Support us on Patreon! Love to Sew Podcast

Support us on Apple Podcasts! Love to Sew Podcast

Follow Helen! Blog: Helen’s  Closet Patterns, Cedar Quilt Co., Instagram: @helens__closet, @cedarquiltco

Follow Caroline! Shop: Blackbird Fabrics, Instagram: @blackbirdfabrics, @bfpatterns

Follow the Podcast! Instagram: @lovetosew.podcast, Facebook: /LovetoSewPod

Leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments, and feedback: 1-844-SEW-WHAT (1-844-739-9428)

E-mail us: hello@lovetosewpodcast.com

Sign up for our newsletter to get weekly episode updates, special news, and even some exclusive content that you won’t find anywhere else.

Leave us a review! It will help other sewists discover us.

---

Transcript: 

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations. ​Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew, and it’s all we know how to talk about.

Helen: In this episode, we share our listeners’ stories and suggestions for sewing with others. We chat about guilds, clubs, classes, zoom sewcials, friend meetups, and even sewing birthday parties. And we share our own stories, too.

Caroline: If you love to sew, this is your show. Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Helen: I’m doing well, thanks. How are you?

Caroline: I’m good, I’m good. This is our last episode of the season.

Helen: I know! that went by fast, as always.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It was a good one, though. I had so much fun doing all of our We Sew projects and I loved all of our guests this season. It’s been a blast.

Caroline: It’s been such a blast. I have to say, highlight for me: We Sew Scraps.

Helen: It’s true. That was just last week and I, I re-listened to that one because I remember having such a good time recording it and so I wanted to listen back. And I had a great time listening.

Caroline: Oh, okay. I gotta go back and listen. I’ve just been enjoying sharing about the process over on socials this week. And yeah, I had so much fun and I’ve been actually getting a lot of wear out of my jacket ’cause it’s been chilly in Vancouver.

Helen: There you go. It happened. It got cold again.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: That’s awesome. I think a highlight for me, and only me, probably, was our 300th episode. No, I’m joking. It was so special. It was such a good episode.

Caroline: I know.

Helen: Amazing to celebrate.

Caroline: I can’t believe we’re past 300 now. It’s just wild. We’ve been doing this for a long time.

Helen: Yeah, just gonna keep on going. We gotta plan the next season.

Caroline: Yeah, I know, clock’s ticking. Well, listeners, if you wanna catch up with us in the off-season, you can join us over on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. That is the best way to support Love to Sew. You can join us over there. There’s a subscription on Apple Podcasts and Patreon. And we’d love to see you.

Helen: Yes, you get access to bonus content every month. We do episodes where we catch up and talk about our lives. I’m actually having my wedding this summer. Sam and I are finally tying the knot. And so there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes planning, dress making, all that fun stuff happening. So if you want to hear about that, join us over on Patreon. It really means so much to us if you’re able to support us, even if it’s just for a month or two. And if that’s not in the cards for you right now, we totally understand. Um, we just love that you’re here listening.

Caroline: Yeah, we love it. Thank you so much. And if you wanna support us for free, you can actually go rate us or review us, rate us and review us, over on Apple Podcasts. And we haven’t asked for this in a little while. And it would really, really help us. We’d love to get some more recent reviews up on there, so please go do that. We’d be so thankful.

Helen: Yes. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, Caroline, before we get into this in-person sewing meetups chat, we’re gonna start off this episode with some listener feedback. We’ve got a voicemail here from Amanda.

Caroline: Let’s do it.

Amanda: Hi, Love to Sew Podcast. It’s Amanda from Los Angeles, California. I was listening to a recent podcast episode and wanted to share about the names of my sewing machines. I crowdsourced for the name of my most recent sewing machine. And, uh, the winner was: Hemingway. Even though I hate hemming. It’s one of my least favourite sewing tasks. I decided to adopt the name ’cause I love a good pun. And for my two vintage machines, I asked my boyfriend for name suggestions. And for my 401A, he decided that it was appropriate to name her Ella Fitzgerald because she’s a powerful Singer. And for the second one, he decided that it would be a good idea to call it Ariana Grande because it’s a Featherweight Singer. So I guess punny names are where I go for my sewing machines. Bye.

Caroline: This is so punny, Amanda. I think everyone who has a Singer machine should be naming it after a real-life singer. We have some ideas for folks.

Helen: Yes! I love this concept so much.

Caroline: Yes. Okay. So you could name your machine Adele, after a beautiful singer.

Helen: That’s true. A beloved singer: maybe Whitney Houston.

Caroline: Oh my gosh. Whitney Houston! Love her. A fussy singer: Mariah Carey. No offense to Mariah.

Helen: She knows.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: A loud singer: maybe Sia.

Caroline: Yeah. You could do an old singer: Barbara Streisand. Oh, I love it.

Helen: Babs. “This is my machine, Babs.”

Caroline: Oh!

Helen: Oh, it’s such a great concept. I wish I had a Singer in my collection right now to name Beyonce. I would just name her Beyonce, obviously.

Caroline: Yeah, 100%. I know, I don’t have a Singer, either, so we’ll have to rectify that so I can name her.

Helen: I like the Featherweight Ariana Grande Singer. That’s what my mom has. So maybe I’ll inherit an Ariana Grande one day.

Caroline: Amazing. Oh, well thank you so much for calling in, Amanda.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: Next up, we have a question from Dana. Dana wrote, “I have been sewing clothes for a couple of years now. I started by sewing dresses for my little girl and then I got brave enough to start sewing for myself. I’m hooked! I would love to sew some things for my husband but it’s tricky because he’s on the larger side and it’s hard to find patterns. Do you know a source for ‘plus size’ men’s patterns, especially more complicated things like a blazer or suits? Thank you. I really enjoy your podcast!”

Helen: Hi, Dana. Okay. You are definitely right. Men’s sewing patterns are harder to find than women’s patterns, but they are out there. Many of them are more casual. We even have some casual men’s sewing patterns in the Helen’s Closet pattern collection. But it’s challenging to find those nicer pieces like fitted blazers and suits. And those are also challenging to make without some experience in tailoring. So we do have some places to start looking for patterns and resources. Simplicity has a couple of blazer patterns that go up to a 52 inch chest. One of them was designed by a former guest on the pod, Mimi G. Bootstrap Fashion has a couple of options for blazers. If you’re not familiar, this company makes custom patterns based on a bunch of measurements. So you could measure your husband to get those numbers, enter them, and they’ll make the pattern for you. And that’s a really good starting place for your project.

Caroline: Ooh. Yeah, that’s a great one. Free Sewing also has the Jaeger Jacket, and this site also makes custom patterns, but they’re actually free. As for pants, you can use any dress pants pattern that you can find. I would just use the same fabric as the blazer and that will make a suit for you. There are a lot more options for pants patterns for men out there, I think, than other types of patterns.

Helen: True. And we found a couple of resources for indie pattern companies that make plus size men’s patterns. So we’ll link them up for you in the show notes, a couple of lists out there. And you also might wanna look up some tailoring techniques before you make a suit jacket. So we have a few episodes that might help with that. Episode 188: Tailoring for Them with Emilia Bergoglio and Episode 266: Jackets.

Caroline: And Closet Core’s Jasika Blazer resources are really helpful, too. So we’ll link that up for you. And have so much fun sewing for your husband, Dana. He is one lucky guy.

Helen: Yeah, he is. I really enjoy sewing for Sam, when I do get around to it. And he wears the pieces that I make him a lot, and that is, honestly, the best feeling. It’s so satisfying.

Caroline: I need to sew more for Shea. Poor guy.

Helen: He is fine. He’s got you.

Caroline: Alright, let’s get onto the show. So, sewing is a solitary activity for a lot of us, and there are nice things about sewing alone: listening to a podcast, wink, wink, getting totally absorbed in your work, having the time to think about life. I personally love watching a little Netflix documentary, murder show…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: But sewing with others is also amazing. And it can be so energizing to be around other creative people. You can bounce ideas off them, get inspired by their projects, learn tips and techniques from them, and you can nurture a friendship while you get sewing done. That feels so, so good. I know Helen and I both have experience with this, so we’re gonna share a bunch of stories from our listeners today about how they sew with other people. But before we get into that, I feel like we should share some of our own stories of sewing IRL, which means “in real life,” by the way.

Helen: Yes. I really love sewing in person, with other people. I also enjoy sewing by myself, and I do that a lot. But I will say that my sewing with other people time is precious to me. It is so special and so fun. And I have a weekly sewing date with a couple of friends, and we get together on Tuesday nights for two hours, 7:00 to 9:00 PM, and we sew together. And we don’t always make a ton of progress. Some nights we’re, like, on fire and we get so much done. And some nights it’s, like, a lot of chitchat, a lot of, like, you know, not necessarily your head’s in the zone of the sewing part of it. And so you may not make that much progress, but just being together in person and bouncing ideas off each other and trying things on and showing it off when you finish, it’s so much fun. And that time is really special to me, in part, too, because I set it aside as my personal sewing time and I separate that from my work sewing. So I don’t work on work stuff. I just think, what do I want to sew? What am I interested in making? And that Tuesday night time is, like, the time that I am guaranteed to get that sewing time that’s not related to work, so that’s been really nice.

Caroline: That’s so great. And kudos to you for doing this weekly. I feel like carving out time weekly can be challenging when you’re busy and you have work and life and other social commitments.

Helen: It’s so true. Yeah, it can be really challenging. I think the three of us have made it a high priority, and that helps a lot. And also, because there’s three of us, if one of us can’t make it, that’s okay. We do it anyways, you know? So we have like, there’s a contingency plan, almost.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: If you have three people, then at least you’ll have two people. And often we have all three. And even when I’m away, ’cause I host it at my studio, ’cause I have the large space and the big table and that’s all, it’s all set up and ready to go. So they come to my house. And even when I am away, they do it without me.

Caroline: Oh yeah, at your house?

Helen: At my house. Yeah.

Caroline: I love that.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: They’re like, “I’ll just let myself in. Thank you.”

Helen: They have the door code and they just come over and they sew without me and I love that.

Caroline: Oh my gosh. I love that, too. That’s so funny. Adrianna comes over and sews when I’m not here as well, sometimes, which I think is awesome. And I love that she uses the space. But yes, I also love sewing with other people. I don’t do it as much as you do, but having my sister-in-law, Adrianna, learn how to sew has been so wonderful. She truly has the sewing bug right now. She was over at my house sewing all day yesterday while I was at work.

Helen: Amazing. Didn’t she just have a baby, like, two seconds ago?

Caroline: Yes, she had a baby a couple months ago. She’s on mat leave right now. And now that the baby’s, you know, sleeping a little bit more, I think she’s just, like, really thinking about what she wants to sew.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: So yeah, it’s really nice that she comes over and uses my space and once in a while I join her. But my space at home is, like, kind of small to have two people sewing in, so often it’s just me sort of, like, supporting her if she needs help. She’s even brought a friend over here to sew together, work on a project together in the space here, which is so sweet. And she comes over to the warehouse to cut out projects, as well. But yeah, I mean, we’ve done sewing days on Zoom with our friend who lives in Calgary.

Helen: Yeah, and I love those, too. That has been so special, as well, getting together, especially with somebody who lives out of town, ‘cause you wouldn’t normally get to see them. But it feels like old times, like we’re just hanging out sewing. We used to do it in person and doing it on Zoom is a little different, but honestly, it’s mostly the same. You know, there’s the whir of the machine. Oftentimes we’re just quietly working away and then somebody will kind of wander over to their, to their computer and be like, “Hey, what do you guys think about this?”

Caroline: Yeah, I know. It’s so great. There’s always the, like, you know, 30 to 45 minutes of catch up at the beginning. And then we, we get into our projects. It’s fun to talk about what we’re working on and, yeah, it’s just, it’s such a good vibe. I love it. And like you said, often that’s the only time that I really get to work on a project that’s just for me, you know, that’s not really work-related, which I love. I also love, like, low-stakes sewing get-togethers. At work, oftentimes we’ll just, like, stay after work to cut out a project. And it’s just, like, an hour, a bunch of us are cutting. There’s no machines. We get to use the big tables. We get to talk about what we’re working on and, you know, support each other.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah, and you can do, like, more themed get-togethers like that. It doesn’t always have to be bringing the machines and setting up the irons and everything. Like, cutting out projects or even just cutting out patterns, paper and scissors, is, that’s time-consuming and it’s quite nice to do it with friends and chat at the same time, so.

Caroline: Totally, yeah. And we’ve both been on sewing retreats, which has been really lovely. And that’s a really great way to kind of fit in a lot of sewing into a short amount of time. Get a lot done.

Helen: Yeah. That’s true. I always leave sewing and quilting retreats feeling on top of the world, honestly, like my cup is so full. My heart is so full. I love getting away. I love big things, like we’ve done Camp Workroom Social with tons of people and meeting all people from all over the world and doing all sorts of fun activities in a big group. But I also love more intimate retreats with just a few people. I’ve done some quilting retreats with just, like, four or five people, and that has been really, really lovely. You spend, like, all this nice quality time together and it’s just peaceful and pleasant.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: That sounds so nice. Yeah, and classes are great, too. This is a great way to meet other sewing people in real life. It doesn’t have to be a whole weekend retreat. You can just take a class maybe once a week for a few weeks, or maybe it’s just one night or one intensive day. Personally, I don’t think I would’ve learned how to do bra-making if I hadn’t taken a class. That was sort of the, like, motivation I needed to get into, like, a new little niche in sewing. So if there’s a particular technique or type of garment that you really wanna learn how to sew, but it feels intimidating, taking a class is a great way to do that. And also you get to meet sewing people IRL.

Helen: Yeah, it’s so true, and you never know who you might meet. You might meet your new sewing best friend.

Caroline: Totally. And also teaching family members and friends how to sew. We kind of touched on this already, but I cannot wait to teach my nieces and nephew how to sew if they want to. I really, really look forward to that because it’s just so fun to see somebody get into sewing in those early stages of excitement where they’re discovering new patterns and learning how to pick the right fabric. And I’m like, I can be your support for that. I love it.

Helen: Yeah. I can be your guide. Exactly. No, it is really satisfying. I haven’t taught, like, one-on-one, somebody how to sew in a while, but I have gotten people into it. I’ve been the catalyst for them wanting to learn more and I definitely enjoy being the guide and teaching them about what fabric to choose and going to the fabric store with them and helping them pick things out and give them sizing advice and stuff. It’s so nice to have somebody to lean on for those kinds of things when you’re starting out.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. Well, we have some really great listener stories today that we wanna share. Should we get into it, Helen?

Helen: Yes. First up, we have a voicemail from Amber.

Amber: Hi, Helen and Caroline. This is Amber from Bellingham, Washington. I’m just south of you in the US. Aspiring Canadian, but that’s a different topic. I use she/her pronouns. I’m I’m calling because I saw on socials that you’re asking about group sewing or sewing with other people and this is something I’m really excited about in general, so I had to share. I’m a member of our local chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild and our small guild organizes Sew Days once a quarter and weekend retreats once or twice a year. These events are my personal favourite part of the guild. For the Sew Days, we usually reserve a room at one of our local libraries for the day. Then one or two people volunteer to bring irons and cutting mats. Everyone brings their own machine and anything else they need for their project. We sew all day and get takeout for lunch. It’s like a mini-retreat. And our libraries allow us to reserve the space for free. So there’s no cost. For our weekend retreats, we rent a large space. Usually, the guild pays for it and then individual members pay the guild back. None of the places we’ve gone are already set up for makers, but as long as it has one big room, we can make it work. For the last few retreats we’ve rented out this hundred-year-old barn that was converted to a lodge and event space. It has like six or seven bedrooms and most have a bathroom attached. Usually you’re sharing with one person, maybe two people. and we bring our own chairs and tables for this one and set up in their big event room, just like the Sew Days where everyone brings their own machine. The last retreat, I brought three machines. My favourite machine doesn’t zig-zag or do buttonholes. And I also needed my serger. So I had three machines. And then a few people volunteer to bring ironing stuff and cutting stuff. We share meals, so usually one or two people volunteer for each meal and everyone takes their turn with cleanup. The food is always excellent and there’s always too much of it. It’s pretty great, as the person in the family who’s responsible for most meals, to have a weekend where I can sew as much as I want, when I want, and know good food will be provided. Speaking of “sew when I want,” some people are up at 4:00 or 5:00 AM to start sewing, and we’ve even had someone pull an all-nighter. In between, we take walks or runs, fabric store trips, and even yoga breaks. The other thing I wanted to mention is that joining a guild is a great way to connect and stay connected with sewing friends, even though our guild is the “Bellingham Modern Quilt Guild.” As you know, there’s a lot of crossover in the things sewers like to sew. Many of us are also, or even mostly, garment makers, some of us have a more traditional quilt background, and some are really modern quilters. Our guild is so supportive in whatever you’re making. You can bring it to Sew and Tell at the monthly meeting to show it off to people who really understand and appreciate your make. Thanks for this question. Sewing with others is my absolute favorite part of my guild. Have a great day. Bye.

Helen: Aw, thank you so much, Amber. It’s clear that you are very passionate about getting together to sew in person, and I absolutely love that. It’s a really great idea to join a guild. A lot of people wrote to us with this idea, because guilds are already set up for community events and for sharing resources, and it’s just a great place to start if you’re looking to meet people who are interested in the same things as you. And the Modern Quilt Guild has chapters all over the world. They’re known for putting on QuiltCon, which is a major quilting convention held every year. I went last year and I actually had a quilt in the show, and it was an incredible experience to be around so many makers. Like, truly incredible. So much fun. So being in a quilt guild is a really great way to connect with all of those people. And we’ll link up the website for this in the show notes so you can find out if you have a local chapter near you.

Caroline: Yes. Amazing. And if you don’t have a local chapter, maybe you want to start one. Each chapter makes its own meeting schedule. Sometimes the meetups are even on Zoom. And members pay dues, but from what I’ve read, the first meeting is free. So honestly, what do you have to lose? Check it out and maybe meet some quilters.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. It’s free to try. You can just go and see if, if you connect with people. And what a wonderful experience to have something locally. And you can meet people who you probably never would’ve met otherwise in your local area and make some new friends.

Caroline: Yes, it’s a great idea. And Britt also wrote, “I am happy to sew solo! But I also belong to the American Sewing Guild, where I have the opportunity to join in Neighborhood Group meetings and 2 Sewing Retreats through the year. I have made my best friends through ASG.”

Helen: Ah, this is another great sewing guild to consider. If you’re worried that it will take too much of your time, you can keep in mind that it might not be that demanding. Some groups meet up like once a quarter, you know, four times a year. And even if a group meets up monthly or weekly, you can always just decide to go as often as you can or as often as you want to.

Caroline: Carmen wrote, “I’ve been a member of the Australian Sewing Guild for many, many years, and I’ve learnt so much and really enjoyed the connections. I also meet up 4 times a year with a group of friends to spend a day sewing – no pressure, no teaching – just chatting and sewing.”

Helen: I wonder if Carmen met that smaller group of friends through the larger guild. I think that that’s pretty common with big clubs. You don’t have to be best friends with everybody in the group, but you might meet some people that are more kindred spirits with you and start having your own little sewing meetups on the side.

Caroline: Yeah. I also really like this, like, quarterly meetup kind of, like, framework. It feels very achievable to get together once every few months instead of every month or every week for people who maybe that feels like too much. So yeah, once a quarter feels like a really nice cadence.

Helen: Yeah, it’s true. It’d give you lots of time to plan your project that you’re gonna work on, too.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Sara wrote, “I have loved being part of a modern quilting guild – I’ve learned so much there and have really enjoyed being part of the community. I also attend meet ups of local garment sewists. Recently I hosted what I hope will be the first of many mending clinics at our local library.”

Caroline: Ooh, Sara is out and about and sewing in the community all the time. This is so cool. I wonder what the mending clinics are like. Like, do people bring their stuff that needs mending and someone mends it? Or is it a place where you can learn mending techniques from Sarah? Either way, I feel like this is such a good thing. I have been thinking about doing some sort of like a mending clinic or workshop or hosting a mending event at Blackbird. I feel like that would be so fun. And also just a great excuse to get some mending done, ’cause it’s one of those things that I never feel like doing, but it would be so much more fun with a group.

Helen: It’s so true and I would, I was thinking, too, like, you don’t necessarily have to teach people how to mend. It could simply be a mending meetup where you bring your mending and you do your own mending and you figure it out as you go along. And you know, you can always Google things, but you don’t necessarily have to have an instructor in these situations. Just the act of getting together to mend would be amazing.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. Radha wrote, “I’m an introvert and it has to be a pretty special sewing event to lure me out of my house. Those events are mending clinics I do at the San Francisco public library, hosted by SCRAP, the non-profit I volunteer with. I get to help people extend the life of their clothes, and I learn something new every time from my fellow menders. Mending is so creative – every piece is a puzzle – and I find that really rewarding.”

Helen: Oh, there you go. She’s helping people to actually learn how to mend. That’s really cool. It reminds me of a reel I saw by Take Two Kids, which is a small business that makes children’s clothes, and they set up a mending popup called Home Sewn Tomatoes. And the idea is that you bring your clothes that need mending and the person will applique a tomato patch over it for you.

Caroline: So cute.

Helen: It’s so cute. All the signage looks like classic grocery store kind of vibe. And obviously we love the tomatoes. Caroline, I feel like this is right up your alley.

Caroline: Yes. It’s so cute. I love it. I love the idea of having patches that you can pick from to cover up any holes in your garments, and I totally agree with Radha. It’s really rewarding to mend because you’re kind of like, you know, you’re doing a puzzle, you’re trying to figure out how you’re gonna fix something. There’s always a way. So you have to get creative.

Helen: And it ends up more beautiful than it was when you started.

Caroline: I know.

Helen: I’m laughing thinking about, like, oftentimes the area that needs mending, for me, is the crotch of the pants. Couple of tomatoes.

Caroline: A couple, just slap a couple tomatoes on there. That’s not gonna draw attention at all.

Helen: I love it.

Caroline: It’s so funny. Yeah.

Helen: Next up, we have a comment from Trish. “I go to three groups but my fave is the first one I found. It’s at a community centre. The people are a variety of ages and stages. We all work on our own projects and natter on about our lives. It’s so good!”

Caroline: I love it. I hope those other two groups aren’t listening. I’m just kidding. You’re allowed to have a favourite, Trish. But yes, community centers are a great place to check for sewing groups. They tend to be low-cost, donation-based, or even free, and I love that Trish has three different groups. She’s probably getting a ton of sewing done and makes lots of friends in the process.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: Adrienne wrote, “I’ve set up a monthly stitch club at our local community center. Our council gives us the venue for free and then everyone turns up with their projects. We have a few regulars but my favourite is when new people turn up. I’m an introvert by nature but I love seeing people connect with each other.”

Helen: Oh, this is so inspiring, Adrienne. See, you don’t have to be an extrovert to go to a meetup or even to organize one. As long as you have a place and a regular time, the connections will happen without you even having to work too hard. I love the idea of reaching out to your local community center or council and getting a space for cheap or even free and setting up a regular meetup. All you need is, basically, yourself to show up and eventually more people will kind of trickle in.

Caroline: Yeah, totally.

Helen: Kelly wrote, “I don’t have a dedicated sewing space at home so I usually sew the most in social settings, like regular Sewcial Sewing days at a community center, or retreats.”

Caroline: Ooh, I never thought about doing this, but it seems like some of the people who wrote to us do most of their sewing with others, and I think that’s so cool. When everyone around you is sewing, you can, you can’t help but sew, too. And even with all the chatting, I bet you you’ll still get a lot done. And it’s helpful to have that sewing time blocked off on your calendar. Plus, sewing friends keep you accountable and make the best cheerleaders. It’s like the best of all worlds.

Helen: It’s true. You don’t need to feel bad if you just cannot make sewing happen at home. If you’ve got too much going on or your space just doesn’t accommodate it, there might be other ways that you can get some sewing in.

Caroline: Yeah. La Movida Sewing and Design Studio, this is also actually a local sewing spot. Helen, I don’t know if you’re familiar, they’re out in Kitsilano, but they wrote, “Hosting the sewcial has been incredibly rewarding. It’s been so much fun to bring a bunch of sewists together in the community and see what they have been working on. We’ve been doing it for a little over a year now in Vancouver and we have a handful of people who come every time and then a few rotating people as well and newbies every time. I definitely suggest people have sewing groups in their area because it’s so inspiring to see what everyone is doing and I think it’s so important to have an opportunity to exchange knowledge and ideas.”

Helen: Ooh, I love this. Small businesses like this one are a great place to look for sewing meetups or sewing nights. It seems like this one is really well set up with lots of tables and outlets. And they’re very passionate about this community aspect of sewing and having a sewing studio, which is absolutely amazing. Kudos to them.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Simone wrote, “I sometimes go to small businesses for the monthly craft night and I take my machine.”

Caroline: Ooh, this is a great idea. A meetup group doesn’t have to be sewing-specific. Many crafty groups will welcome sewists. If you wanna bring your machine, just check with the organizer before you go to make sure that they can accommodate you. Our assistant, Lisa, told us that she used to do hand sewing steps at her knitting and crochet group sometimes, and no one had a problem with it.

Helen: Imagine. They’re like, “Those aren’t knitting needles. What are you doing?”

Caroline: Yeah, “Get out!”

Helen: “Stop. Stop!”

Caroline: Wait. Helen, you have a craft group, as well, don’t you?

Helen: I do, I do back-to-back weekly nights, if you can believe it. Tuesday night is craft night. Wednesday night is sewing night. So those nights are both sacred to me. And I love our weekly craft night as well. Sometimes we do little sewing things, but mostly we’re doing other kinds of crafts. And the person who organizes and hosts that one, Melinda, is amazing at coming up with fun ideas for us to do, and they’re usually just quick. It’s another two hour thing. So we just get together and do fun, silly Pinterest crafts together.

Caroline: Oh my gosh. Incredible. Your crafty calendar is stacked, Helen.

Helen: It is stacked. I know. It’s, it’s a, I’m, it’s amazing. I’m so lucky.

Caroline: Tracy wrote, “I facilitate a large meet up group, 11 years running. We have swaps and sew-ins. I love to socialize with others about sewing. I also provide alterations for a living. This helps me get inspired to make fun stuff and keeps my soul alive. I love your show!”

Helen: Thank you, Tracy. I love that you wrote “keeps your soul alive.” I think a lot of us feel that way about sewing. It’s cool that they also do swaps. There are so many fun things that you can combine with sewing in person, like gift exchanges, games with prizes, fabric swaps, snacks, drinks. I mean, all sorts of fun ways that you can add a little extra to your sewing meetup.

Caroline: I say do it all in one. I want a day with all of these things. Sounds really fun.

Helen: So true, the perfect day. Rochelle wrote, “Hosting a pdf pattern assembly workshop this weekend to make sewing friends and reach my community.” Ooh, we mentioned this earlier. I love this idea.

Caroline: I know! This is so great. Workshops are a great way to sew with others, too, and if the class is pretty organized, you can leave a little time for socializing at the end, or you can invite everyone to a cafe afterwards for those who want to stay and chat. Helen, I remember when we used to do our monthly, I think it was, like, monthly, sewing meetups with our friend. Sometimes I would just bring a PDF to assemble because I was like, I don’t really feel like sewing, but I wanna hang out. I wanna get the vibes going. PDFs take forever to assemble, so I’m just gonna knock this out and I don’t have to lug my sewing machine over.

Helen: It’s true. Yeah. It is a great project for in-person if you are not feeling like bringing all of the supplies with you.

Caroline: Yeah, just batching, like, putting together PDFs or even cutting out projects and not actually sewing them. That’s another thing you can do when you get together if you don’t feel like pulling out the machine. Nora wrote, “I met someone at an event in town last fall and now I have someone to text with about projects. We’ve also met up for open sew at a studio in town a few times! I’m so excited to keep building this friendship because none of my other friends are into sewing like this!”

Helen: Aw, I love this. A blossoming friendship. Truly, no one can appreciate sewing like a fellow sewist. Like, other people can admire and be interested in what you’re doing, but if they don’t sew, they just don’t get it.

Caroline: Yeah, I agree.

Helen: You can’t understand.

Caroline: I know. This reminds me of our early friendship, you know, kind of getting to know each other, but also knowing that we had sewing in common. It was so fun to talk about that. And also, we both had businesses, so that added a whole other layer to it. But I have to say, my least favorite part about our We Sew episodes is that I can’t text you progress updates. I often am like, gosh, I wanna show this to Helen, ’cause we have a little group chat going where sometimes we’ll share in progress or when we finish a project that we’re really excited about, we’ll put it up in there. And I don’t get to do that with our We Sew episodes.

Helen: I know. It is, truly, the hardest part. I just want to show you so badly I end up showing everybody else instead, and it’s not the same.

Caroline: I know.

Helen: Courtney wrote, “I hosted a sewing retreat day with my friends. We had food delivered so we didn’t have to stop sewing. Most of us pre-cut our projects beforehand so it was productive and fun.”

Caroline: This sounds so fun. I love the idea of getting food delivered as a little treat in the middle of the day. And it’s a good idea to cut out your projects before you get together. There’s just not enough room in most spaces to do that during a sewing session. So yeah, coming prepared does pay off.

Helen: It’s true, especially if you really wanna get stuff done. I do this for our weekly sewing nights ’cause I like to leave the table free for them to use. So I try to cut everything out ahead of time and even interface ahead of time so I can just sit right down at my machine and just start sewing.

Caroline: Oh, you’re so considerate. It’s really nice.

Helen: It’s considerate and selfish ’cause I’m like, I wanna get these pants done tonight.

Caroline: Yeah. You’re like, I am not sharing this table with anyone.

Helen: Stacey wrote, “My favourite, now fifth year in a row ‘Sew Rogue Retreat’ where we find a random Airbnb in the middle distance between 3 friends spread out over Europe and sew for four days. Uninterrupted, away from the outside world, comfy clothes and snacks, no labouring, just sewing. And rest.”

Caroline: Oh my gosh, I love this so much. First of all, Sew Rogue makes it sound like you are, like, three secret agents in a movie, which is really funny. And second of all, it just shows that you don’t need a big organization to sew with others. A friend or two and a place to sew is all you really need to socialize and recharge. Also, when Stacey mentioned, like, “We found a random Airbnb in the middle distance.” I’m thinking, like, this is also potentially the beginning of a horror movie. Like this, like, random Airbnb in the middle of nowhere. Three friends get together.

Helen: You’re driving there and you lose your cell reception.

Caroline: Yeah. And you’re like, where are we? I’m glad we brought our scissors.

Helen: No, this is a great idea. It would be so fun to get away and, like, a neutral ground, too. Like, if you’re at your house, it’s obviously harder to just disconnect and relax. So the Airbnb idea is great. And if you split an Airbnb between three or four people, it can be a lot more affordable. So this is a great idea.

Caroline: Helen, where do you think is the middle distance between Courtenay, Vancouver, and Calgary?

Helen: Oh, I thought you were just gonna say Courtenay and Vancouver. I’m like, the ocean.

Caroline: Yeah. You know, we’re either sewing in the ocean or the Rockies.

Helen: The Rockies would be fun, like Jasper or something, but I guess, like, that’s pretty close to Calgary, actually, but…

Caroline: I don’t know.

Helen: It sounds nice. Um, maybe like the Kootenays?

Caroline: Yeah, yeah. All right. Just spitballing, that’s all.

Helen: I love this idea for us. It would be so fun.

Caroline: Ellie wrote, “I have a long distance sewing bestie! We travel to skill building workshops together!”

Helen: This is great. Learning a new skill with a friend sounds wonderful. You can help each other out if you get stuck or have questions. I wonder if they ever have a hard time finding workshops that they’re both interested in equally, like, wanting to travel to. But I guess it doesn’t really matter as long as you know you’re hanging out and sewing together. And there’s so many fun workshops out there.

Caroline: Oh, Helen, remember when we hosted a workshop at Blackbird with a bunch of friends that traveled to come together?

Helen: Yes! That was so fun.

Caroline: That was so sweet. All right. So some people might disagree, but we think that sewing on a video call totally counts as sewing together. In fact, we do it. And after all, you are still hanging out in real time. A bunch of our listeners wrote to us about their virtual sewcializing.

Helen: Yes. First up we have Hayley from Thready Set Go. Hi, Hayley. She wrote, “Sewing in the company of others is such a fun and uplifting way to spend a few hours. Many of us don’t have friends in real life that sew, and so having in-person or online sewing meet ups is amazing! I run a number of online sewing socials every week that have become a pivotal part of so many members’ weeks. A lot of people can’t access in-person socials either due to time, commitments or health restraints so somewhere you can chat to people whilst you sew without having to leave the house has become incredibly important to them. Of course there is lots of talk about sewing, fabrics, events, etc., but we’ve all gotten to know each other aside from that as well and it’s become a group of friends that make time for each other every week.”

Caroline: Aw, this is so nice. Thready Set Go hosts live sewing socials during the week and on the weekends, and they sound like a great option for people who either don’t have an in-person meetup nearby or can’t make it to one for whatever reason.

Helen: Yes, I’ve actually done one of these events with Hayley. Uh, they featured our Falconer Pants a little while back and I hopped on to one of their sewing socials to talk about the pattern and just hang out for the event and it was really, really delightful. Like it was just so fun seeing everybody on their computers in their sewing rooms and getting to chat with people. We broke out into smaller groups so it was a little bit less chaotic. Like, obviously tons of people on a Zoom call is not necessarily gonna work. It’s better to have a presenter and listener vibe at that point. But then we broke out into smaller little sewing circles so that we could chat and get to know each other, and I thought it was fabulous.

Caroline: Oh, that’s so nice. Very cool. Sarah wrote, “This might be stretching your definition a little bit, but the Sew Sew Guild has all-day Zoom Sewcials on Sundays. Sometimes other days, too. It is unstructured and we actually give Saremy the day off from answering questions (she still comes to hang out sometimes). We just visit and chat about all manner of topics while we sew or work on some other sewing-related activity, or even while we cook dinner. It’s very come-as-you-are, for as much or as little time as you want. Being able to get to know my sewing buddies without having to pack up my machine and all other accoutrements is such a joy and I feel like I’ve really been able to level up my skills while also making genuine friends.”

Helen: Yes. Oh, this is so awesome. Okay, Sarah’s talking about the community built and managed by a former guest Saremy Duffy, and here’s what Saremy had to say in response. “I love seeing how the members created this monthly zoom time and they host it themselves – it’s such a testament to how much you all enjoy each others’ company and new people always feel like they can jump right in. Makes me so happy!”

Caroline: And if you feel nervous about jumping into an established group, don’t. These groups are made up of people just like you, sewists who would like to hang out and sew and chat. And many of these groups have newbies pop in regularly, so you won’t stand out too much.

Helen: Yes, it’s true. It can be a bit nerve-wracking to just, like, hit “join” on a random zoom call. You don’t know what you’re getting into. But the beauty of it is that you can also just hit “hang up” whenever you want.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Imagine. Just ghost. Come in and then you’re like, actually, I’m too scared. Bye.

Helen: In my experience, in these groups, lots of people don’t talk. Lots of people don’t turn on their cameras. Even, you know, it can be, it can be as private as you want it to be. You can participate as much as you want. I think there’s low expectations for how much you’re gonna bring to the table in those situations. You can kind of feel it out and decide how much you wanna be involved.

Caroline: You know, I sometimes struggle with social anxiety and feeling, like, really introverted in new situations, so I could see myself, like, popping in, no camera, with, like, an alias the first time, just observing, and then coming in as myself the next time. Is that allowed?

Helen: And never telling them.

Caroline: Yeah, like, who’s that mysterious person? I don’t know. You never know.

Helen: You never know.

Caroline: On the flip side, you may not even need to meet new people to sew with others. All you need is one friend or family member who can sew and a plan. Sarah wrote, “My best friend, who lives about 90 minutes away, and I have occasional crafty overnights where we get together at one of our houses for a sewing slumber party.”

Helen: Ooh, okay. That sounds amazing. Absolutely love this idea. I would be tempted to blow past my sewing curfew and just sew all night long, like 2:00 AM, sewing an invisible zipper against all of my instincts.

Caroline: I know. Yeah. I feel like I’d have to do really easy steps in the middle of the night. Too risky.

Helen: It is so cute, though. You could plan to get up early and get sewing right away while you have your coffee. It’s so smart.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: Hayley wrote, of course, “Of course, every possible minute I can get to the sewing room I sew. However, recently my sister and I have started having sewing retreat sleepovers at my house! She arrives early in the morning, we sew, we fabric shop, we watch and listen to sewing content. Then we have dinner and sew some more. Then once we’ve sewn the things, we turn on the twinkly lights, put on some tunes from the 70-00’s, open the bar and sing and dance, gossiping and laughing at old memories. We try to align these nights with the moon cycles so we can enjoy watching the full moon rise or celebrate a seasonal solstice or equinox. Ahh, the serenity.”

Caroline: Oh my gosh. I love this idea. I love the idea of setting it up so that it kind of lines up with the moon cycle. So witchy and wonderful.

Helen: It’s so witchy. It’s so smart. I love it. It’s so cute. It sounds like a blast, honestly. It sounds like exactly my kind of day/night.

Caroline: Yeah. I like the idea of being like, we get the sewing done and then we have a party. It’s like a full 24-hour affair. Yeah.

Helen: Make the most of it.

Caroline: You can fit a lot in. Very inspiring. Roslyn wrote, “We have sewing birthdays in our family. My aunties, cousins, and siblings get together and sew.”

Helen: Oh, I love this. If you have a big sewing family, it’s a great way to sew together regularly. I wanna know if you do sewing themed birthday cakes, like, like a birthday cake that’s, like, shaped like a dress or, like…

Caroline: Oh my gosh, yes.

Helen: Oh, it’d be so fun. No, this is a great idea. If you have a fellow sewist, plan a sewing birthday party.

Caroline: Yes, I love it. Maybe we should do a sewing retreat for my birthday. I would love that.

Helen: Ooh. And November is a great time to do a retreat ’cause it’s usually kind of rainy and you wanna be cozy inside. Let’s do it.

Caroline: Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right. Even though these themed events are inspiring, it’s totally okay to just keep it simple and relaxed. @hill_and_dale_quilts wrote, “Bring quilt binding to the porch and my aunt will 100% offer to hand stitch binding with me.”

Helen: Ooh, this is ideal. I’m envisioning a sunny afternoon, some iced tea, some juicy gossip, sitting on the porch. You’ve got your blanket built in when you’re doing hand binding.

Caroline: So cute. I love it.

Helen: Lexi wrote, “My friends do Sew Nights where we hang out and do the sewing tasks we hate to get motivated!”

Caroline: Yes. This seems like a great way to procrastinate. Like, I’m about to do this sewing step I hate, so let’s just save it for Sew Night. But then you get it done in the end. It’s definitely easier to do an annoying sewing step when you’ve got fun people cheering you on.

Helen: Yeah, I could see this being really fun.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: To close out this episode, we have I think our best voicemail ever.

Caroline: Oh my gosh. It’s so good.

Helen: We’re gonna let Mary and Claire take it from here.

Mary: Hi, Carolyn. Hi Helen. This is Mary.

Claire: And I’m Claire.

Mary: We are two sewing buddies who met about 12 years ago while working at the same sewing shop in our city. We spent countless hours at work discussing all things sewing, and we’ve continued this love even though we have both retired and live in different cities. We meet up once a month, today at my house, and the kitchen becomes our work room. Machines, patterns, thread, et cetera, festoon the floor, tables, and chairs.

Claire: We even have a mission statement: But coffee first.

Mary: Discussions and show and tell begin our day. Machines are ready but not often used. Iron is plugged in and snacks cover the table. We break for lunch. More coffee, chocolate, and then we may get to do some actual sewing.

Claire: We plan when our next guild meeting will be, and sometimes it’s a road trip to a thrift shop, attending a workshop, a new spot to purchase fabric, et cetera. Always, though, with the mission statement: But coffee first.

Mary: Our other talent, however, is making up short videos, songs, and ditties. So we’ve written a little song that sums up our IRL time together. Full disclosure, our vintage status had us look up what “IRL” stands for. This is a song by Mary and Claire called “We Need a Little Sewing,” with apologies to “We Need a Little Christmas.”

Mary and Claire: Pull out the fabric

Pick out the pattern

Make a shirt, no, a coat again

You pour the coffee

I’ll get the pins and pattern

Clear the table, we’re on

For we need a little sewing

Right his very minute

Machines are primed and ready

Patterns out.

Yes, I can pin it

Need to get the iron

Got the interfacing

You can cut, I’ll mark the fabric

Get the spray bomb, we’ve got static

Fill up the bobbins

Replace the needle

Shoot, oh no. Where’s the foot control?

I’ll thread the serger

Go get the dress form

Oh my gosh, we are so on a roll

For we’ve grown a little closer

Grown a little smarter

Learned a lot from YouTube.

Challenge one another

We still need to get together

Keep each other going

We need a little sewing now

Let’s plan a road trip

I need a dress this summer

Got some good ideas

Silk, linen, cotton

A simple pattern, something we can sew in a day

‘Cause we need to get together

Keep the sewing going

Keep each other busy

Get each other motivated

Sharpen up your scissors

See you next week, Wednesday

We need a little sewing now!

But coffee first.

Helen: But coffee first.

Caroline: Oh, I loved it so much.

Helen: It was in my head all day after I first heard it. I was, like, walking around my house, like “Need a little sewing. Got to get together.”

Caroline: It’s so good.

Helen: It’s so good. Mary and Claire. Absolute friendship goals. I loved it so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Caroline: Yes. I think we’re gonna have to add “write a sewing-themed song” to the docket for our next sewing session, Helen.

Helen: Oh my gosh. It’d be so fun. And if anyone else out there wants to write a sewing song and send it in, uh, we will play it on the show.

Caroline: Oh, 100%. Yes. Oh my gosh. Okay, so there are so many fun ways to sew with others, whether it’s meeting new people at an established organization, inviting your loved ones over for a few hours, or setting up your tablet and getting on Zoom. We hope this episode inspires you to try it out. It definitely inspired me. I wanna do some more sewing IRL.

Helen: We have to schedule our next Zoom sewing date. We haven’t had one in a little while, so gotta do that. And I’m loving the idea of a sewing birthday retreat. Caroline, we need to do that.

Caroline: Yes! Let’s do it.

Helen: That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen, at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. and Caroline at Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That’s over 75 hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Helen: Head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Preferably do it in song, please. Or you can send us an email at hello@lovetosewpodcast.com.

Caroline: Thank you to our amazing podcast team for a great season. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you all for listening. We will talk to you next season.

Helen: Next season and over on Patreon.

Caroline: Bye.

Related Episodes