How to make sewing friends

Before I share all the fun I recently had, I want to give you a little back story.

Around 6 or 7 years ago a group of friends and I would get together to sew. We'd meet once a month and head to one hostess' house. Sometimes there would be 3, 4 or even 5 of us. We'd eat, snack, and sew for a few hours while chatting about our lives. You learn a lot about someone if you sew together, because all you do is talk.

Those days and nights were cherished. I would take a pattern I had cut out so I could do some actual sewing. Or, I'd take a pattern to lay on the floor for cutting/ tracing. Ahh, those were the days. Well, over time, one of the friends moved and those sewing nights ended. No reason in particular, but life shifted as it does from time to time. 

Fast forward a couple of years.

Another friend of mine who sews, but lives one state over found a group of sewists. She told me about this sewing social she attended last year. She met wonderful people, discovered new pattern companies and fabric shops that were local to her. It sounded like an overall great time and I knew I wanted to go to the next one! 

I patiently waited for the year to go by and once she shared the event info, I bought my ticket.

It was go time! Or, sew time! ;)

For the sewcial you can bring 1-2 unused patterns and a cut of fabric that measures 1/2 yard or more. I had a pattern and fabric and set them aside for the swap. Such a fun idea!! 

I even sewed up a new dress (blog post coming soon) to wear for the evening. I packed my bag and everything I needed for a quick mini vacation. No kids. No husband. Just me.

I listened to my own music, and podcasts, and simply enjoyed the six-hour drive. Alone. Best weekend ever. LOL

Mood Fabrics donated these for us to use for the swag bags.

Saturday evening was here and it was Sewcial time!

This sewing social is called the Arizona Sewcial or AZsewcial.  It's a social hour for sewists hosted by Lauren, to talk, meet, and hang out with fellow sewing friends. So. Many. Sewing. Friends! What was inside the magical land of sewing delight? 

• Swag bags filled with coupon codes, cuts of fabric, little notions, patterns, and other goodies. Honestly, they were the best swag bags I’ve come in contact with.

• Photo backdrop for all the selfies and group photos you could take. 

• The Queen of charcuterie boards was for snacking. It had everything! Coolest and biggest charcuterie board ever!

• A dessert table was piled with sweet nuts and candies, and also had cute sewing-themed cookies!!

• There was a lovely Italian soda bar complete with maraschino cherries. Yum!! 

Charcuterie Table

Italian Soda Bar

Desserts Galore

The food photos are by Jillian S.

We started the evening by signing in, grabbing a name tag, and picking your swag bag. Each bag had a different number. That number was yours for the raffle prize and swap table.

They had a few icebreaker games to get conversations started. I was from California, so I didn’t know a single soul, so the games were a good thing.

Lauren, the hostess would call out a small group of numbers throughout the night. If she called out your number, you went to pick out a raffle prize and then to the fabric and pattern swap table. I loved the swap table idea.

Prizes included Indie patterns, PDF pattern bundles from companies, gift certificates and vouchers for online fabric shops, pattern, and fabric bundles, the list goes on.

Such fantastic things to win!!

I ended up winning 3 Free PDF patterns from By Hand London. I was crazy excited, because I love them! I grabbed a cute handbag pattern and some soft blue knit from the swap table too.

Fabric from a vendor

Michele gave a talk on tissue fitting

Vintage April on Etsy

The photos above are by Jillian S. (My phone lived inside my purse the whole time. Ha!)

After the games, they announced 4 women who were going to talk about their own thing. One woman spoke about tissue fitting and pattern adjustments. One gave a talk on social media and all that entails. Another presented on creating and designing your own fabric. And, the fourth gal spoke about how to become a pattern tester. I ended up making a new friend and chatted with her, so I missed this whole portion. LOL Ah well.

After round 2 of snacking, I visited the vendor booths to check out what they had. I grabbed a Grainline Studio Archer Pattern from one vendor table. I want to hack it into a western shirt for the fair this Spring. That post will go up after I make it in a few months, I'm sure. Ha!

Update: the fair was cancelled due to the world being shut down by Covid. So, the Archer never got made and I sold the pattern.

At the end of the night as my feet were getting tired, I sat down to sign all of the Thank you cards. The cards were already made out to each of the vendors and companies that donated items. This was such a thoughtful thing to do. I've never seen that idea and will keep it locked in the back of my mind, for future use. I ended the night laughing with another sewist as we signed the thank you cards and spoke on different sewing podcasts we listen to. We had the same opinion on the ones we loved and disliked. LOL

Whew! Such a great night. I was so fortunate that my friend let me join in on the fun even though I don't even live in Arizona. Ha! 

I'm sure I missed a few points from the night, but I truly appreciate what Lauren did. It was amazingly unforgettable. Good job Lauren!!! I could tell she put a lot of heart and soul into the whole night.

My swag bag contents, fabric (blue knit), and bag pattern (on the left next to the blue knit) from the swap portion.

So this brings me to my next point. How do you make sewing friends? There are more of us out there, the hard part is finding each other.

I have always found my sewing sisters in real life. As a mom, it's easy to start up a conversation... You're sitting next to someone chatting, a topic comes up, you both realize you sew, and the rest is history. 

Places to Find Sewists

• Meetup Groups

• American Sewing Guild

• Church Fundraisers and groups

• Instagram hashtags

• Facebook groups

• Craft shops with classes, both local and big box 

• Crafting conferences such as Craftcation (read about my first experience here.)

• Word of mouth- "Oh, I have a friend that sews, I'll give you her number"

• School or church plays need costumes, and you could make friends doing that

• Craft shows, maybe you hit it off with someone who has a sewing booth
  
  

  
  Try all of these and see if you can find sewing friends in your area. Sewing is definitely a personal hobby, but it's so much more fun when you can talk about fabric and patterns with someone else! Plus, if you run into an issue, ask your new friend. If you've never made pants, but Suzie Sewsalot has, she can help.
  
  Please share some ways you meet and make sewing friends in your community in the comments below. We all need friends to sew with!! 
  
  Happy friend finding,
  Annette

Why I sew

Everyone has their own personal style. Whether you wear sweats or sequins, we all need to feel comfortable in our own skin. When I turned 30, I decided to change my look. I wanted to wear things that made me happy and feel good, rather than feel and look just like a mom. I wanted to wear pinup and vintage-inspired things with a splash of rockabilly. Everything was too pricey in the stores and online. My husband asked me why I didn't simply sew my own stuff. Talk about an "ah-ha" moment. LOL

The next chance I got, I drove to the nearest fabric store ( we all know the one, that rhymes with Conan). I grabbed a few patterns and a cart full of fabric. I started with skirts because, well, they're pretty simple. I was soon sewing my own tops and bottoms. 

I had only ever sewn for my kids and home decor stuff. I never thought about sewing for myself. #momming #momlife There was a little trial and error in picking fabrics and patterns, but I got there eventually.

Oh hey, it’s me!

Let me tell you though, it's an amazing feeling when I walk out wearing something I've made! Sometimes things don't turn out, but when they do, It's the greatest feeling! The best compliment is “Where did you buy that?” And it usually gets paired with “Thanks, I made it!”

I hope you’re able to benefit from what I’ve learned, here.

I love teaching others to sew. Welcome, and I hope you stick around.