Join us for the KC ASG Annual Meeting!
Saturday, 10/29/2022 at 9am - We are meeting at The Fabric Chic in Parkville, MO

We will start the morning with a short chapter business meeting and the election of officers.

After elections, our speaker will be Sandy Cahill of “Be Weave Me” textile art business.  Sandy showcases her hand woven and hand knitted textile art in Art Galleries and Juried Art Shows throughout the Kansas City Area. In her Parkville, Missouri studio, Sandy hand weaves fabric using her large floor loom. From the hand woven fabric, Sandy creates
unique organically shaped textile sculptural art as well as original design wearable art garments.

This sure to be an interesting and original presentation.

The Southeastern Jackson County Neighborhood Group will be hosting
a community service sew-in on Saturday, September 24, 2022 beginning
at 9:00 am.. The location is Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 350 SW
150 Highway, Lee's Summit MO. Our focus will be on sewing purses for
SewPowerful.org. Anyone may attend, we will need those who can cut
patterns, assemble kits, and of course, sew the purses together.

Sew Powerful, a non-profit organization, asks seamstresses from around
the world to make and donate a purse for a schoolgirl in Zambia. The
purse is filled with re-usable feminine hygiene supplies made by those
employed in Zambia by Sew Powerful. The girl receives the purse and
supplies in her health training class to enable her to attend school all
month and improve her academic performance. We will sew cross-body
purses from the free pattern provided by Sew Powerful and contribute to
their goal of 24,000 purses

If you need additional information about the sew-in, please contact
Debbie Cole (816) 520-7437.

I hope everyone is enjoying these first few days of Summer!    

My sewing has been slow these past few months as I learn new skills.   I’ve been expanding my bag making skills and working on improving my cutting/tracing skills with a projector.   I enjoy expanding my sewing skillset beyond my normal garment sewing, but it sure does slow me down!   Do you enjoy learning new techniques or trying sewing projects that are outside your “normal” sewing? 

By now you should have received the invitation to attend the national ASG conference scheduled for June 30-July 3 in Austin Texas.   There is still time to sign-up for classes.  If you are interested in attending this event you can find more information on the American Sewing Guild website – asg.org.
 
All of our neighborhood groups are back to meeting in person and I encourage you to attend a neighborhood group meeting to spend time with those who share your sewing interests.
 
Happy Sewing!
Jill

We are excited to announce the 3rd Annual Kansas City ASG Sew-In!   Join us Friday Feb 25 - Sunday Feb 27 for dedicated sewing time and Camaraderie.   Unity Village hotel has a conference room where we will set up and sew for the weekend.   The room is accessible to you around the clock, but will be locked when no one from our group is using the space.   There are a large number of restaurants nearby with lunch and dinner options.   
Registration is available here - Sew-in Registration

As I write this letter, the holiday season is upon us.     I know many of you are sewing gifts for loved ones this year.   I hope those gifts of your time and effort provide joy for both you and the recipients.    Isn’t it wonderful to be able to show our friends and family our love through sewing?!
 
Thank you to everyone who participated in our virtual Annual election this year.   The 2022 Chapter Advisory Board members are as follows:
 
President – Jill Moore
Treasurer – Robin Pruitt
Secretary – Jeannie New
Education/Events – Karin Kraft-Stuppy
Member – Debra Cole
Community Service – Judy Foglio
Newsletter – Karen Nelson Bland
 
If you are interested in volunteering on the Board, or have suggestions, please reach out to one of us.   The email addresses for all CAB members can be found on the chapter website – kansascityasg.org
 
Our 3rd Annual Sew-In scheduled for February 25, 26, and 27, 2022!   We will post a link for registration before the end of the year.

​I hope everyone is enjoying these first few sunny days of Summer!

Are you the type of sewist who buys fabric for a specific project and sews it up right away, or do you have an ever growing stash of fabric? I fall firmly in the stash camp and I’ve made an effort in the past few months to sew from stash. It has
been fun, and daunting, to go through my collected fabrics to find fabric for upcoming projects.

By now you should all have received an email from the national ASG office notifying you of the rescheduled annual conference dates – Oct 21-Oct 24 in Newport Beach, CA.

Our chapter is also holding a sew-in that weekend Oct 22-Oct 24 at Unity Village. If you are not able to attend the national conference I hope you are able to attend our local sew-in for a chance to spend time with other sewists.
 
Happy Sewing!

I've been thinking today about how much the technology of garment sewing has changed in the last two decades. It wasn’t that long ago that pdf patterns were introduced allowing many small designers to sell patterns without the costs of printing and maintaining a stock of physical patterns. I find myself primarily using pdf patterns now both for the unique styles offered and the ease of obtaining a pdf pattern whenever the mood strikes.

In the past 14 months or so, the idea of using a projector to display the pattern image directly onto fabric (or tracing paper) has really taken off. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with this new technology as well. Many of those same small designers who started out with pdf files have embraced this new format and now offer projector files.

In addition to changes in pattern formats, there has been an explosion of tutorials and sewalongs available on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and on designer’s websites.
I wonder how many new sewists are drawn in by the easy accessibility of inspiration and tutorials any time and any place?

Has your sewing been influenced by changes in technology?
Happy Sewing!
Jill

As I write this letter, the holiday season is upon us. I know many of
you are sewing gifts for loved ones this year. I hope those gifts of your
time and effort provide joy for both you and the recipients. Isn’t it
wonderful to be able to show our friends and family our love through
sewing?!
Thank you to everyone who participated in our virtual Annual Chapter
meeting this year. We had a very interesting presentation by Linda
Lee of The Sewing Workshop as well as the election of the Chapter
Advisory Board for the 2021. The 2021 Chapter Advisory Board
members are as follows:
President – Jill Moore
Treasurer – Robin Pruitt
Secretary – Katie Teach
Education/Events – Karin Kraft-Stuppy
Member – Debra Cole
Community Service – Judy Foglio
Newsletter – Karen Nelson Bland
If you are interested in volunteering on the Board, or have suggestions,
please reach out to one of us. The email addresses for all CAB
members can be found on the chapter website – kansascityasg.org
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic we have cancelled the 3rd
Annual Sew-In scheduled for February 2021. We hope to reschedule
the sew-in for a Fall 2021 date assuming it is safe to do so.
In good news, we will be able to hold the Gail Yellen event scheduled
for March either in-person or by live stream. More information to come
on that event.

What a strange year this has been!    I had hoped that by Fall and our annual meeting date we would be safely meeting in-person again.    Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey regarding your preferred annual meeting experience.   Based on the responses we will hold our annual meeting virtual.   Our annual meeting will be held October 24.
 
The election of officers will occur by survey and proxy vote.   We will send out the survey and proxy ballot information in the next 2-3 weeks.   
 
Karin Kraft-Stuppy does have a great annual meeting program planned with guest speaker Linda Lee of The Sewing Workshop.   Linda’s presentation will be available to all KC ASG members at no cost.   A link to the video presentation will be sent out closer to the meeting date.
 
Since we will not be able to have our traditional fashion show at the annual meeting, I thought it would be fun to put together a slideshow of our chapter member's favorite projects since the last meeting.    If you would like to participate in the slide show, please email admin@kansascityasg.org 1-3 photos of sewn items (garment, quilt, bag, etc.) that you would like to share with the chapter.    If you would like to include information about your item(s) we will include that in the slide show.
 
With the cooler weather upon us I’ve started in on my Fall sewing.   I hope each of you is able to get in some relaxing sewing time, too.    
 
Many of our chapter neighborhood groups are meeting virtually or socially distanced during this time.  
I encourage you to try out a neighborhood or special interest group to meet friends on a similar sewing journey.
 
Happy Sewing!
Jill