2012 Sewing Summit

Hey WeAllSew fans! This is Amy Gutierrez, Director of Marketing for BERNINA, here to share with you my visit to this years Sewing Summit. Despite its sophomore year in existence, this was my first trip to the Sewing Summit and *knock on wood* it wont be my last! The Sewing Summit is held at The Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, where modern sewists connect with like-minded others in a fun and inspiring setting. The retreat attracts about 500 bloggers who come for hands-on workshops, networking events, inspiring speakers, and informative lectures to help advance their sewing and blogging skills. When I walked into the room, I could practically feel the creative energy as it was buzzing and humming all around me, and I thought, These are definitely my peeps.

Sewing Summit Day One, October 12, 2012

Todays journey begins with a class called Handmade Wardrobe presented by Mena Trott of Sew Weekly blog. In a very sincere and transparent way, Mena chronicles her decision on why she decided to sew her own wardrobe as well as share her sewing confessions and successes. Mena was totally open, honest and transparent about the difficultiesand successesin creating her own wardrobe. Mena was so successful that she was actually able to save money by sewing her own clothes?! She gave us the down-low while wearing a dress, made by her, of course, featuring fabric of dogs wearing boas.

One of my favorite parts of her class was her top ten sewing confessions, which I jotted down just so I could share them with you:

1) My zipper insertion is a mess.

2) If I can omit a fastener, I will.

3) Im lazy when it comes to transferring pattern marking.

4) Ive been known to use a cup of coffee as a pattern weight.

5) I never sew a hem by hand.

6) Ive never made a muslin.

7) I measure once, cut twice (or even three times).

8) Sometimes I dont finish my seems.

9) I still sew sleeves upside down, all the time.

10) I have a pile of UFOs that Im never going to finish.

Thank you Mena for being you and doing what you do! Hope to see you again soon maybe next time wearing a dress featuring parrots doing the tango!

After Menas presentation, I trotted upstairs to the second floor to sit in a smaller, more intimate workshop with Rachel Howard of Family Ever After. Check out her blog right now and read the About section. Finished? Impressed? So am I. And yes fans, she is just as sweet and amazing in person! It was such a pleasure to meet Rachel and hear her story of why she blogs, how she finds balance between family and blogging, and how she created the successful Sew-vivor competition, a sewing competition which was a spin-off of the show Survivor. Weve got our eye on you Rachel and looking forward to reading your future posts!

Super cute Rachel on the left and me on the right. Yes, Im tall not circus tall, mind you, but tall.

After lunch and with a full belly and buzzing from the sugar high, I looked forward to the afternoon. My first p.m. session was all about photography for blogging taught by Vanessa Hewell from Little Big Girl Studio. Vanessa gave us some awesome photography tips, tricks and techniques on how to get great photos of our creations within the confines of our home/yard without breaking the bank. AMAZING. All this time I thought I needed a better camera (read expensive camera) when really a point and shoot, some simple craft store supplies, and Mother Nature will do the trick. Who knew? Check out her blog for more tips and techniques.

Smiling from my fancy new photography skills, I went to my last class of the day taught by Emily Herrick of Crazy Old Lady Quilts. Today, Emily attempts to tell us What Men Want In a Quilt. In a class called Geared for Guys, we focus on giving us the confidence we need to step out of the quilting box and make a quilt for that special guy in our life. Lets face it, not all quilt shops carry fabric by Parson Gray, so Emily focused on color, fabric selection and design. It was so inspirational that I actually designed three quilts for my hubby, Dave, during the class. Now all I need to do is choose some fabric, cut out the pattern, sew it together, etc., but thats a separate blog post.

For the evening festivities, we went to Gracies Bar for a late night networking party with Craftsy. I met some more amazing people, had a few laughs and crossed my fingers that Id be lucky enough to win one of the fabric prizes by sponsors like Tula Pink, Riley Blake Designs, Amy Butler and more. I didnt win anything, so Im hoping that my big break comes with the Illinois State Lottery *fingers crossed*. The bar was stylized with bunting everywhere kind of a little crazy like Quilters Gone Wild.

Sewing Summit Day Two, October 13, 2012

With my skinny vanilla latte in hand, I attended my morning class which featured the dos and donts of web design by Melissa Esplin from I Still Love You. She walked us through her major dos and major donts while critiquing fellow and present bloggers site design talk about nerve racking! But everyone was a good sport about it and felt they left with some valuable insight. Hey Melissa, how would you rate WeAllSew?

Its all in the details, said Anna Graham of Noodlehead, who was sharing with us her special touches that can add pizzazz to any project. Man, what a difference a simple trim or lining can make!

Sadly, I had to leave the Summit early to go home to my hubby and three kids (of the furry variety, not human form). If youre curious, then I encourage you to check out next years Summit. There are many classes to choose including topics on sewing, blogging and social media, quilting and garments. Dont delay though tickets for this year were gone in a day!

Smooches, A

[Ed: Sorry folks - Sewing Summit 2013 is already sold out! But you can win a ticket plus a chance to teach! in the Kollobora alt. Summit Design Challenge, sponsored by BERNINA. Good luck!]

I loved meeting you and Olivia in Rachels class, it was a treat for me to find out that you were in their with us. Speaking of which, might I say you are Rach actually look like you could be sisters in that photo!!!

I know exactly what you are talking about when you say I found my peeps. I felt the same way. That I was finally among a group of people that understood my interests, shared similar passions, and just got me. That people made great sacrifices to be there, all for the love of sewing. The connections that were made, the friendships that were forged, and the skills and knowledge that was learned are all things that I will take away with me and cherish.

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