It’s National Sewing Month! You might remember our blog from last year celebrating the national holiday for sewists and quilters everywhere. Each September, the National Sewing Month website issues a new theme for the month. This year’s theme is “Spread Love, Stitch Love.” This is how they define the theme:
“Spread love — it takes just one stitch to start a thread of positivity and hope. Stitch love by sharing your talents, whether it's sewing a small gift, lending an encouraging word to another sewist, or using your creativity to sew for those less fortunate. Spread love, one stitch at a time. Happy National Sewing Month!”
We thought a lot about this year’s theme and the actions Thimbles has taken to “spread the stitch love.” This year, a lot of our sewists and quilters have had to tighten their purse strings. The threat of recession, an ongoing pandemic, and feeling generally burnt out have centered shops like Thimbles as welcome oases.
Over the last year or so, we’ve really tried to grow our slate of classes and events to enrich our sewing community, whether it’s about developing or refining skills or simply coming in for wine, cheese, and a fun little paint party. We want to be a home for sewists—both in Lockport, and online.
A lot of you have continued that spirit of spreading the stitch love by crafting donations for charities and churches. This truly is a cycle of love, and we’re happy and incredibly honored to be part of that cycle.
This year for National Sewing Month, we’d like to share some of our upcoming classes and events that we hope serve as respite from whatever pressures or stresses you’re currently experiencing. Many of these classes focus on growing your skill set, or learning more about the tools you already own so you can use them efficiently and beautifully. Also, many of these classes will show up on our class calendar in future months as well. Bookmark this blog for reference to easily find these classes in the future!
Things may feel tough sometimes, but we’ve always found a way to stitch through it all. Thank you so much for sewing along with us. We’ll see you at the cheese table.
Beginning Quilting Mosaic - Thursdays in September
Are you new to the fold? Every Thursday this month, Kay will teach Beginning Quilting using one of our favorite books, Fat Quarter Style. She’s teaching the very beginning basics, from reading a pattern to rotary cutting to ¼” seams. Students will learn to make the Mosaic Quilt, shown above as finished by one of our sewists, Mary Toepper Boyle.
Join us for Beginning Quilting here.
Baby Lock Serger Mastery - September 20 + Ongoing
Do you own a Baby Lock Serger? Wondering how to make the best use of it? Join us for Baby Lock Serger Mastery! We’re covering the ins and outs of threading, needles, changing settings, wave stitch, cover and chain stitch, and so much more. The best part? The class is FREE to customers who have purchased a Baby Lock Serger at Thimbles!
Sign up for Baby Lock Serger Mastery here.
Bernina Software Sampler - Ongoing
Bernina Software Sampler is an ongoing class series at Thimbles. Every month we cover something different so that you can embroider even more as you learn to use Bernina’s software in new ways. This month, on September 25, we’re joining Debbie Lashbrook to learn about CutWork in Version 9 software with three different designs.
Check out the upcoming Bernina Software Samplers here.
The Witch’s Wardrobe or Pumpkin Paint Party - September 30
We had such a blast at our last Paint Party that we decided to do it again! This event is all about having fun exploring a different craft. All supplies are included, and painters have the option of making the above painting or one featuring a pumpkin. This Friday night event also has wine and cheese—it’s a perfect start to the weekend!
Sign up for Paint Party.
Multi Hooping Embroidery - October 1 + Ongoing
Eyeing a design that’s too big for the hoop on your embroidery machine? Come learn how to multi hoop! In this class we’re working with 5 hoops to embroider the above design with perfect placement.
Sign up for Multi Hooping Embroidery.
Kimberbell North Pole - October 7 + 8
We’re really excited for our upcoming Kimberbell event, North Pole. In this 2-day event—which is available both virtually and in-person—we’re making 12 super-cute embroidered projects, all designed to fit on an adorable 3-tier tray. The tray is included to complete your Christmas display. You know we love Kimberbell! We expressed our affections earlier this year, so we’re very excited for this event.
Register for the Kimberbell North Pole event.
Sleep in Your Own Bed Retreat - October 10-13 (SOLD OUT)
Our previous Sleep in Your Own Bed retreat was a big success, and many of you asked if we’d consider doing it again. So, we are! For four days, our retreat attendees will come to our dedicated sewing space upstairs to work on whatever they’d like. The space will be outfitted with ironing boards and cutting tables, and Thimbles will provide lunch and dinner. Best of all, at the end of the day, you get to sleep in your own bed.
By the time we published this blog, the retreat was full. But given how quickly these retreats have sold out, we know it's something we'll do again in the future. We're including it here because it's a new type of event that we're really proud of stewarding in 2022—a great example of how Thimbles spreads the stitch love today and every day. Plus, readers can always come back here to click these links and see if we've added new dates for the next SiYOB retreat. Bookmark this page!
Keep an eye on future dates for the Sleep in Your Own Bed retreat here.
Ruler Work - Exploring the Westalee Sampler Set - October 15
Wondering how to use the 6 Westalee/Sew Steady rulers? This class explores some fun and easy design ideas that make great use of the set, like quilting over blocks, border designs, and all over quilt designs.
Sign up for Ruler Work here.
Free Motion Quilting - October 16 + Ongoing
In this class, you’ll learn how to free motion quilt using your own sewing machine—no rulers necessary. This class is all about raising your comfort level when working with your sewing machine. Learn how to confidently use your walking foot, do free-motion stippling, and so much more. Learning these skills and performing free motion quilting on your own is a great way to save money on your quilting projects, because you’re doing it all yourself!
Sign up for Free Motion Quilting.
Beginning Paper Piecing - October 18
This is our second round for Beginning Paper Piecing. So many of you signed up last time we hosted this class that we had to offer it again. In this class, quilters will learn the very basics of paper piecing to create the cute mini-heart quilt seen above. The above quilt was actually finished by one of our sewists, Cindy Tomaszek Vivian, in our previous class.
Register for Beginning Paper Piecing here.
Bernina Mastery - Sewing + Embroidery - Ongoing
New Bernina sewing machine owners should take advantage of our FREE Bernina Mastery series of classes focusing on sewing and embroidery. These are introductory-level courses designed to familiarize quilters with their new machines. The next round of classes occur on October 29, but be sure to check back in the future to catch new iterations of this ongoing series.
Register for Bernina Mastery classes here.
We hope you found one or more classes today that will help grow your skills as a quilter and sewist. If there’s something you’ve been dying to learn outside of our current offerings, let us know! Thimbles is always looking for ways to make our family a better, more well-rounded group of sewists and quilters. And remember: you can subscribe to our class calendar to receive updates whenever we add new classes to the Thimbles roster.
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