Show and Tell
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011
The Holiday Sew Fun Open Houses were recently completed at all of our stores. What a wonderful fun-filled three weeks! While not able to attend each open house, I loved the ones I attended. I heard great reports from the Sew Fun Consultants that were at other Open Houses.
Do you know we have the most talented customers? It’s true, and your show and tells prove it. One after another, the items you brought to share with others showed creativity, talent and expressed lots of love. I’d have loved to hide everyone of the items in my purse to take home to enjoy over and over, but somehow I think you would have noticed they were missing!
I hope you had as much fun as I did at our Open Houses. They were a great start to the Holiday Season. Happy New Year to you all!
Lauri K.
Education Manager
To view the full Sew Fun Open House Photo Albums, please visit the Quality Sewing & Vacuum Facebook page and Click on the Photos tab.
Tags: customer appreciation, inspiration, project ideas, sew fun, sew fun open house, show and tell
Posted in Events, Show and Tell | 2 Comments »
Friday, December 17th, 2010
We recently posted a blog about stitchable teddy bears…stuffed bears that are specially designed to be embroidered on. These teddies have been a hot selling item this holiday season. Gayle, a reader of our blog shared with us her success story with these bears and included pictures of the bears that she stitched for the children in her family.
“I recently purchased 9 of these teddy bears to do for all the kids in the family for Christmas. I wanted to use the 5×7 hoop and make larger pictures plus personalize adding each child’s name. So I did this by removing the stuffing in the head also. Then I hooped everything; stabilizer, bear and topping. They were difficult to get hooped but with patience it can be done and they turned out adorable. I’m anxious now to see the kids open them. Each had a theme – one child played football for the first time this year so his had a football player on it with his team colors, others were soccer players, the two girls are in high school so I put cheerleaders on theirs in their school colors. Great gift ideas!”- Gayle
These bears turned out great, thank you for sharing these pictures with us Gayle! I am sure the kids in her family will be delighted to receive these bears. I love that each teddy has been customized to fit each child’s particular interest. I would have loved to receive a bear with my name on it when I was a little girl!
Do you have any inspirational show and tells you would like to share with our readers? Email us your comments and pictures info@shopqualitysewing.com.
Happy Sewing,
Annalee
Tags: inspiration, machine embroidery, project ideas, show and tell, Stitch-A-Bear, stitchable teddy bear
Posted in Fast Projects & Gifts, Machine Embroidery, Show and Tell | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
Roselyn with the kids holding their finished projects.
Six years ago, I was asked if I would like to teach kids to sew. Since I was a retired Home Ec and Elementary school teacher it was a dream of mine for several years. The Kids Summer Sewing Camp was launched and has become a summer tradition at the Bellingham and Mount Vernon store locations. This camp is designed to introduce kids ages nine and up to the joy and fun of sewing. I have now added intermediate and advanced classes to the original beginning class. This summer’s camp was a great success, ten girls ages 9-15 completed four projects. While completing these projects they learned how to operate their new Natalie Baby Lock Sewing Machines, cut out a pattern, read a pattern, make french seams, how fabric is made, what grain lines are, the purpose of finishing raw edges, using a variety of built in stitches, and many other sewing skills.
A student working on her project.
They all said how much fun they had! It really kept me hopping to help each one. One young girl asked me how old I am and I said 75 years old, to which her Mother exclaimed “No way”. The more you enjoy what you are doing, the younger you feel! Plans are already being discussed for next years camp. NOTE: Thank you Moms, Dads, Grandmas and all who let me teach your girls this year. I look forward to these camps every year and the fun and joy of working with these kids. Check out all of the fun classes that Quality Sewing has to offer here.
Enjoy, Roselyn
Tags: baby lock natalie sewing machine, kids sewing, Sewing, sewing class
Posted in Events, Resources, Sewing, Show and Tell | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
The Finished Dress
The Big Day!
I have always loved to sew, and always dreamed of making my daughters wedding dresses…the more ornate the better! When my first two daughters got married, one wanted just a little embroidery and beading, and the second wanted her dress very plain and simple. I made what they wanted, but still wanted to make a challenging dress!
I was so excited when my stepdaughter emailed me a picture of a very ornate, beautiful wedding dress, and asked if I would be able to make it for her. With the help of a friend who is very accomplished at pattern drafting and used to work in a bridal salon, we were able to make this beautiful gown.
I made a trip to Portland to buy the lace for the bottom, and was able to save a substantial amount on the lace… (It was still difficult to cut into at over 50.00 a yard!). I used embroidery designs from My Fair Lady, the Claire bridal collection, to embroider the bodice of the dress. I must admit there were more hours in the dress planning in my head, and some heart palpitations as we cut parts of the dress using NO pattern…
This truly was a joy and a labor of love! She loved the dress, and I don’t think I am too biased, but she was a beautiful bride!
Did you make any wedding dresses this summer? We would love to see them and add them to this post. Email
carmen@qualitysewing.com if you have one you would like to share!
Happy Bride!
Sandi
Tags: embroidery, garment construction, Sewing, wedding dress
Posted in Machine Embroidery, Projects and Techniques, Sewing, Show and Tell | 10 Comments »
Friday, June 25th, 2010
This is the 25th year of business for Quality Sewing & Vacuum Centers. To commemorate our anniversary we had Quality Sewing & Vacuum sweatshirts made. We love the creative embroidery and embellishing we have seen on them. If you have embellished your Quality Sewing Sweatshirt and would like to share, email a photo of it to carmen@qualitysewing.com and I will post it our blog. Show and tell is so fun, we love it when you share!
Happy Sewing, Carmen
Sweatshirt Jacket by Anne from Issaquah
Quilted Sweatshirt by Mary from Everett
Quilted Sweatshirt Back by Mary from Everett
Embroidered Sweatshirt Front by Jenny in Issaquah
Embroidered Sweatshirt Back by Jenny in Issaquah
Update: 8/1/2010
Customer Midge made her twin Grandaughters adorable sweatshirts and I had to share the photos! Aren’t they cute?
Tags: embellishment, Sewing, show and tell, sweatshirts
Posted in Show and Tell | 1 Comment »
