Inspiration: Nashville

My husband and I took a long weekend trip to Nashville last weekend. I had been a couple of times before in my corporate event planning days, but this was the first one that wasn't filled with early wake-up times, insides of convention centers and client entertaining!

We had an incredible time (I'll give you our "perfect" itinerary if you want!) filled with music, food, vintage shopping, SLEEPING and fabric shop prowling.

He's a good sport for putting up with fabric shop adventures!

First up was Craft South in the 12 South neighborhood (my favorite). Not going to lie... I had a major fan girl moment when I realized that this was Anna Maria Horner's shop (for the uninitiated, she is a fabulous fabric designer with Free Spirit). She just opened at the end of May after 2 years of pop-up classes and workshops and her store is swoon-worthy for a sewing junkie like me. Her assistant was wonderful and spent a good half hour talking "shop" with me. I have so many new ideas for all of you! After touching almost every bolt and skein in there, I settled on a bag of her scraps (I do love scraps).


And THEN I got to have ice cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. I love ice cream as much as I love fabric and Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream is my go to recipe book. Fabric, ice cream and some live music-- I was in heaven!

Ok, but this post is about inspiration!

My 3 year old loves postcards. It seriously makes buying him gifts when we travel so easy because he's over-the-moon happy with a 50cent postcard. I buy 2 to make it seem like I'm a big spender. These things are treasured and get beyond ratty so I keep filling his stash.

I figured a guitar might appeal to a 3 year old more than Elvis, so I picked up these neon filtered ones. When I got home the colors just jumped at me and I scrambled to my stash to find some fabrics to go with it. (No joke: got home late last night, woke up, unpacked, found cards, went to stash-- some may say it's a problem!)

I'm not sure if I'm going to make anything with this pull, but I love taking something ordinary and figuring out how to make it textile.

Starting with an inspiration piece like a postcard is also good to help me get out of my color comfort zone. When I'm dreaming up colors for a project, especially quilts, my default is always turquoises and yellows/oranges. I don't know why. I ALWAYS start there and then have to remind myself there's only so many turquoise and yellow quilts I can own. I love different color combinations but sometimes it's hard to break out of our default. I love these fabrics together but probably wouldn't have pulled them on my own in a million years!

What inspires you??

Happy Stitching!
Laura

Summer Party Project: Beach Tote Bag

At Stitch we want to bring you projects that you LOVE. That's one of the best parts of sewing: everything can be your own style, functional and become a favorite piece of your wardrobe or home. Each of our projects was carefully selected but I felt like something was missing. I wanted something that screamed SUMMER!!!!! Then I came across this fabulous beach tote pattern from A Radiant Home. Sara (A Radiant Home Sara, not our Sara!) so graciously made this pattern free and then gave us permission to teach you how to make it! So for a limited time we are offering a Summer Beach Tote Party! We'll only teach this until Labor Day (and then move on to something a little chai latte and rustling leave like) so BOOK NOW!!

I played with a couple of ways to make this and any way you do it-- it's awesome. I'd like to think that I'll use it for a day lounging at the beach reading my vintage needlecraft book, but more likely I'm hauling it to the splash pad with my kiddos. It fits towels, change of clothes, snacks, water bottles, and then some. Perfection.

Now's a perfect time to give you a run down of how our parties work! First, get together a group of your crafty (or craft-wannabe) friends and let's find a good date and time. Parties run about two hours which is perfect for some eats, some drinks and lots of sewing!

Next you pick a project (may I suggest this beach tote, hint hint). We bring everything to you! A selection of fabrics pre-cut, all the notions and hardware, our sewing machines and all our tools. All you have to do is give us some room to set up (we'll discuss exactly what we need in our first phone call) and be ready to have fun!

We have tons of gorgeous fabrics in our shop (the pattern calls for canvas and our shop is quilting cotton, but we have a trick to make that work!). We also have a really fun selection of vintage heavyweights not yet listed. It took everything in my being to not cut into that coral floral below and save it for you.

Or if lake lounging is more your style...

And if you're feeling a little crazy we have this gem.... In fact, we have enough of it to make a complete luggage set! Eek.

Let's get stitching! Summers go by so fast so make some time for you and your girlfriends and have some fun! If you have an idea for a project let us know below!

To learn more about our parties check out our website.

Meet The Sewist: Sara Colby, co-owner of Hartford Stitch

Meet the Sewist is our monthly series to introduce some of the many creative sewists and makers we have in our community! Whether you are a new sewist or have decades of experience, sell your work or sew just for yourself, we want to meet you! If you're interested in being featured please send an email to hartfordstitch {at} gmail {dot} com.

 glimpse of a rag quilt I made one of my daughters for her first Christmas  - me in a nutshell: prints on prints on prints!

Introduce yourself!

Hello, I'm Sara - co-owner of Hartford Stitch... the Garfunkel to Laura's Simon! I live here in Hartford county with my husband and 3 girls (2 crazy-fun daughters and 1 just-plain-crazy bulldog!) As a general rule of thumb, I abide by the philosophy that; if it's colorful, bright, and printed/patterned...sign me up! When I'm not hoarding and/or rolling around in fabric I love spending time with my family, traveling (bonus points if said travels involve fabric,) collecting vintage Lilly Pulitzer, and being at the beach. I'm so excited to share my love of textiles, making, and sewing with fellow enthusiasts via Hartford Stitch.

in my natural state... making eyes at this vintage Lilly Pulitzer/Zuzek patchwork 

When did you start sewing?

Although my mom, who is a grand master of all things art/making related, taught me how to sew when I was young, I opted to 'let her' sew all of the outfits and costumes I would design. I suppose you could say I had an appreciation for efficiency at a young age... ;-)
Upon graduating college, moving to Chicago, and getting my first corporate job I realized I desperately missed making and needed a creative outlet. Growing up in an environment that celebrated, perhaps even demanded, creativity and then moving away from that art room (both literally & figuratively) gave me the push I needed to sit back down at my machine, drop that presser foot, and get my show back on the road! 

reversible bag in a more subtle (for me) print combination 

                                   

What do you like about sewing/making?

In a word - freedom. I love being able to make something exactly as I envision it, from the design process all the way through execution. Being able to customize every single detail to my exact specifications, not to mention the ability to edit as I go, is such an incredible feeling. As someone who loves color and print mixing, I love having the ability to make something myself rather than be at the mercy of whatever 'on trend' choices are out there.
To me, the freedom of being able to sew and make opens up a entire new world of options after the initial inspiration phase. As a quick contrast, the most frustrating thing about making/sewing is the fact that there are never enough hours in the day. I feel so fortunate to live in a world where inspiration is all around me (my kids, my incredibly talented mom, my creative friends, the natural beauty of the 4 seasons here in Connecticut, social media, etc) and as a direct result, my project list gets added to at 4x the rate projects get checked off. 

                   

tiered 'chiquita banana' ruffle skirt I made for my 3 year old - same print in 3 different colorways

What is your favorite thing to sew? Least favorite?
To be really specific, I love foundation (paper) piecing. Laura introduced me to this method and I was instantly hooked. What I describe as 'tracing with a sewing machine,' I love how precise I can be without the 'pressure' of traditional piecing. My favorite thing to sew with is: anything bright, colorful, printed, and cotton woven. Hemming is my least favorite sewing to do and anything stretchy is my least favorite material to sew... so hemming minky is my idea of a 'time out' at my machine. 

I wasn't lying when I said I like print mixing - and yes, those are tigers and monkeys!

Where do you sew? Tell us about your sewing space.
I will preface this by saying that my husband is a saint - my sewing room is the room that was formerly the dining room. Where many families have tastefully decorated walls and beautiful furniture in their dining room... ours has metallic gold stenciled walls and more sequins that you can shake a stick at. There is nothing subtle about it, but it makes me smile every time I'm in there and I'm proud that my husband values my happiness more than 'what the neighbors may say.' Plus, we've been in our house for 5 years now... the neighbors are all well aware of the fact that I'm a crazy lady!

gold stenciled wall in my sewing room - it's a look! 

What other kind of making do you like to do?
I embroider on occasion (by machine and hand) and if it's not moving, chances are it's mod-podged. I love a good themed event or space and having 2 girls means the sky is the limit in terms of how ridiculous I can be when planning their birthday parties and rooms. One of my most vivid "pregnancy memories" is sitting on my couch decoupaging Cece's changing table bins to match the theme of her room... while struggling to stop knocking over the jar of mod-podge with my giant belly.

if you can't find table linens and doilies that match... make them! 

Where do you find your inspiration?
I feel like such an old lady for saying this (you mean the information is INSIDE the computer?!) but I am continuously blown away by how accessible inspiration is via social media. Between pinterest, instagram, and a couple sewing communities I keep up with on facebook... the things people think of are not only incredible, they are right there on my phone, in my family room! How lucky are we to live in a day and age where people are making such beautiful things and sharing them in real time on the internet?
Along with all of the incredible sewists out there who inspire me, my mom is truly one of the most creative and inspirational makers I've ever known. I feel so privileged to have grown up in a house where creativity was an expression of love and vice versa. Between my mom's creativity and incredible talent for making anything (seriously, it's sort of ridiculous...) it never crossed my mind to be intimidated to try anything. Being able to throw yourself into making with such reckless abandon is truly a gift and, I believe, allows inspiration to come from any and all avenues.

not your traditional log cabin block ;-)

Thank you for letting me share my ramblings with you! We cannot wait to hear about you so please drop us a line at hartfordstitch{at}gmail{dot}com!!

Grand Opening Giveaway!!!

After months and months of hard work (and years and years of plotting and planning) we are so excited to have our Etsy shop, classes and parties available to the Hartford sewing community! We are so grateful for the wonderful response we received over the past 2 days and want to thank you in the best way we know how! Free sewing stuff!

We painstakingly cultivated our first fabric order to represent all that is wonderful about summer: moody grays of evenings spent on front porches, brilliant yellows and oranges of sunshine and flowers, flowers, flowers galore! And we want you to enjoy it as much as we do! The winner of a giveaway will receive (1) Fat Quarter (18" x 22") of each fabric we have in our shop. Believe me. You're going to love this fabric.

But what could be even better than oodles of fabric? (I know it's hard to imagine anything!) A $50.00 gift certificate that you can apply to one of our fabulous sewing parties or classes! (Must be used by 12/31/15).

Click here to check out all of our contest rules and then ENTER! ENTER!ENTER!

How to enter:
Like us on facebook. So simple! No sharing needed. No email collection. We just want to be your friend! Like us and let us you know you did in the comments on this post. We'll announce the winner on June 10th, 215 around noon EDT!

Disclaimer:
The sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associate with, Facebook. Facebook cannot be liable for anything related to this promotion.

Happy Fat (Quarter) Tuesday!

A cup of tea and some beautiful textiles to brighten up this rainy afternoon

Had anyone asked us several months ago what we thought the hardest part of starting Hartford Stitch would be, I'm fairly certain Laura and I would both have answered 'fabric selection.' Setting aside the fact that there are thousands of beautiful textiles to choose from, Laura and I come from two very different schools of thought regarding pattern and color.

Laura has an incredible eye for marrying prints and patterns across various lines and designers and a stash that reflects that, not to mention and equally impressive selection of blenders.

I, on the other hand, wouldn't know what to do with a blender if it magically stitched itself into a dress right before my eyes. Simply put, I am firmly a member of the 'prints match prints' camp and have never met a bright color I didn't like. If some print is good, more print is better!

A snapshot of some fabrics in my stash

While fabric shopping together last summer, Laura held up a more muted pink blender and asked what I thought. 

"Eh, it's too neutral." 

"This? No, it's pink."

"Right... but it's 'just' pink. Solids are neutral." 

At this point Laura stared at me in disbelief, shook her head, and put the plain jane pink fabric back. 

Fast forward to April, 2015 where the two of us needed to pick 15 fabrics from literally 100s of stunning options at Art Gallery Fabrics. Our plan of attack (mission impossible?) was: we will hole up in our separate corners, pick our individual top 10s, cross our fingers that maybe 1 overlapped, and see what happened. Talk about putting a lot of faith in the textile gods!

What ended up happening was nothing short of a fabric miracle: we picked not 1, not 2, but 4 of the same prints, out of 100s of options! To top that off, another one we had picked was the same print, only in different colorways. What. was. going. on? Had all of our time spent rolling around in each others' stashes mutually effected us? Were solids no longer a neutral? We may never know... but after this incredibly long winded back story, I am so excited to share with you 9 of the stunning fabrics we've carefully (and some may say miraculously) cultivated for Hartford Stitch.

Without further ado,

 Don't you just want to dive right in?

top row, from left: sacred seeds, latticework, summit twlight

middle row, from left: limestone feel pitahaya, sweet nostalgic, les points 

bottom row, from left: meadow of gold, stitched road, budquette nightfall 

It was an honor, privilege, and - quite frankly - a dream come true, to spend the afternoon cutting these beauties from the bolt. 

In case you are wondering why I needed to cut a fat quarter of every fabric listed in our shop, stay tuned for an exciting announcement tomorrow. Until then... have fun with fabric, mix and match until everything goes, and, as a talented sewist (Laura!) once told me... sew your "hart" out! 

xx