The Magical Makerie Sewing Retreat!

Jaime and I had a fantastic time at the Makerie Sewing retreat at Chautauqua. We spent the weekend taking workshops from instructors that Ali of the Makerie brought to Colorado from all over.

Our little pop-up store     photo © Linda Winski

Amy Butler stopped by our shop on her way to the Makerie and Fancy Tiger customers and staff gave her a warm welcome to Colorado.

     photo © Linda Winski

This was the first Makerie focusing solely on sewing, and it was a dream come true. The instructors were Amy Butler, Liesl Gibson, Jenny Hart, Heather Jones, Kaari Meng, Tamar Morgdorff and Cal Patch--amazing ladies and inspiring crafters each and every one!

Wonderful ladies Heather, Kaari, Liesl, Amy, Jenny, Cal and Tamar     photo © Linda Winski

Kaari of French General taught a workshop on shibori indigo dyeing techniques. Jaime and Sadie both took this class and made some stunning fabrics.and hand-dyed lace.

Kaari, Jaime and Sadie     photo © Linda Winski

Jaime and I both took Cal Patch's Design Your Own Clothes class, and learned to draft dresses and skirts to our own body measurements. Everyday Cal wore cute dresses and leggings and crocheted shawls that she made--totes adorable. We can't wait to stitch up our new custom garments!

Cal Patch and Heather Jones

Tamar Mogendorff taught a soft sculpture workshop where we learned to mix our stitching with materials like wire and cardboard to create sculptures. Tamar's sculptures are an amazing blend of art and hand craft, so inspiring.

Tamar with her birdcage      photo © Linda Winski

Liesl Gibson is known for the garment patterns she designs under the name Oliver + S. and Lisette, but at the Makerie she taught a class on smocking. Smocking is a hand stitching technique that makes beautiful pleated embellishments. Jaime took Liesl's class and learned how to smock while making a necklace. Smocking was passed on to Liesl from her grandmother so it was a special craft to learn from an amazing woman.

Liesl wearing her smocked necklace

On the left is a sample of smocking from Liesl's grandmother, the right is Liesl's modern take on smocking

Emily, Liesl, Jaime, Cal, Amber, Heather, and Ali     photo © Linda Winski

♥♥♥ Having miss-out syndrome? The Makerie now has a Summer Series--three single-day mini-Makeries that will include a farm dinner at Lyons Farmette. Perfect for locals! Jaime and I will be teaching handspun at the June one, so come have fun with us there! ♥♥♥

New! Embroidered Effects by Jenny Hart!

Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching has just published a new book chock-full of exciting embroidery inspiration. Included are tons of ideas for fashion embellishment and home decorating projects, as well as iron-on transfers to get you stitching away.


Embroidered effects has all the basic stitch instructions and tips for beginners, but also includes great instructions for combining basic stitches for amazing borders and decorations. Sweet.


Hand stitched goodies make great gifts so it's time to get started on your holiday gift crafting, ladies and gents!

New! Sublime Stitching Kits and Journal!

New from Sublime Stitching--two kits and one adorable journal by Jenny Hart.

Embroider your own set of crafty greeting cards with the Sublime Stitching Stitchable Stationary kit. It includes embroidery needles, colorful floss, and six cards preprinted with greetings, birds, nesting dolls and more. Everything you need for extra special handcrafted greetings.


The new Sublime Stitching Baby Bib Embroidery Kit has everything you need to make two super adorable bibs for the cutest baby in town, including six reusable iron on patterns, two bibs, an embroidery needle and colorful embroidery floss, plus easy to follow illustrated instructions.


Also new from Jenny Hart--this cute journal for crafty folks. Or the horse lovers out there. We happen to be both, as you may know, so we think it is the bees knees. Or the knobby foals knees.