WOW! We hit our end of summer goal of 1K YouTube subscribers easily last Friday, thank you to everyone who popped over and hit that subscribe button.
That same scrappy, let's-just-try-it energy is honestly what's been driving everything else around here too. Since our move to Sprucedale we've truly been reimagining how to sustain the workroom and how we can best serve our community with our smaller team and remote location. We're about a year into building our virtual workshop program now, and it's surpassed our expectations on how effective and transformative it could be.
So what does "transformative" actually look like in practice? A few students said things last night that explained it better than I ever could.
One student put it this way: "In person, everybody's always at a different stage, and I'm always feeling like I'm behind. It's really nice to just go, well, it's fine, I can just rewatch this. I don't have to worry about moving at a certain pace."
Another said something that's stuck with me since: "It's so precious that you leave the recordings forever. If I wait a week before doing a step, I might forget an important detail, and being able to go back and find it, I just love that."
Over and over, the recordings and detailed notes from each workshop session have come up as invaluable resources to return to at your own pace and as often as you need.
For me, the opportunity to teach in a more detailed way, showing each step of the process up close and in real time (including mistakes!), has really pushed me to refine not only the technology but the way I actually teach. I can go deeper with people this way than I ever could in person, and that's turned out to be the real gift in stepping in front of the camera.
Have you been curious about learning with us online?
NEW PDF PATTERNS! We're expanding our PDF pattern selection for you and we're starting with some of my tried and true patterns that I have made many times over. I'm excited to let you know you can now buy Closet Core & Named Clothing PDF patterns directly from the workroom, along with the options to have them printed wide format for you as well. This week we uploaded the ones I talk about and wear the most! Inari Tee, Esme Cardigan, Ninni Culottes, Sloane Sweatshirt, Cielo Top, Pietra Pants, Charlie Caftan and Kalle Shirtdress - I can vouch for each of these and we've already done workshops for several of them. Stay tuned for more patterns from both of these designers to pop up on the website shortly.
RESTOCKED! Kona Bolts + Bundles We've got a delivery of Kona arriving later today that will help us to restock about a dozen of our curated bundles and a couple of our quilt kits too. Shop our rainbow of colour to inspire your next project
Pocket matching perfection on my Sea Holly linen Scout Dress
Sew Online with Us We're wrapping up a few classes this week and I'm excited to show you the results. My Scout Dress just needs some final touches - buttonholes & buttons & hem, plus some hand stitching for the sewn tie. Tomorrow my green Honey Dress will finally be a reality. (scroll down to watch this week's cutting mishap on Youtube!)
Sanda Jacket - Tuesdays, July 7 - 28 - (In Session)
Honey Dress - Saturdays, July 11, 18 & 25 - (In Session)
Quinn Pants - Tuesdays, August 4 - 25
Factory Dress - starts Thursday August 20th
Chore Jacket Sew Along - starts Monday August 31st
Serger Essentials - starts Tuesday September 1st for 6 weeks
Double Time Quilt - starts Thursday September 10 - October 1st
101 Trouser - starts Saturday September 12th - 26th
the workroom studio members save $25 on every class.
THE BUTTON DEPT. We don't ever take it for granted how lucky we are to have The Button Dept. - our incredible and vast collection of vintage button deadstock. These tiny treasures offer endless opportunities to add the perfect final detail to a project. While the majority of the collection is meant to be explored in person when you visit the shop, we do have a big section catalogued and available online - sorted by colour, size and substrate (glass, plastic, metal)
You'll be hard pressed to find a more lovely selection of buttons in one place - the glass buttons alone are tiny works of art - literally! Some of them are actually hand painted.
I sliced a hole straight through the front of my Honey Dress this week, mid cutting-out, trying to stretch fabric I was already short on. Instead of scrapping the piece, I fixed it with an invisible machine mend I usually save for denim repairs, and filmed the whole thing for anyone who's ever done this to a project they love. Watch this week's video and let me know how you'd handle a potential sewing disaster like this one.
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