I Almost Forgot to Add a Title

One of the unexpected consequences of starting this new sewing school business is that I have had to get very intentional and organized about advertising, communicating to students, e-mail newsletters, posting on Facebook, etc. Those same things needed to be done for the podcast and I just hadn’t gotten my act together. You might think it would be confusing to have to manage two projects simultaneously, but there are so many similarities that it’s actually been much easier.

I think I am going to need a bigger desk planner, though.

One of my students from Saturday’s class came over yesterday morning to try out some vintage sewing machines. We chose three for her to take home to sew on. The first was a vintage pink-and-gray Japanese machine with a beefy 1.5 amp motor. It’s a beautiful machine and I have been waiting for the right owner to come along. She did like that one. She also took a straight-stitch Necchi Mira and a Singer 401A. She wasn’t sure if she wants zig-zag and decorative stitch capabilities or not. We’ll see which machine she settles on. (She only has room for one.)

Another of my sewing friends (hi, Kim!) came over to get the Cashmerette Concord T-shirt pattern for next Tuesday’s T-shirt class. I set up wholesale accounts with a few indie pattern companies and Cashmerette was one of them. I also tried to set up a wholesale account with Simplicity.com, but I was told that I did not qualify. Oh, well.

And then The Other Janet came over to get more squash (hallelujah). She brought me a jar of spiced pear jam. I tried it after she left and it was all I could do not to eat the entire jar. I’ll stir some into my yogurt this morning.

In between all those visits, I recorded today’s podcast episode and also made the class sample for Saturday’s tote bag class. I am using the Classic Mini Tote pattern purchased from Pin, Cut, Sew Studio. The kits are are all cut and ready to go. This is my version:

I used canvas left over from some other projects with a waxed canvas bottom. The tote is not lined, but it is finished nicely inside. I serged my inside edges and I’ll take my Juki 654 with me to class on Saturday so the students can finish the insides of theirs.

This whole sewing school thing has really been an example of “If you build it . . .” I started by putting a few basic classes on the calendar, but if anyone asked for a class, I scheduled it. And once I scheduled it, other people signed up. I now have four students in the Serger 101 class at the end of the month. I am going to expand my advertising down to Missoula, because I think there are people there who would drive to Kalispell for a class.

I have another Beginning Sewing class this morning, and then I will spend the afternoon in Kalispell running errands. The chickens need need feed and scratch grains.