Sewing Lessons

Over at The Blue Gardenia, I'm really enjoying the privilege of watching someone who clearly loves sewing and good clothes learn to sew for the first time. Her notes from a McCall's Sewing Book circa 1951 are timeless, excellent places to start when trying to figure out where to put the emphasis when sewing. I tell my students, as math-less as it sounds, that sewing is 90% cutting and 60% pressing, so it's basically negative-50% stitching. I like that Blue Gardenia is learning the vast import of one's iron. Took me years, seriously.

I love using my Rowenta that I got from an estate sale around the corner--my students have a joke that all my equipment comes from dead people, but that's a story for another time. I hope Gardenia finds a great iron she loves! And we could all benefit from advice in Angry Chicken's book, Bend the Rules Sewing: she puts her ironing board at the same level as her sewing table, and right next to it. So all she has to do is stitch, rotate in her chair to iron, rotate back to stitch. Pretty ingenious, and I NEVER would've thought of it! But then, if I did that, too, I'd never get OUT of the chair all day, and I've been counting those steps on my imaginary pedometer...

Happy sewing, all! New gift product photos are in the works, and should be up in the shop soon. And we'll have things launching on the new and hugely re-imagined Beehive web store after Aug 11th!