More things I discovered at SEWEXPO?
Maybe because I am having such ongoing issues with my neck & shoulders, I sure noticed the various booths promoting sewing chairs & furniture. Seems like there are more of them? There also seemed to be quite a few classes focussing on planning & re-vamping your sewing room. Maybe because this is probably considered good business seeing as the stats tell us that 85% of sewers & quilters now have a dedicated sewing room. Gone are the days of sewing at the kitchen table, or a corner of a bedroom. We have “arrived” and are considered “serious enough” to have our own sewing room. WOOHOO!
Anyway, must mention Lois Hallock who gave a class on “Creating your Perfect Quilting Space”. I attended this short seminar and then eventually found her booth. I chatted with her about my issues and she was very kind: she actually measured me sitting in her fabulous sewing chair and told me what my “magic” number should be for getting my ergonomics sorted out for desk/computer/sewing/cutting tables. I am on a mission ………to improve all my working conditions so that I can become pain free in 2014. Also have just purchased new office lens glasses ……trying to get the correct focal length thing sorted out so that I am not straining my neck & shoulders by sticking my head out like a crazy chicken to see my computer properly! No use continuing to pay out for massage and physio if I don’t try to correct the cause of the problems! Why am I telling you this? Maybe you should take a look at your sewing/computer ergonomics so that your body can stay healthy and pain free?
- I also researched more about garment fitting and garment construction so looked closely at the Palmer Pletsch booth ending up buying quite a few different packages of interfacing to improve my planned garment construction fun this year………….but I run ahead of myself: 2013 was (as I shared before on this blog) The Year of the Bra for me. I had wanted to make my own bras literally for decades and finally got around to doing that last year. Lesson to self: don’t put off things you really want to do for that long as you may pleasantly surprize yourself…. and be sorry you did not do it sooner!
- 2014 is the Year of the pant for me. I am concentrating on re-learning and brushing up on skills so that I can make well fitting dress pants. I may get to denim jeans eventually but am starting with dress/smart pants. I want to move beyond my laziness of falling back on just making elastic-at-the waist pull-on pants. Yes, they are very comfy, but I think it is time to make something else too. So Marta Alto on “Bias Pants”; Linda Lee of The Sewing Workshop on “DIY Pants fitting” were of great interest to me.
SO, I have plenty suitable fabric in my stash for dress pants, have several suitable pants patterns……now I need to start fitting, cutting out & sewing up…….2014 is going to be a fun year………………
Janome Life 
Thanks for the wonderful pictures. I am still working on my sewing room, I took over our family room so have a nice BIG space. However, I have managed to fill it all up AGAIN with totes, more machines than one person can ever use at one time and junk. The picture of the shelving has given me many ideas. I just have to work out how to do organize shelves similar and keep the dust out – doors might just do the trick and also hide the untidiness when I get in it and root around and don’t have the time to straighten immediately.
I plan to sew some garments and continue with learning quilting as well. Pants are always a challenge for me as I can’t seem to lose the weight I would like. I have some gorgeous wool that is always calling me and I don’t listen – this may be the time.
Thanks again for your words of wisdom.
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