DC Threads

DC Threads celebrates its first birthday this month!!  Woo hoo!!!  What an incredible year it has been!  We want to thank you all for your incredible support of the Sewing Lounge and the other DC Threads activities that have been wildly successful this year!!  We’ve had an incredibly fun and satisfying year!  Thank you for sharing your collective talent and enthusiasm with us!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Please join us as we celebrate our one year anniversary with the First Annual DC Threads Quilting Bee at the October DC Threads Sewing Lounge – Saturday October 10 from 1-4 at the North Michigan Park Recreation Center (details about the Lounge can be found here).  Come and share in this sewing tradition – stitch a 9 square, design a crazy quilt square, make a quilted pillow,  piece 4 blocks together and make a table runner, stitch a block to your jeans for a extra pocket, make a quilted booklet – -  the possibilities are endless!

Check out some of the squares that were designed and stitched at the Art-o-matic Quilt-o-matic this summer!

You are welcome to bring your own fabric for quilting if you have a specific design/color scheme in mind – but remember that we have a HUGE stash of terrific fabric generously donated by area sewists that we would love you to dive into to design and construct some awesome quilts squares!!

As always, you can bring your own sewing project or browse our library of patterns for other ideas. We’ll also have tutorials for first-time and beginning sewers and plenty of opportunities for you meet others who love to sew.  Check out our pattern library here….

See you on Saturday!

Laura and Allison

UPDATE: Due to a fabulously positive response, we have filled our registration slots for the upcoming October sewing lounge.  If you have not already registered, we hope you will join us for the next lounge in November. You can reserve your slot using our new registration page here. Thanks so much for your interest!    REMINDER—if you are a member of the American Sewing Guild or would like to volunteer at the Lounge your registration request will be automatically honored.

The Corcoran Gallery of Art continues its offerings of amazing fashion and design lectures with an upcoming appearance by CHRISTIAN SIRIANO – Season 5 Project Runway winner and Annapolis Maryland resident!  The Corcoran events never disappoint so I hope we will see you all there! 

November 3, 2009 at 7pm

Named “America’s next great fashion designer” by Tim Gunn, design prodigy Christian Siriano made headlines as the youngest designer to ever win Bravo’s hit television show, Project Runway. Since the show, Siriano has taken the fashion industry by storm, showing his collections at Fashion Week in New York City and designing lines for Puma, Payless, and Victoria’s Secret Beauty. In his first book, Fierce Style: How to be Your Most Fabulous Self, Siriano discusses how to be “fierce” in fashion and in everyday life, giving tips on developing personal style and building self-confidence. Join us as Christian Siriano takes the Corcoran’s stage to discuss his personal journey and the inspiration behind his celebrated designs. A book sale and signing will follow the talk.

Members: $15.00    Public: $20.00

Here is a link to Corcoran site!  The tickets will surely go quickly so grab your pair soon (you have to take at least one friend)!!

UPDATE: Due to a fabulously positive response, we have filled our registration slots for the upcoming sewing lounge this Saturday, September 12th.  If you have not already registered, we hope you will join us for the next lounge in October. You can reserve your slot using our new registration page here. Thanks so much for your interest!    REMINDER—if you are a member of the American Sewing Guild or would like to volunteer at the Lounge your registration request will be automatically honored.

Join us this Saturday, September 12 from 1-4 at North Michigan Park Recreation Center, for the DC Threads Sewing Lounge!  We will welcome the glorious Fall with a fabulous back-to-school/campus project – a hand-designed and crafted laptop sleeve – thanks to Ars Technica!

Here’s what you need:

• 1/2 yard (or so) of outer sleeve fabric
• 1/2  yard of lining fabric
• Thread (preferably in a matching or complementary color, but it can be any color you want)
• Your laptop measurements

Optional:

• Sew-on or glue/iron-on velcro, or a button

As always, you can bring your own project or browse our library of patterns for other ideas. We’ll also have tutorials for first-time and beginning sewers and plenty of opportunities for you meet others who love to sew.  Check out our pattern library here….

And, in response to your requests for tutorials about sewing techniques (see, we really do read and value the evaluations you graciously complete!), we will offer a 20-30 minute tutorial about how to read a sewing pattern.  The tutorial will start promptly at 1:15 – leaving you loads of time for sewing!

Hope to see you there!

Laura and Allison

Here’s the Washington Post article by Holly Thomas about the Sewing Lounge!!!!

Thanks to all of our amazing sewists and sewing coaches for making the Lounge an incredible success!!!

Join us in September!!!!

UPDATE: Due to a fabulously positive response, we have filled our RSVP slots for the upcoming sewing lounge this Saturday, August 8. If you have not already RSVPed, we hope you will join us for the next lounge in September. You can reserve your slot using our new registration page here. Thanks so much for your interest!

Join us on Saturday, August 8 from 1-4pm at the North Michigan Park Recreation Center for the next session of the DC Threads Sewing Lounge. This month, we’re featuring a couple of fun projects that can be made for kids (or with kids) to keep them busy on a summer afternoon: these Martha Stewart-inspired Bandana Pants and this 11” fleece teddy bear, nicknamed “Fat Buttons” by one eight year-old seamstress. More details on the materials needed for each can be found in the patterns section of our website.

11" Stuffed Bear, courtesy Eldrbarry.net

Bandana Pants, courtesy BlueYonder

As always, you can bring your own project or browse our library of patterns for other ideas. We’ll also have tutorials for first-time and beginning sewers and plenty of opportunities for you meet others who love to sew.

If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to RSVP below.  This helps us get a headcount so we can plan accordingly. And of course if you’d like to volunteer as an assistant for beginning sewers, please let us know.

Hope to see you there!

Laura and Allison

Just when we were starting to worry about our supplies running low, DC Threads member Joan (author of the blog, WannaSew) jumped to the rescue! Joan helped us secure a  donation from Walmart in Bowie, MD of a variety of much-needed materials, including more scissors, spools of thread, bobbins, and bolts of fabric. We are SEW thankful for Walmart’s generosity and Joan’s selfless assistance in getting this donation! You can check out the goods at our next lounge session on Saturday, August 8.

If you have fabric, notions, a sewing machine, or any other materials you don’t want in your closet or garage any more, consider donating them to DC Threads. We can now provide a tax receipt for any donations thanks to our relationship with the American Sewing Guild.

And of course, if you ever want to donate your time by volunteering at one of the DC Threads lounge sessions, we’ll take that too! High school students who need community service hours are also welcome, and we’ll provide all the training needed. Just let us know if you’d like to learn more about our volunteering program.

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Celebrate your creative liberties at the next session of the DC Threads Sewing Lounge! We invite you to join us on Saturday, July 11 from 1-4pm at the North Michigan Park Recreation Center for another great afternoon of creative sewing!

In response to your terrific feedback about the types of projects you’d like us to have available we have a great line-up of projects from which to choose!  We have two fashion garment projects this month:  a breezy summer blouse and a tie.  And our eco-friendly project is a reusable shopping bag (designed with a self-storing pocket).

The “Easy Breezy Summer Blouse” was a hit at previous lounges and is a perfect garment for these hot summer months – and sooooo easy ! The “Tie One On” tie is a terrific way to express your fashion point of view with only a yard of fabric!!!  And finally, in our effort to keep DC green and to rid our city of plastic bags, we offer our favorite reusable shopping bag.

We’ll supply the patterns, the machines, and all the notions you’ll need for your afternoon of creating – all we ask is that you bring the fabric!  Just click on the projects for information about the type and amount of fabric required  (we do have a modest “fabric stash” available just in case!).

As always, you can bring your own project or browse our library of patterns for other ideas. We’ll also have tutorials for first-time and beginning sewists and plenty of fantastic people to share your threaded thoughts with.

If you haven’t done so already, RSVP below and let us know if you’ll be joining us. This helps us get a headcount so we can plan accordingly.   And of course if you’d like to volunteer as an assistant for beginning sewists, please let us know.

Looking forward to seeing you on the 11th!!

Laura and Allison

DC Threads set up shop again at Artomatic for another night of quiltomatic magic!  Many thanks to Shirley and Charlene from the North Michigan Park Wee Bee Quilters, Jules from Columbia (the country not the city), and all the others who stopped by and helped make  the night such a success!  And many many thanks to Rebecca and Lauren for being such gracious hostesses and for giving DC Threads a seat on the Stitch n Bitch couch!!  The quilt becomes more beautiful and soulful each day!!!

Enjoy the pics!