Last night we held our FIRST EVER sock monkey class at the Urban Craft Center! Each participant brought with them a pair of socks that were transformed into these kitschy little creatures. The studio space was full of creative energy and conversation as we worked into the evening. Everyone in the class went home with a new friend and the know-how to create their own sock monkey in the future! Be sure to join in on our next sock monkey making madness on August 25th from 5-9 pm!

Christine Haynes taught another sold-out Intro to Sewing class yesterday – our last session before we say goodbye to winter and hello to springtime prints! The next Intro to Sewing class will be Friday March 26th from 3-6pm. Give us a call or drop by to sign up!

Yesterday at the UCC we gave our ironing boards a little makeover with some of our new Alexander Henry fabric. It turned out to be a super easy and fun project and a great way to make a kinda boring object a little more interesting. All you need to do is take the existing ironing board cover and pin it to your fabric, then cut around it with 1.5″ clearance. Then you fold over the edge twice about 1/2″ and iron, then sew right along the folded over edge to make a casing. The final step is to thread a cotton string through the casing and, voila! A brand new ironing board. A full size ironing board took 1 3/4″ of fabric and made 2 covers. We just got a ton of new fabric in, so come and check it out!

Between the drop-in sewing nights and the enthusiasm of everyone involved, we managed to finish three amazing baby quilts for the raffle last Saturday night.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated – this never would have happened without the help of our members and customers contributing their fabric and time. One woman even mailed in her quilt blocks when she couldn’t make it in person! It was so great to see the community come together over the group project, and we managed to raise $485 to donate to the Partners in Health organization to help with the Haiti Relief effort. A special thank you goes out to Linde and Shannon, who were a huge part of getting the quilts finished on time.

The tutorials section contains a wide range of advice; from tying the perfect bow, to drafting a simple skirt pattern, to sewing your first t-shirt. It’s empowering to exchange information and creations with people who share a similar passion and now there is a great online space to do it. I noticed there are over 200 Burda Style Sewing Clubs that exist for people to make clothes, meet up and motivate one another with a different pattern project each month….any interest in meeting here at The U.C.C, say, during our Sewing Club night?

images from Burdastyle

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out last night to make quilt blocks for our Quilt for a Cause! The UCC is in the process of making some community-sewn baby quilts to be raffled off during our next Knit and a Movie night, Feb. 27. All proceeds from the raffle tickets will go to Haiti relief charities. Raffle tickets are currently on sale in the store, $5 each or 5 for $20. You can purchase them in person or over the phone.

If you couldn’t make it last night, don’t worry…we’re having another drop-in sewing night next Wednesday, Feb. 17th from 6-8 during our Sewing Club night. So if you can, stop by and make a quilt block for a great cause.

We’d love for you to lend your hand and creativity to the process. Finished blocks can be dropped off up until February 21st, or you can work on the project in our studio for free. Stop by after work for one of our drop-in group sewing nights, bring in fabric to swap with others and be a part of a fun project for a great cause (The American Sewing Guild has offered to dedicate their meeting this week to working on the quilt!). We’ll provide you with the pattern and one common fabric for each quilt block – the rest is yours to choose!

The raffle drawing will be held on February 27th, during Knit & a Movie Night. 100% of the proceeds will go to Partners in Health: Stand With Haiti. (you don’t need to be present to win, but it will be a lot of fun!)

The quilt block on the left was created using a string block quilt tutorial from one of our favorite crafty quilt blogs, Film In the Fridge!