Hello Stitch Studio Class Review

I have been looking forward to this class ever since the class was held last year! I believe it was last spring and between the trip for SewCamp and a trip to Puerto Rico, I just couldn’t swing it. The *moment* registration opened this time, I was THERE! :)

Plus, neither my husband nor me had ever been to the Bay Area before so we decided to make a long weekend of it. 

My visit started with a trip to Stonemountain & Daughter. It's an adorable shop with a pretty impressive collection of fabrics for its size.

Knit binding in ALLLLL the colors!!! 

JOY! :-P

I lucked up on a 20% off rayon sale and the class included a 20% off coupon (didn't apply to the sale items). I picked up 3 cuts of fabric.

An Atelier Brunette viscose for an Ogden cami (at $25/yd full price I only picked up 1 yard!). 

A rayon challis in a black/grey leopard print. 

A rib knit in this mushroom color. I've wanted a bodycon midi dress with a snap placket for awhile. The weight and color of this fabric should work for fall and spring!

I also picked up a few yards of weft fusible interfacing, lightweight knit fusible interfacing, a grab bag of notions and a "Thanks, I made it!" pin :-D

The class was scheduled for 18 hours total: 4 hours Friday, 7 hours Saturday and Sunday. If you’ve made a tailored jacket or coat before, you know that it is not an <18 hour project! So I didn’t expect to complete the jacket in class and really looked forward to learning new things. 

Hello Stitch also offers longarm quilting services and we all had these adorable handmade nametags.

Now, y’all know how much I like to go fast. I intended to take full advantage of Beth’s jacket making skills and soak up all I could. But...

I am a migraine sufferer. I’ve traveled 3 weekends in a row - 8/30-9/2, 9/7-9/9 and now 9/12-9/16. I’ve had a pretty low-grade headache this entire time and missed most of work on 9/9 due to migraine. When we arrived in San Francisco on Thursday, I was SO OUT OF IT. I was in pain and nauseous but tried to power through. I woke up on Friday feeling horrible and was near tears because I wasn't sure I'd make it to class. Well, I did but boy was it rough going. It did not help that it was near 100 degrees in the Bay area! At one point, I was sure I was going to pass out! When I showed up Saturday feeling mildly better, I was shocked by how little I’d gotten done the day before. 

Day 1 we talked about the patterns - most of the class used the Closet Case Jasika blazer. If you read here regularly, you know I’ve sworn off sewing anything for my upper body from this pattern company. I used V9099, and 2 other sewers used patterns other than the Jasika. We did tissue fitting (some people had made muslins ahead of class) and went off to cut. Also, Beth gifted us all with silk organza press cloths. YAY!

Day 1 I finished with:

Fitted pattern (I cut my pattern pieces out at home)

Completely cut out fashion fabric

Day 2 I arrived with a mild headache but felt much less woozy and nauseous. Yay! This day was all about the welts for me. I got most of my pattern pieces interfaced and got my welt pockets inserted.

:drool:

WAIIIIITTTT

The studio has one of those boiler steam irons (there was one at Sew Camp too) and I just have to have one. HAVE TO!!! Fusing everything was a long, hot job, but it makes all the difference in the finished product. 

We had a break for lunch, chatted and got to know each other better, and got some handy demonstrations on marking fabric and getting perfect lapels.

Day 2 I finished with:

Everything but the sleeves interfaced 

Front sewn to side panel

Completed exterior pockets (pocket bags weren’t sewn)

Sewn center back seam

Sewn shoulder seams

This was taken first thing Sunday morning. Everyone's fabric was SO, SO gorgeous.

Day 3 I felt so much better!! I was so ready to go. I knew I needed to fuse interfacing to my sleeves and prep the facing. We'd be sewing the collars/lapels this day.

And then it happened...I accidentally interfaced the right side of one of my sleeves. I ALMOST STARTED CRYING. I was fairly certain I didn't have enough fabric to recut but I just eeked it out. And I triple checked before interfacing :-p

Once I got past that hurdle, I was on my way. The tips and tricks we learned made the class worth it! Everyone's collar and lapels went in and turned out perfectly. Absolutely perfect!

Day 3, we discussed lining insertion and I have become a convert to hand sewing the lining in. I HAVE bagged a lining successfully, but I would prefer the control of hand sewing.  I left with a completed body and sleeves that were ready to sew.

The state of my jacket after the class (once I was back home).

There is a shoulder pad in there and I have the seam allowance tucked under. 

Isn't it awesome?!?! 

We'd made some adjustments to my sleeves -- the finished bicep on the size 14 was 14 3/4" and that is my exact bicep measurement so we added quite a bit.

I basted the seams on my sleeve and tweaked the fit, then basted it into the armhole to ensure I didn't overdo it. I will tell ya, I probably would have never done all this before. I totally will baste a side seam to check fit...but all this tweaking on the sleeve? I'd never have done it. It fits SO WELL! Woot woot!!

I tweaked the vertical sleeve seams a lot so I plan to mark the new seam line, mark the new seam allowance, and trim off any excess...then cut the other sleeve and lining from these "new" pattern pieces.

My plan is to get it finished and ready to sew the lining in and I can work on that once I'm feeling up to it after surgery.

We also had a ton of fun exploring San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkley. 

Visiting my husband's cousin at work

More luck! Skies were nice and clear and we were able to visit The Golden Gate bridge 

I can hold that bridge in my tiny hands! :-D

Sunset at the Golden Gate strait

Visit to Fisherman's Wharf

And then a serious delay out of SFO. I've been up for about 30 hours with a ~2 hour nap on the plane. Eesh!

It was a whirlwind weekend full of fun and sewing and food and I can't wait to do it again! :)