SAGA Design Show Registration Closes Soon!

Are you planning on entering the SAGA Design Show at the Convention in Winston-Salem? Then don't forget to mail in your Entry Form to be received no later than July 30, 2018!

Your entry does not have to be completed by this time, but you do need to have it registered.

The entry form and more information can be found in the Convention Brochure in SAGANews Volume 39 Issue 1 and on the SAGA website www.smocking.org.

You can contact the Design Show Chair, Lori Barton, with any questions designshow@smocking.org

Design Show consists of original work by professional and non-professional members. All items must have been made since the last Design Show in 2016. Design Show entries must be pre-registered and catalogued for judging. A panel of three judges will evaluate each piece according to the Judging Guidelines set forth by the Design Show Committee. Ribbons and Artisan Points are awarded to deserving workmanship. 

Design Show Rules 

~ Please consult the Design Show Handbook for a full description of all requirements for Design Show.

~ Entrant must be a current SAGA member.

~ Each entry must be an original design solely developed and implemented by the Entrant, without assistance, from conception through completion.

~ The use of the basic garment patterns is permitted. Credit for the pattern should be noted on the Registration Form. Originality of design must come from the Entrant, not the pattern.

~ Item must be presented clean and pressed. Soiled items will not be judged.

~ Previously entered items and group projects are ineligible.

~ SIGNED Registration Form must be postmarked not later than July 30, 2018.

~ Mail Registration Form(s) and NON-REFUNDABLE Registration Fees ($20.00 per first item, $10.00 each additional item)

Need and Ecxcuse to Visit the Victoria & Albert Museum?

The Victoria & Albert Museum has picked Christian Dior for its next major fashion exhibition, opening in February 2019.

The London museum plans to adapt “Christian Dior: Couturier of Dreams,” the popular show that opened last year at Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs, for a U.K. audience. The exhibition will be the largest Dior exhibition held in the country and the V&A’s biggest fashion exhibition since “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.”

The show will trace the history of the house and the impact of Christian Dior, and the six artistic directors who succeeded him. A new section will be added that explores Christian Dior’s relationship with Britain, from his fascination with English gardens, Savile Row and British ocean liners, to his circle of London-based clients, including Nancy Mitford and Margot Fonteyn.

The show will also aim to breathe new life into some of the couturier’s most memorable British shows from the first one held at the Savoy Hotel to the presentation at Blenheim Palace in 1954.

A Dior dress worn by Princess Margaret for her 21st birthday celebrations — on loan from the Museum of London — will also be on display, alongside Bar Suits from the V&A’s archive and more than 200 couture garments.

Oriole Cullen, fashion and textiles curator at the V&A, added that the new show will aim to celebrate the ongoing cultural and historical relevance of the work of both Christian Dior and his successors.

“In 1947, Christian Dior changed the face of fashion with his ‘New Look,’ which reinvigorated the post-war Parisian fashion industry. The V&A recognized Dior’s important contribution to design history early on in his career, acquiring his sketches and garments from the Fifties onward. More than 70 years after its founding, the exhibition will celebrate the enduring influence of the House of Dior.”

The exhibition will run until July 2019

Don't forget your Wee Care and Trees for Troops Ornaments

Don't forget to bring some Wee Care items and ornaments for the Trees for Troops to the SAGA National Convention in Winston-Salem.

You can find ideas for both is back issues of SAGANews as well as on the SAGA website , Facebook pages and this blog.
                                          


All donations qualify for a special raffle ticket that can be placed in the box to win the Wee Care basket.

Wee Care items will be donated to local hospital NICU's.

Who taught you needlework skills and when did you first start learning?

Some of the teachers who will be teaching at the SAGA Convention in Winston-Salem answer that question.

Judith Adams teaching at a SAGA event.

Judith Adams:

I have some pieces of petit point that I worked when I was 10 or 12 but can’t really remember much about them.When I lived on an Australian Air Force Base (my husband was the Senior Dental Officer at the time ) we had a USAF exchange officer and his family living there and I was taught by the officer’s wife. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time (1984) and loved smocking and bought a pleater immediately. 

Kathy Awender, left, helps a student at a SAGA event.

Kathy Awender:

My mother, aunt , grandmother all taught me different things. My mother always sewed for all five of her daughters, and I was very excited when she finally taught me how to use the sewing machine just before seventh grade. That is when I started making my own clothes. My grandmother taught me to embroider and an aunt taught me to knit and crochet.

Jeannie Baumeister (right) with Susie Gay

Jeannie Baumeister:

My Mother taught me to sew using her Featherweight Sewing Machine (it is now my Featherweight Sewing Machine) and my favorite color is always Blue!

Tess Ellenwood on the right

Tess Ellenwood:

 As a child, I was surrounded by grandmothers, aunts, and a mom who could sew, knit, crochet, and tat.  Even my dad was accomplished at picking up dropped knitting stitches.  My earliest sewing memory is from when I was little more than two.  My mom had cut the feet from my pajamas because they had gotten too short. I got up in the night, found a needle in the sewing box (it must have been already threaded), and attempted to sew the feet back on.  I’ve been stitching ever since.  

Cindy Foose:When I was about five-years-old, my Aunt Carrye decided it was time for me to learn to do simple embroidery. She believed that every home should have embroidered cup towels and/or fingertip towels. Her long suit was lazy daisy flowers, French knots, and stem/outline stitches all of which graced many items in her home. Guided by her early, gentle instructions I found a lifelong passion. My construction skills have evolved over the last sixty years by applying what I describe as “The Three Ps” – patience, practice, and perseverance. Successes coupled with failures have bred an ongoing determination to improve and hone all my needlework/sewing skills. This quest keeps me awake at night!

Susan O'Conner, centre, teaching at a SAGA event 

Susan O’Conner:

My mother taught me basic embroidery stitches when I was a child. As I really enjoyed embroidery I then learned other stitches and techniques from books and classes.

Vanue Pierce, centre, teaching at a SAGA event.

Vaune Pierce:

For VERY basic embroidery – self-taught with Simplicity embroidery transfers onto a chambray shirt (this was in the 70's).
'Heirloom Embroidery' - the first class I took was Bullions from Julia Golson and made lots of nice grubby worms.  The embroideresses in Madeira on the two times I visited, along with Lillie McAnge were instrumental in the embroidery that I do now.

So who taught you to sew?

Happy 4th of July!

Care of Laces

From my copy of the Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences book of 1922, here is the section on the Care of Laces.

Let's meet Susie Gay (Part 2)

 

 Today we conclude our interview with Susie Gay.

13. What other hobbies, interests, do you have?

I love making jams, preserves and relishes. I give most of it away to friends and family. (I have a standing request from our son’s best friend for shipments, especially the Brandied Peach Jam.) There’s something about seeing all of those gorgeous, colorful jars stacked up in my pantry just waiting to be enjoyed! I also do a lot of gardening because we have a very big yard with “old forest” trees, some well over 100 years old. I sing in our church choir and occasionally do solos, and have always participated in choirs wherever we were stationed. And I read: history, autobiographies, biographies, embroidery and sewing books and magazines…anything to keep my mind active and learning.

14. How often do you travel to teach?

I travel about 4-6 times a year to teach. I enjoy travel (after all that we did during my husband’s Army career, and after living overseas for nine years). But when I get home, I take a day to recuperate.

15. Have you a favourite location where you most enjoy teaching?

I very much enjoy wherever I teach. It’s always fascinating to meet new people and see their town (city, etc.) from their own perspective. I always learn so much. So many Guilds/Chapters have wonderful venues where they arrange the workshops. And of course, there is the food: interesting restaurants, great potlucks….you can’t stitch on an empty stomach! And I’ve always been hosted by kind, wonderful, talented and interesting ladies who don’t mind showing their sewing rooms. I’ve picked up quite a few ideas from their sewing spaces.

16. Where can we see your projects?

My classes are posted on my website, www.berryhillheirlooms.com. My blog showcases many other projects, techniques and ideas (along with a few recipes) at http://berryhillheirlooms.blogspot.com More of my ideas are posted on my Berryhill Heirlooms Pinterest board. I’ve been published in Creative Needle, Sew Beautiful, Classic Sewing and our own wonderful SAGANews.

Susie's Doll Opera Cape featured in SAGANews, Volume 36 Issue 2

                                            

17. What do you do with your completed projects?

Most of my completed projects I have to keep because they are samples for classes. My grandchildren are too old now for me to sew clothing for them, and they live in Dallas: too far for me to do regular fittings. I give some items away as hostess gifts, and others go to friends.

18. Do you have favourite colors that you tend to use more than others?

I tend to use more of the warmer colors for clothing that I make for myself. A favorite color is a warm red, which is the color of the Army Field Artillery, my husband’s initial Army Branch. When I’m designing I try to keep in mind what other people might prefer and will work with the cooler colors.

19. Have you had another type of career other than in the sewing area?

I have always worked (for pay) in some way or other. But it was difficult “having a career” with my husband’s military career. Someone had to be home to run the house and raise the children because he worked extremely long hours, and was often gone for long periods of time. From 1981 to 1985 I taught heirloom arts (smocking, shadow work, fine embroidery) and construction classes. When we shipped overseas the first time in ’85, spouses were not allowed to have a home business because the government paid for the living quarters one way or another. Spouses were also not allowed to use the Military Postal System to ship business items. And you definitely could not use the German Bundespost for business…that was verboten. So I signed up with Civil Service and worked at various jobs for several years. My most enjoyable CS job was as Food Service Manager of five Day Care Centers in Germany. I had to completely revamp the entire menu, kitchens, train the cooks and also work with the Family Day Care providers. Our Division won an award as the best in Europe, but I was not there to receive it because we had shipped back to the States…story of my life!

20. How do you see the future of your sewing career?

I plan to continue designing and teaching as long as possible. I love the challenge, which keeps me young. I would love to publish a book of some of my designs and projects, but I’m too busy to put it all down on paper right now. Submitting projects to magazines is always fun because I don’t necessarily have to design to be a teachable class. 

                                                           

Susie's scissor case- a class at Winston-Salem 

                                                            
21. What do you do to recharge your creative spark?

Teaching workshops will definitely recharge me because I see other sewing rooms, new ideas, different items people have made, and participate in sewing discussions when on the job. Browsing through my sewing and embroidery books will get my mind going, as does the internet. Sometimes the best way for me to recharge is to clean up my sewing room after finishing a big project or deadline, and just sit at the table with a cup of coffee or tea and dream about the next thing(s) I want to make.

Susie teaching at a SAGA Convention

22. What technique still can’t you get the hang of….

Most of the techniques I learn I figure out pretty quickly. But the one that really stops me are those darned “twisted” bullions with umpteen wraps that Kari Mecca taught years ago…still can’t get that!

23. What accomplishments are you most proud of?

Well, where do I start? I guess #1 is surviving my husband’s 27-year Army career and we’re still married! We did 17 moves in 26 years...not easy. And today’s young military careerists have it even worse: my prayers go out to them and their families. #2 are our children. They learned so much from the different places we lived, became fluent in German, love to travel the world, have successful careers and both are married to wonderful spouses. #3 are the grand children who are precious and way too full of energy and enthusiasm! #4 is my sewing and designing career and business, something I wanted to do for a very long time and is now a reality.

24. What is the biggest enemy to your creativity?

Me, plain and simple. I can get distracted too easily so I set specific goals for each day. I even set timers on my phone to limit certain chores or projects so I don’t ‘go down the rabbit hole’ spending too much time on one thing. I’m much happier and creative if I know I’m getting everything done, or at least working a little on each sewing/stitching project, every day. And don’t even begin to mention the house chores….that shuts the creative juices down way too easily.

Thank you so much for this interview, Susie! See you in Winston-Salem!