The Status Thimble Newsletter of the Fort Lauderdale, FL Chapter Volume 32, Issue 4 Serving Broward, Martin, Palm Beach and St. Lucie Counties September, October 2016 Visit us at asgfl.org IN THIS ISSUE: Why We Sew Everything But Clothes Thoughts from Faye ................. 1 One of our favorite things at our neighborhood group meetings is “show and tell” Advisory Board (CAB) .............. 2 where we get to see all the wonderful creative projects made by our fellow sewers. Now just sit back and think about it. How often does anyone stand up and say “I Advertiser List .......................... 2 made my dress, jacket, shirt, top or pants”? Instead we proudly show off our bags, quilts, items for the home or presents for our grandchildren. Take a peek at the list of National Sewing Month ............ 3 programs for our neighborhood group meetings in this newsletter. Garment con- Neighborhood Group News .. 4-7 struction has taken a back seat to all other sewing projects. The reason we avoid making our clothes is that the patterns no longer fit our bodies, if they ever did. Im- News from National ................. 8 agine how different our sewing would be if we had a well fitted pattern for all of the garments. Fabric Design Contest ............. 8 Neighborhood Programs ... 10-11 This is my adventure of a shirt. I decided to sign up for a shirt making class as I really like the instructor. Prior to the class it was imperative to alter the pattern as several Retailer News......................... 12 years ago I took a similar class and was disappointed in the result. My sewing was perfect, but the fit was horrible. When it comes to alterations, I am not sure which I Call for Nominations .............. 15 hate more . the alteration process or going to the dentist. The next step was to re- Membership Page .................. 16 search alterations in my books and You Tube, the best invention since sliced bread. I purchased the pattern and I am ready to make a muslin. Being a procrastinator all my Taunton Magazine Discount .. 17 life I find ways to stall. I decided to do a machine embroidery design on a new bag for my iPad. That killed an hour. What I really want to do now is go watch General Group Locations Map ............ 17 Hospital which is recording away. First, I have to cut out the muslin, and then I can Retailer Discounts .................. 18 watch the show. Phew…the muslin is cut out and now I can see the show. What’s Out There? ................. 19 A week passes and I must sew and fit the muslin as the class is now one week away. Length and width adjustments are no problem. I pin out some of the shoulder ad- Annual Meeting Registration .. 20 justments and the muslin is looking better. I pinched out the front armscye excess Marsha McClintock Classes .. 21 and transferred it to a side dart. As it was an inch and a half, I removed that from the sleeve cap. There were so many changes that I made a second muslin. The fit was Advertising Rates ................... 22 horrible! Now class is three days away and the pattern is a mess. Not having traced off a copy of the pattern, I jumped in the car and went to the store to buy a new pat- tern. While there, the store owner suggested a couple of ways to do the necessary 2016-17 Coming Events alterations. Basically, I ended up just adjusting for a narrower upper chest and back, shoulder slope and high round neck. Forget the bust dart. At 10:00 the night before November 4 Marsha McClintock Classes the class, I cut out the pattern. November 5 Chapter Annual Meeting with Off to class I go. The class was great and a lot of fun. The shirt fits better than those Marsha McClintock that I have purchased and will require a little more tweaking before my next one. I Registration forms on am forty percent done with my five fitting pieces as I now have the Perfect Tee Shirt pages 20 and 21. Also and the Kwik Sew shirt. on www.asgfl.org. Donna’s Dispatch will return in the next issue. She has been very busy moving her March, 2017 90-year-old mother from her apartment in Daytona to a new apartment in a lovely Nancy Nix-Rice Event assisted living facility close to Donna. Details will be announced. Faye 1 Thank You Advertisers! 2016 Chapter Advisory Board See their ads on the following pages: President Azar's ............................... 2 Donna Darracott…....954-254-2114 [email protected] Cynthia’s Fine Fabrics ...... 14 Vice President Faye Ariel……….….954-472-0472 Laura’s Sew & Vac ........... 9 [email protected] Quilt a bit .......................... 8 Secretary Karen Tucker …….. 954-532-5782 Sew Much Fun .................. 14 [email protected] Sew with Ellie ................... 14 Treasurer Karen Davis ……... 954-654-2119 [email protected] SewKeysE ........................ 16 StitchCraft ........................ 16 Media Linda Lawton …….. 954-917-0605 Stuart Sew & Vac ............. 2 [email protected] The Factory ...................... 13 Membership Ann Reardon……… 561-558-9513 [email protected] Newsletter Judy Rand…………. 954-426-2773 [email protected] Retail Liaison—Broward County Kate Alexander……. 954-475-2671 [email protected] Retail Liaison—PB County Belinda Adkins …….484-686-8456 [email protected] Special Events Co-Chair Kay Hurley…………954-428-5553 [email protected] Special Events Co-Chair Bobby Spiegel…….. 561-451-3448 [email protected] ASG Headquarters Contact Jennifer Kelly…713-729-3000 x 110 [email protected] 2 National Sewing Month September is National Sewing Month. Special programs have been planned for neighborhood groups to encourage interest in our guild. Chapter members are encouraged to attend other Neighborhood Group meetings and partici- pate in the charity sews. All of our groups are putting forth extra effort to provide a “special day” in September. Listed below are the dates, places, and times for free meetings open to the public. For more information on National Sew- ing Month go to: http://www.nationalsewingmonth.org/. Date Time Group Location Project September 10 * 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Boca Raton Day, Center for Life Learning Cancer Caps for Boca Night and Boca Raton Regional Hosp. Lynn Cancer Center Boynton Beach 800 Meadows Road, Boca JoAnn’s, Classroom September 18 12 Noon to 3:00 PM Stuart 3563 NW Federal Hwy, Community Service Jensen Beach Sewing Project Boca Day, Glades Branch Library September 24 * 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM Boca Night and 20701 95th Ave. South Children’s Sewing Boynton Beach Boca Raton Project—Pajama Pants NW Regional Library September 28 Adults and Children Coral Springs 3151 University Drive Halloween Treat Bags 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM Coral Springs Laura’s Sew & Vac September 28 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM North Palm 3964 Northlake Blvd. Community Sit and Sew Beach Palm Beach Gardens Boca Day, Glades Branch Library October 13 1:00 PM Setup Boca Night and 20701 95th Ave. South Adult Sewing Program 2:00 to 4:00 PM Boynton Beach Boca Raton * If you can help with the Boca projects, please call Aliece Bristol at 561-870-6590. You can bring your own machine and sewing kits. Power supply will be available. Aliece can bring six machines if you can’t bring one. If you can’t make the events but want to participate, the wheelchair bags, IV bags and cancer cap instructions can be found at www.asgfl.org under Community Service. 3 Neighborhood Group News Port St. Lucie For our May meeting, Belinda demonstrated the Candy Wrapper Pouch/Bag. We had a nice turnout for our meeting. Our June meeting was charity sewing, making pillowcases for Hibiscus Children’s Center, a shelter for children in our area. Seven of us showed up and sewed 16 pillowcases. I am sure the children will love them! In July we had a lunch at Olive Garden—good food and good conversation! In September we will move our meeting day to the third Saturday of the month. The time will be the same, 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Belinda Adkins . North Palm Beach Our June meeting was tee shirt makeover day, Jane showed various ways to redo a tee and members brought theirs to share with the group. For our July meeting Marsha from Checker Distributers showed us notions, patterns and techniques. Jane Cappo 4 Neighborhood Group News Boca Raton Daytime At our May meeting, we were entertained by Our June meeting was a charity workshop. We made walk- Lani and Chris who described their recent er bags for seniors and chemo IV covers for St. Mary’s trip to Japan. Cherry blossoms, shopping, Pediatric Hemotology Department. Upholstery fabrics touring, made for a memorable trip. were used for strong, colorful walker bags. Colorful fab- rics with youthful designs were perfect for the IV covers. ASG Palm Beach Embroidery In June, Sharon did a program on puffy foam to make your projects “stand out.” To encourage our members to wear a nametag, Jane showed how to make them. She encouraged them to make their nametag show something about them- selves. Jane Cappo 5 Neighborhood Group News Coral Springs Marietta’s button box won for the most unusual use of buttons. At our May meeting Karen T. demonstrated how to make pyramid bags. We all tried our hand and the variety of bags made from the same pattern was amazing. June was our button challenge. Prizes were given to projects using the most buttons, most unusual use of buttons and most useful project. Chapter Program A special chapter program was held in May in Deerfield Beach.