December 2020
The Colorado Chapter met in December after Christmas and the non-business part of the meeting was a Sew and Tell. Members shared information about sewing related gifts, quilts, new garments, and garment alterations, and pattern drafting.
Karen shared two books she had received: A Stylish Guide to Classic Sewing and The Year I Made 12 Dresses.
Carol shared a new thin light table by CutterPillar that she had received and noted how much it helped her when sewing the hem of a garment because she could then see between the fibers.
Marci had seen a quilted garment in a recent Vogue magazine and decided she could do the same. She showed us her garment completed with large half-square triangles down the front. Marci also showed a picture of herself wearing a beautiful navy blue 1800’s ball gown.
Karen also shared a picture of a quilt she had recently completed. She used quilting rulers (acrylic templates) to do the quilting.
Pat wore an outfit she had made of a silver top and black pants. She also showed a picture that inspired her current quilt in progress. Then she revealed the pieces that been cut and pinned to foam board.
Denise talked about doing a rub off of a Burda pattern and comparing various patterns to find what fits her body best.
Anne showed a test garment she had made for another designer and how she had modified the garment to make its flowing pleats more manageable for construction. She also shared how she had graded the pattern by entering different measurements into TUKA Cad software.
Carol also shared the unique features in her muslin that follows her unique body shape. And the result of cutting this pattern out of cardstock to give her a usable dress form.
Yvonne showed how she took two garments with holes and used one to repair the other, leaving her with one garment that fit. She also showed us a horse-riding shirt she made for the holidays with a beer bottle pattern because she belongs to a riding group that celebrates Christmas by bringing beer. She also showed us the pj’s she had made for her husband.
November 2020
After several months of no meetings due to Covid, the Colorado chapter restarted its meetings in November using the National ASDP’s GoToMeeting account. For several months these were business only meetings, while we figured out what type of topics would work well in the video conferencing environment.
Our first meeting with a technical presentation was held November 23, 2020. We invited Amy Ashworth to discuss her role on the National ASDP Board. Amy is Vice President of Member Engagement, which is an expansion of the former VP of Chapter Relations. She is also the moderator behind the Discussion List; contact for the relaunched monthly Newsletter; and curator for Voices, which is the online meeting for all formal members.
As VP of member engagement, Amy is looking for ways to help members increase business profits, make more people aware of ASDP, and find ways to acknowledge the great work of the membership.
Amy’s business is A C Ashworth & Company, which mostly does menswear. As part of her business, she uses StyleCAD to design patterns for her company and other designers. Members of our group discussed with her the pros and cons of various pattern making software.
January 2020
At our January 2020 meeting we did hand sewing – of gloves. Member Pat Bornmann led the group as we all learned the somewhat confusing aspect of how the thumb part attaches to the glove to form a gusset. Because this took a while to accomplish, we decided to continue making our gloves at a future (March) meeting