Koos van den Akker Master Techniques Workshop April 29-May 3, 2009

The Academy of fine Sewing & Design is excited to host a 5 day workshop featuring New York designer Koos van den Akker. Koos is a master at using garments as a canvas for his unusual collaborations of color and collage techniques. Students will have the opportunity to work on one of the many patterns he has designed for Vogue Patterns. This is a wonderful chance to study with someone so creative! For more information visit http://www.finesewing.com/

Paris Design and Inspiration Tour 2008

We have just returned from an inspiring trip to Paris. Highlights of the tour included a private tour of the Yves Saint Laurent workroom and archives, a cooking class at the Cordon Bleu, an embroidery class at the House of Lesage, a fashion show, a visit to a leather tradesman trained at Hermes and of course fabric shopping! The week concluded with trend forecasting storyboard presentations by the students. Great students, great food, loads of inspiration and a great time had by all! If you are interested in the Paris 2009 please e-mail me for more information.

Leather workshops

I ran two leather workshops this fall. Several students made jackets and one designed and drafted her own skirt pattern. Another created her own pattern for a panelled coat and used printed suede and lambskin. Students are often surprised at how easy leather is to sew, on a domestic sewing machine. All garments turned out beautifully! If you are unable to attend one of my leather workshops, Sewing Leather, a virtual CD contains everything I know about working with leather. For more information about the CD visit my website at http://www.finesewing.com/

New York Fashion Tour

We had a fantastic tour of New York last week! Some of the high lights included a walking tour of fabric, button, trim and bead shops, a private lecture at FIT, a visit to M&S Schmalberg and a visit with Koos van den Akker at his studio. Participants came back with lots of fabric and inspiration!
Contact The Academy to register for the 2009 Springtime in NY tour.

Issey Miyake Jacket

This is the new Issey Miyake pattern for Vogue V1052. I made it out of silk dupioni, underlined with silk organza and lined with china silk. It has a four button closure which is hidden underneath the collar. The back has ties. The collar is a draped double collar. I turned the edges under twice to finish. The entire garment was stitched with Tire 50 weight machine twist silk thread.

knitted shawl

This is my latest knitting project. It was a kit I purchased at the knitting expo in Chicago. The shawl is Merging Colors Adagio Shawl designed by Candace Eisner Strick www.Strickwear.com It is made from lace weight merino yarn dyed in 8 different shades. Three strands of yarn are always used and as new colors are introduced, a strand at a time, it gives a beautiful gradation of color. Candace provides more than enough yarn so I made the shawl about 4" longer than the pattern called for as I am fairly tall. It is finished with a ruffle and picot crocheted trim along the edges. It was a fun project to knit.

Shearling Jacket

Shearling is lamb leather or suede with the wool still attached. It comes in a variety of colors, lengths and finishes.
This is a shearling coat I just finished for my husband. It is a very dark brown/black suede with a bit of a distressed finish. The wool is short, tightly curled and is called snowy top. The underneath is a dark brown and the top is cream colored. I used Neue Mode pattern 23090 with lapped seam construction. All of the seams are double topstitched with Gutermann topstitching thread. The buttons are horn buttons. I made bound buttonholes and stitched a patch of the shaved suede to the wrong side to finish them off.
The Academy of fine Sewing & Design www.finesewing.com is offering a Shearling Jacket workshop November 12-16, 2008.