This marked my third year teaching at Road to California and it was the best by far. I had four classes, Thursday through Sunday, focusing on fabrics that many are intimidated by: minky, double gauze and knits. I’d spent hours and hours over the last few weeks prepping kits and samples for the classes and it was all worth it.
On Thursday, we made Ellie Elephants using the pattern from Funky Friends Factory and Luxe Cuddle Heather Fog from Shannon Fabrics, along with a couple of solid Cuddle minky fabrics. They turned out so well and everyone was so happy with their elephants! I saw a couple of students walking the show floor with them later and it was adorable. Look how pleased they were!
We switched to Embrace double gauze on Friday and made more Bondi tops. I completely forgot to take photos of the finishes, but I swear they were happy, too! People learned how to work with the fabric (everyone is always surprised how easy it actually is) and found a new easy-to-sew-but-still-really-cute pattern. It’s one of my favorites, honestly, so if you are looking to get (back?) into garment sewing, the Bondi Top from Sew to Grow is great.
I found another favorite for Saturday’s class when we tackled knits. My friend Cindy has been asking me to teach a knits class, so I proposed it to Road2CA and they bit. The class sold out the first day registration was open — crazy! We had 18 women in class and every one of them walked away with a new tee shirt made from the Lark Tee pattern by Grainline Studio. I love the pattern because it has a variety of style choices: scoop neck, V-neck, crew neck and boat neck, plus cap, short, 3/4s and long sleeves. Whew, so many options! We ended up with quite a variety at the end of class.
On Sunday morning, we made up a bunch of self-binding blankets in a room full of BabyLock machines (which made me extra happy since I sew on a Crescendo in the studio). It’s such a great, easy project that makes sewing with Cuddle minky super easy.
On that final afternoon I wandered through the quilts and found my friend Gail Weiss‘ submission. She had started it just after I’d moved to California (we’d been in the Portland Modern Quilt Guild together) and I’d watched as she worked on it over the next year. It was wonderful to see it online, but I was extra grateful to see it in-person. You know how some things are just better in real life? This was definitely one of them. (BTW, you can make your own with her pattern.)
Teaching at Road to California is always a favorite of mine — it’s a bunch of quilters and sewists, intense classes and close enough I can sleep in my own bed. 🙂 Next week I hit the road again, heading out to teach at The Fabric Shop in Ruston, Louisiana, then I’ll fly north to Puyallup, Washington for the Sewing & Stitchery Expo. That’s gonna be another fun week of classes–I can’t wait!
Happy sewing!
