Sewing Summit 2013

Alright friends.  I have SO much to say about Sewing Summit.  This is the edited version.  Even coming home exhausted with a cold and a punctured finger, I la-la-la-loved it.  What everyone says is true!

Since this was my first year, I wanted to do EVERYTHING.  My cousin and I showed up late on Wednesday night so we could go to the shop hop on Thursday morning.  The shop hop was great to meet people.  It’s so easy to strike up a conversation with “Oooh that’s cute” or “Where did you find that?”  It was so nice to hang out with a bunch of women who had the same interests in quilting and sewing and also new the exact names of all the latest fabric lines.

Honestly, I have to say that when I got my class schedule I was slightly disappointed.  Everyone was posting about how happy they were that they got all their first choices, and I didn’t get all of my first choices.  I only had 3 hands on classes.  Well that just goes to show how wrong I was, and how much appreciation I should be showing to the Sewing Summit organizers.  I absolutely LOVED the classes I wasn’t excited about. 

My first class was Creative Journey with Susan Petersen of Freshly Picked.  The Creative Journey series of classes have a teacher who talks about how they got to where they are today.  I didn’t know who she was, and wasn’t sure what to expect.  I was completely blown away by her lecture.  She was hilarious, humble, and completely upfront about the difficulties while still maintaining a positive attitude and a sense of professionalism.  She talked about how she promoted her business on instagram, and had so many good tidbits of information.  I wasn’t even interested in starting a business but I was so inspired by her lecture that I went up after class and told her and took a photo with her.  She also delivered the quote of the weekend when someone asked how she balances life with work.  “Balance is bullsh*t, it lives where unicorns live.”

Another favorite class was with Sunni Standing of AFashionable Stitch.  Sunni was so nice that she didn’t even skip a beat with a crazy person (me) telling her that she was the reason why I signed up for Sewing Summit.  Her class on fitting did not disappoint and I feel like I learned a lot that I could take back home from her class.

Surprisingly, the classes I liked the least were the hands on classes.  I think I finally have to admit that I am not a beginning sewist.  The classes sounded were fun, but they were all things I could have done at home without help.  The ones I had were basically here’s the pattern, let me know if you need help.  I can see this would be extremely helpful for beginners, but it wasn’t necessary for me.  Next time I sign up for classes I need to consider if the class is teaching any new techniques I haven’t learned yet.  Looking back at the class list now (and seeing what other people made) I would have made a different priority list.

Having said all that about the classes, the best part about Sewing Summit was being involved with a community of like-minded sewists.  I’m an introvert, but I wouldn’t classify myself as shy.  I had no problem going to up someone and telling them their bag was AMAZING and everyone was so nice about having a nosy sewist butt into their conversation.  I am horrible at keeping in contact with people, but hopefully with a re-inspired attitude and instagram I will be able to keep in contact with all the amazing people I met.  After all, they are my sewing family now :)