pictures you took of me at Sewing Summit, too!

Visit each of these blogs to read more Sewing Summit stories from some of your favorite sewing bloggers and to see who got the chance to stalk follow them around for a few days!

Running With Scissors

Sew Country Chick

Rae Gun Ramblings

iCandyHandmade

Caila Made

Sew A Straight Line

Melly Sews

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day - US & International

On the last Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day held back in May, I held a second contest so that international readers could enter a chance to win something from me as well.  It was such a success, I decided to do it again!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

This time, I am offering up this cute pattern from Izzy & Ivy for Gabby's Sleepover Jammies.  This is a brand new paper pattern and will be mailed to the winner next week after the contest is over.

Details on how to enter are shown below.  Please don't forget to follow the instructions for leaving a blog comment for a qualified entry!  This contest is open to both US and International residents.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you live in the US, then you can enter my second contest to win some quilting patterns, thread, and a collection of sewing/crafting magazines here.

I hope you'll stick around and browse my blog awhile.  If you love to sew for little girls, then you just might find a few patterns and projects you'll like. Pin a few while you're at it!

Here are a few recent projects I've blogged about:

Christmas Tree Tabletop Decoration

Country Cowgirl Christmas Dress

Lovely Rita's Slim Pants

Oliver + S Class Picnic Blouse & Pants

Thanks, and have a great week entering contests and surfing some blogs new to you!  Don't forget to become a follower, and I always welcome new Likes on Facebook for sewVery!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day - US Residents Only

It's time again for another Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Last time I participated, I thought the two contests I held were very successful.  I received some great comments as entries, and I discovered lots of blogs to follow for inspiration and ideas!  I think I even won a contest myself.  What fun!

Today, this contest is open to US Residents only and includes some of the swag I received from the Sewing Summit this past October.  I will pick two winners.

One winner will receive the following Ruby Star Wrappings book filled with great ideas to make the gift wrapping even more special than the gift itself, plus a a paper pattern from Indygo Junction for the Urban Prairie Dress.

The second winner will receive this package of quilting patterns, two spools of quilting thread, a copy of Generation Q magazine, Mollie Makes magazine, and Stitch-Craft-Create Magazine.

Details on how to enter are shown below.  Please be sure to follow the instructions and to leave a comment to qualify!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm running a second contest that is open to both US and International entries.  You can find it here.

I hope you'll stick around and browse my blog awhile.  If you love to sew for little girls, then you just might find a few patterns and projects you'll like. Pin a few while you're at it!

Here are a few recent projects I've blogged about:

Christmas Tree Tabletop Decoration

Country Cowgirl Christmas Dress

Lovely Rita's Slim Pants

Oliver + S Class Picnic Blouse & Pants

Thanks, and have a great week entering contests and surfing some blogs new to you!  Don't forget to become a follower, and I always welcome new Likes on Facebook for sewVery!

Sewing Summit Highlights - Part 2

Yesterday, I started my Sewing Summit recap with highlights of all the extremely talented sewers and bloggers that I met and some of the fun things that we got to do outside of the official Sewing Summit event.  Today I'll be sharing the No. 2 highlights of my Sewing Summit adventure:

Learning new sewing and pattern-making skills as well as a ton of information on web design and how to improve my blog.

Apparently, I was one of the very lucky ladies to get both the $50 registration discount for being one of the first 50 to register (actually, I was the 3rd person to register) and get all the classes I wanted to take!  I have to thank my husband for using his Ebay sniping skills to snag my discount and slot of 3rd person to register for the conference.  Because of that, I also won at the closing banquet a fat quarter bundle and an assortment of quilting patterns!

Anyway, I did manage to secure all my first choices for classes.  I'll try to give a quick run-down of each class and a thing or two I learned.

Friday, I started the day with the much desired metal frame pouch class taught by Kelly of KelbySews.  After switching back on a blown power breaker, our entire class was up and sewing away on the wonderful BabyLock sewing machines.  This was my first time using a computerized sewing machine, so it took me a few minutes to get the hang of it.

It was much easier to make the metal frame pouch than I had imagined it would be.  I barely finished gluing mine together before it was time to rush off to the next class, but I know I'll be making some more of these beauties in the future for sure!

Immediately following the metal frame pouch class, I attended the seminar on Creative Fabric Selection by Jeni of In Color Order.  Jeni gave a fun and informative lesson on the color wheel, how to pick complimentary shades to use together, and how to combine fabric patterns of varying sizes.

At the end of class, everyone was given a Michael Miller Cotton Couture fabric color booklet that included tons of fabric swatches.  So cool!

Source:   Sewing Summit
Here's everyone holding up their Michael Miller Color Couture cards

The afternoon sessions started after a delicious luncheon at the Little America Hotel.  We were served a variety of lettuce and pasta salads as well as soup and yummy desserts.  And of course, there was lots of business card swapping going on!

Vanessa from LBG Studio taught the very well attended class on photography. Although I only have a point and shoot camera, Vanessa was able to teach me a few things that I didn't know I could do with my camera.  I learned about aperture, the best lighting to use, ways to diffuse and reflect light, inexpensive prop ideas, and interesting ways to frame my subject matter.

It was fun to see her finished photos and then see what the entire space looked like where she took the photos.  Oftentimes, she uses her daughter's room to take pictures because that is where she can get really good natural light!

The last class I took on Friday was Pattern Making for Children's Wear with Carrie from This Mama Makes Stuff.  Let me just say that this woman has way more energy than I do!  And she is living a dream!  She not only has a degree in fashion design, but she also was a clothing designer for Old Navy at one time.  She now has four kids, runs marathons, sews, blogs, and has a business selling sparkly skirts (Team Sparkle) that women wear when they run!  Oh, and she has a talent for finding great items at the thrift shop, too.

Carrie's class covered some very basic concepts of how to create your own children's clothing pattern by using standard pattern pieces as a go-by and then modifying them to include pleats or gathers. She showed us how to draw up sleeve patterns for various sleeve styles, and she discussed the types of tools like paper, curves, and rulers needed to draft a pattern (for example, she likes to use a roll of white paper that doctor's offices use to cover examining tables).  I know I will definitely be referring to her tips on how to add pleats to a pattern!

Saturday began with Melissa's class on Website Design.  Here's a link to a condensed video version of her presentation.  Melissa gave tips on maximum header and photograph sizes you should use on your blog, how to best layout your content and sidebar sections, and suggestions on what fonts and colors to use and those to stay away from.  This class was one that I really wanted to take, and I'm so glad I did.  I learned I need to do a lot to improve the look and flow of my blog!  Now, it's just a question of whether or not I have the knowledge to do it myself or do I need to hire a professional.

Anna's class on Finishing Details was filled with examples of ways of taking your project to the next level.  She passed around examples of her own work showing various seam finishing techniques, and she discussed decorative details like piping, interesting pockets, pleats, buttons, contrasting thread, embroidery, and the list goes on and on.  I was most interested in the decorative details, and I've already started thinking of ways to add a little extra cuteness to my future projects. Although I see pictures of great projects every time I surf the web, having someone point out little details and talk about them helped me really "see" their significance to the final look of a piece.

After a delicious lunch, Tauni gave an excellent presentation on how to improve your blog.  If you are interested, you can read her tips here.  I'll admit, I had no idea who Tauni was before this session, but I'm definitely following her blog now!  She was such a fun, confident speaker with a wealth of information.  What I learned most from Tauni's class were a variety of tools, or tricks, on how to get readers to read more of my blog, how to get higher rankings in Google searches, better ways to promote my blog, and new ways to get statistical information about what readers are viewing on my blog.  I can't wait to start implementing these things!

The Perfect Pockets class with Deborah was so much fun!  This was my last class at Sewing Summit.  Deborah has a great personality and was so entertaining!  Besides the metal frame pouch class, this was the only other hands-on sewing class that I took.  Deborah gave everyone a very detailed handout loaded with instructions and pictures on how to make a variety of pockets.  She quickly reviewed the different styles and passed out examples for everyone to see before letting us sew up two pockets of our own.  The first pocket I sewed was an inset pocket and the second was a welt pocket.

Inset Pocket

As you can see below, my welt pocket didn't turn out quite right.  We ran out of time in the class, so I didn't get an opportunity to fix it and finish the actual pocket, but at least I know the steps for making it and can try again at home.

Welt Pocket

Sorry this post was so text heavy, but I just didn't take as many pictures as I should have.  I'll do a better job next year!

Come back tomorrow to read Part 3 of my Sewing Summit journey:  

Networking with corporate sponsors and participating in open discussions with them on how they can better serve our online community.

Sewing Summit Highlights - Part 1

Sewing Summit is now over, and I'm already looking forward to going back next year!  This was by far the best conference of any kind that I have ever attended!  Thanks so much to Erin and all the Sewing Summit staff for making this event possible.

There is so much I want to share with you, but it's way to much to put into just one post.  So, I'm going to share my experience with you in several posts over the next few days!

Here is the No. 1 highlight of my Sewing Summit experience:

Meeting so many talented sewers and bloggers face to face and making new friends.

As soon as I arrived at the Little America Hotel, I checked in and unloaded my luggage in the room.  There, I met one of my roommates, Rachael, from Imagine Gnats.  Rachael and I have been friends since early this year, and this was our first time to meet face to face!

Rachael and I then joined the Thrift Shop Hop group and headed out to tour a little bit of Salt Lake City.  Melissa graciously chauffeured me and several other ladies to Bruges Waffles & Frites where we devoured the most delicious waffle I have ever eaten!

She then drove us to a DI (Deseret Industries) thrift shop, which reminds me a lot of the Goodwill stores in my area, but DI was much, much cleaner and more organized!  I found lots of great books for my kids and even a pair of tap shoes for Ella.

Then we were off to an antique store (sorry, I didn't catch the name) and Decades Vintage Clothing store where the store owner made us stop taking pictures of everyone dressing up in silly sunglasses!  Party pooper!  Here's a picture I was able to sneak in before we got caught!

Maria, Me, Katie (she made her entire outfit--how awesome is that?!), and Heather

Lisa and Heather

Decades shop owner asking me to stop taking pictures, Melissa, Lisa, and Heather

And we couldn't pass us the opportunity to head out to a fabric shop, so we stopped by Yellow Bird Fabrics for a few minutes before heading back to the hotel for the mixer.

At the mixer, Rachael and I both wore our Washi dresses.  Sorry, I don't have a picture of us together, but we both received tons of compliments.  Here I met Jessica from Me Sew Crazy and Andrea from The Train to Crazy! We then headed out with a group to eat brick oven pizza before returning to the hotel where I joined in on Rachael's embroidery class in the hotel lobby. Rachael thoughtfully provided hoops, thread, needles, and all the materials needed for anyone wanting to learn a few hand embroidery stitches.  I tried my best, but honestly, I was totally exhausted!  After hanging out and making a few stitches, I decided to call it a night!

Later that night, our other two roommates arrived--Lindsay from Lindsay Sews and Sara from Sew Sweetness.  We all hit it off right away and stayed up even longer chatting and getting to know one another better.  Friday morning, we all got up early to attend our first Sewing Summit classes!

Every where we went all weekend long, people were meeting new people and exchanging business cards.  I now have a stack of cards to go through and new blogs to visit!  I am slowly but surely visiting each site and amazed by all the wonderful projects and talent that I have been missing!

Oh, and I have to tell you about the Ladies' Night Out Dinner I attended sponsored by Joann's Fabrics and Craft Stores, Pellon, Coat's and Clark, and others.  This was an a-ma-zing event organized by Jessica of Me Sew Crazy that brought together 20 sewers and bloggers for an evening of fun, food, and gifts.  I can't believe I got to meet and talk for hours with some of the women whose blogs and sewing projects inspired me to start sewing and blogging!

Rachael and Me

Me and Shauna

Heather

Andrea and Marissa

Jessica

Lindsay, Me, Rachael, and Sara

The attendees of the Ladies' Night Out Dinner were, in no particular order:

Michele and Lynn from Coat's and Clark, Shauna from Shwin and Shwin, Elizabeth and Liz from Simple Simon and Co., Rachael from Imagine Gnats, Sara from Sew Sweetness, Lindsay from Lindsay Sews, Heather from The Sewing Loft, Jessica from Me Sew Crazy, Andrea from The Train to Crazy, Sabra from Sew a Straight Line, Sumo from Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sachiko from Tea Rose Home, Heidi from Honeybear Lane, Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings, Heather from Feather's Flights, and me, Veronica.

Check back all this week for more highlights from my Sewing Summit experience!

• Learning new sewing and pattern-making skills as well as a ton of information on web design and how to improve my blog.
• Networking with corporate sponsors and participating in open discussions with them on how they can better serve our online community.
• Talking to Joel Dewberry and showing him some of the things I have made with his Heirloom collection of fabrics.
• Swag, swag, and more swag!