Jennifer Sosa is a mother of 2 wonderful, creative daughters and grandmother of 1 adorable little boy. During the day, she is an Independent Sewing/Serging and Machine Embroidery Educator teaching Private and Group Classes. In the evenings, she is planning to take over the internet with her amazing online sewing/embroidery tutorials, videos, and blog posts. She's also a bit of a dreamer...
P.S. Thank you for checking out my site!
During our September Anita Goodesign Workshop, we had a great time making the CUTEST tissue box covers ever!
Since it’s September, the project was all about getting ready for Halloween.
Trick or TREAT!
Look at a creative touch that Opal Hobbs added to her project…..
Isn’t that a cute ruffle?!
These tissue cover designs are EXCLUSIVE to the ladies who attend the Anita Workshop. They are not available anywhere else. So, if you are seeing things you like and wish you could get, maybe it’s time for you to join us at next month’s workshop. Hmmm?
We’d love to see you there!!! Here’s the link to details about next month’s Anita Goodesign Workshop
See some of the very nice ladies you will meet and get to know:
AND, sometimes we even have surprise Give-Aways….
Our newest workshop attendee, Robyn Cayton, won a free copy of Nancy Zieman’s latest new book:
It’s time for you to join the fun and try some new things with your embroidery machine!
We recently hosted a 3-Day Serger Retreat at Humble Sewing Center. Our instructor was Joan Friedrich. She is a National Educator for Baby Lock, a Serger Expert, Designer, and repeat guest on the television show: Sewing With Nancy.
It was a wonderful event full of great ladies and lots of fun!
Our guests were able to bring their own Baby Lock Serger or try out the new Baby Lock Ovation serger. After seeing and experiencing the benefits of the new features on the Ovation, several ladies decided to trade-in and trade-up to the Ovation! It was a happy time for everybody!
Getting Started:
Joan Friedrich is just Warming Up….
Below are a few pictures of samples that Joan Friedrich shared with us during her 3 day Serger Savvy Retreat. Some of her samples featured:
sweatshirt makeovers
crafty aprons
ruffled quilts
journal covers
pillow covers
and designer handbags
She is SEW talented!!!
Then, we got busy learning a TON of very handy, useful, and easy Serger techniques.
First of all, Joan is FUN!
Joan Friedrich
Joan Friedrich having a Designer Revelation for new funky zippers with the serger….
Getting to Work:
Here are a few photos of Joan keeping us very busy learning lots and lots of great serger techniques:
A Moment to recognize Student Achievement:
This was Frances’ first time to sew in a zipper by machine. She is VERY pleased!
Fun with SERGER CROCHET:
Joan shared her exclusive method for creating serger crochet. This beautiful accent can be added to clothing, home decor, and can even be used to make a one of a kind scarf! We can order you the instructional DVD if you like!
Yes, one sweet husband chose to join the fun! I think Joan LOVED his hat idea:
We learned so many things…. We even learned how to use one of the optional accessories to attach fold over elastic to a stretch knit. This will make the easiest elastic waist skirt, pants, or shorts ever!!!
And there was still time for our ladies to make new friends and enjoy long-time friends as well….
I hope you’ve enjoyed our flashback to the Serger Savvy Retreat.
If you are kicking yourself for missing this one, I do have one bit of good news for you….
Joan has filmed a Serger Techniques video made up of 3 DVDs. The dvds include almost everything she taught during the 3 day retreat!
You can get this set from us! Just call for details! Humble Sewing Center: 281-446-1818
Take a look at all the fun we had during August’s Anita Goodesign Workshop at Humble Sewing Center.
We made Fully Lined zip pouches completely in the embroidery machine – no sewing machine steps required!
This group of ladies is such a pleasure to work with! Some are beginners and some are experts who come to enjoy the new friends and fun projects. Our workshops are always a lot of fun and we hope to see you soon!
Also, we’ve got a special hands-on embroidery event coming up in October. It will feature some really neat techniques like embroidery on puffy foam etc. Check it out HERE.
Workshop Photos:
In-the-Hoop Zipper
Thanks for visiting! Join us for a class sometime soon!
Each month I get to host BabyLock Club at Humble Sewing Center….
Today we had several sweet ladies who braved the storm to attend this fun and FREE monthly meeting.
We had a great time getting to know each other, sharing sewing stories, exchanging tips and ideas as well as making a little mischief….
You see, I decided to demo how to revamp an over-sized t-shirt into something more figure flattering and also how to modify the neckline. Everything was innocent enough except, the only available shirt in my home happened to belong to my husband and it did happen to be one of his FAVORITES. Ooooops!
Please look closely and notice the bleach stain at the bottom hem of this shirt…. and also the torn hole to the far right of the word Champions. Oh yes, this shirt was officially in need of a make-over.
In the process of the make-over I used a couple of essentials to ensure pleasing results:
#1: The T-Shirt Makeover from: Pamela’s Patterns
This pattern provides templates and easy instructions to successfully re-size those big, boxy shirts that just swallow you up. (Yes, we can order this for you and, it will cost you less at our store than it would buying online.)
This is a collection of embroidery designs used to change the shape of the neckline of any t-shirt into a variety of styles. It also includes accent designs to embellish a shirt with beautiful embroidery. (Yes, we can get this for you, too.)
I chose the Peek a boo neckline – which you will see in just a moment.
I used the embroidery machine and sewing machine for the neckline changes and I used the Makeover pattern with a serger/cover stitch machine to re-size, re-shape, and hem the shirt. It was EASY! I could have used the sewing machine for the entire project but, the serger made it so much easier to get the results I wanted.
At the end of our meeting, I was a little nervous about telling my husband what I had done and a couple of the ladies suggested I show him what I did to his favorite shirt in a way that would appeal to him.
I hope he likes what I did cuz’ it’s MY favorite t-shirt now!
Lovely quilt. Looks like it would be a great stash buster.
Dear Liz,
You are the winner of the Quick Column Quilts Book give-away!!!!!!
Contact me at hsc.jennyg@gmail.com with your mailing address and I’ll ship this out to you!
Thank you so much for participating in the blog tour!
Happy Stitching!!!!
Jenny Gabriel alter ego: StitchinJenny
Be sure to keep reading so you can see which quilt sample I chose to make from Nancy’s AWESOME new book! Drum Roll, Please! …………………………………….
My name is StitchinJenny and this is where I blog about all the fun things I’m doing as an educator at my favorite sewing shop:
Humble Sewing Center/SewVac Outlet
This week, I’m taking part in Nancy Zieman’s Blog Tour to help get the word out about her latest book. Let me tell you, it’s FULL of great quilt projects that will delight the novice to the expert quilter with it’s easy to follow instructions and tips. You are definitely going to want your own copy of this one!
PRIZES! PRIZES! PRIZES!
Enter to Win a FREE Copy of Nancy’s Newest Book!!!
Would you like a chance to win a free copy of Quick Column Quilts? Just leave a comment on this blog post and a random winner will be chosen from the comments at the end of Nancy’s blog tour on Sept. 17th. We will ship your book to you once we receive our copy from the publisher!
MORE PRIZES! PRIZES! PRIZES!!!
Nancy Zieman will be hosting a grand giveaway of 15 prizes!!! If you would like to enter to win PLEASE follow the instructions below:
I chose to make the Happy-Go-Lucky Chevron Column Quilt:
First, I had to decide on which fabrics to use. I got these fun prints from my designer friend, Erin Schlosser.
Then I had to cut the fabrics into strips as directed in the handy dandy instructions.
Next, I sewed the strips together using Nancy’s method to create a staircase effect. This helped eliminate waste when creating the chevron columns…. See next photo for my fabric “Stairs”
Part of my Downstairs Strips! I love those big,colorful flowers….
Once my strips were sewn together, I followed Nancy’s very clear instructions for cutting my “Stairs” into what would become the chevron columns.
My first Chevron column!
Once I had all my chevron columns prepared, I needed to decide on a final layout for my quilt. Preparing the columns was so easy. There’s some cool steps involved that save fabric and give great results.
Next, I stitched the narrow strips in between and around the columns.
I love how this quilt top turned out!
So, I must confess, I’m not done with the final steps such as adding the batting, backing, binding, and actually QUILTING my quilt. (Yes, I’m one of those quilters who loves to make the tops and procrastinates the finishing….)
BUT, I was relieved to see that Nancy included a lot of helpful illustrations and instructions to help newbie quilters like myself get this job done and done WELL! I’m looking forward to finishing this and improving my skills in the process.
If you’d like to see more from Nancy’s Blog Tour, just visit the links below:
Here is a listing of all the wonderful bloggers on the Quick Column Quilts Blog Tour:
As you may or may not know, I teach sewing lessons on a weekly basis at a local safe-house for traumatized/exploited kids. Here’s a link if you’d like to know more:
Lessons have been going strong for about 2 years now, and everything is great, except – we have more kids than ever and not enough quality machines to go around….
Soooooo, I let the President of Baby Lock know what we’ve been up to and our present needs….. the next thing you know, there are 10, yes, TEN brand new Baby Lock Molly’s arriving at Humble Sewing Center as a donation to the safe-house!!!!
Thank you Baby Lock!!!
I told the ladies at our monthly Baby Lock Club about the donation and they agreed to be in the picture with me! This is a wonderful group of ladies who meets with me once a month to share ideas, tips, and sewing techniques for Baby Lock sewing machines, embroidery machines, and sergers. It’s always fun! Drop in sometime! Dates and details are on our calendar.
Today, I was able to deliver the 10 Molly’s to the safe-house!
Here’s a photo of a safe-house resident getting familiar with the new machine.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, TEN beautiful Molly’s all ready to SEW!!!
I’m SO thankful to get to spend time with these precious girls and help them learn a valuable life skill.
I’m also thankful to work with such a great team and boss at Humble Sewing Center
FREE monthly sew club for kids will resume classes at Humble Sewing Center on Saturday, September 27th from 6pm-8pm. Contact instructor, Jenny Gabriel via email if you would like to attend!
email: info@stitchinjenny.com
Hi! One of the things I love to do at our monthly Free Girl’s Sew Club is to KEEP IT SIMPLE!
So, we offer a variety of easy projects that can usually be completed in one 2 hour sewing session.
Often times, the project will use fabric strips from a Jelly Roll or fabric squares from a stack of Fat Quarters. This is a convenient way to select a number of fabrics that all look like they go together pretty well and we can save time by not having to cut the fabric ourselves. (Click these links if you have no clue what a jelly roll or a fat quarter is.)
Take a look at these easy quilted Place Mats that were made during our April & May 2014 Sew Clubs:
The diagonal stripes were made from a stack of jelly roll strips that the girls organized in a pleasing manner and then sewed together using a 1/4″ seam allowance. We made sure they had enough strips sewn together to have a pieced fabric that measured a little over 19″x13″.
Then, we made a “quilt sandwich”. Basically, a piece of fabric for the place mat’s back was laid with it’s wrong side up, then a layer of quilt batting was laid on top of that, and lastly the pieced fabric was laid on top of the batting with its ride side facing up.
Each girl then chose a series of decorative stitches from her sewing machine and sewed either down the center of certain strips or she would sew right in the seam of two different strips.
After all the stitching was done (actually, this is called the quilting part) the quilt sandwich was cut into a place mat sized rectangle about 19″x13″.
The last step was to add the binding. They were eager to try their skills on a larger quilt soon so I showed them how to make mitered corners. See what a great job she did:
If you have no clue how to make mitered corners, click on this link to a great tutorial by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt company.
Some of the kids kept it really simple and just did horizontal stripes and used the “pillow case” method to finish their place mats.
That means:
After the strips were all sewn together, we cut the pieced fabric, batting, and place mat backing fabric down to the right size before we continued.
Then we laid the batting down first, next we laid the pieced fabric with its right side face up on top of that, and last we laid the backing fabric face down (wrong side up) on top of the pieced fabric.
We sewed around all four sides and left an opening for turning the place mat right side out.
Then we sewed the opening shut and added some decorative stitches on some of the stripes to quilt the place mat.
The process is essentially making a flat pillow that has a layer of batting inside so that’s why it’s called the “pillow case” method.
This Mother/Daughter team opted to make a Crazy Patch version of the quilted place mat. Here they are laying out their plans for the next pieces.
She’s stitching the next piece of the crazy patch.
Look at how well it’s all coming together!
The crazy patch method turned out to be most time intensive of all since it required more pressing and she had decided to have a 6 sided piece in the center of her crazy patch. Usually, and likely due to ease of construction, most crazy patch quilts have a 5 sided piece in the center of each crazy patch block.
Her project did look beautiful though!
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed and visit again soon!
If you haven’t made it yet to our monthly Embroidery Club/Anita Goodesign Workshop, here’s an invitation to come and join in on the FUN!
One of our wonderful attendees allowed me to photograph her latest accomplishments from our latest meetings and let me tell you, we are proud of her work!
Take a look at what workshop attendee, Leda Cunningham, has been up to at our monthly club meetings:
April – Holiday Pot Holder
May – Quilted Place Mat
June – Roll It Up Tote!
Leda added decorative trim to her pocket!
Ellisimo Event
We recently had a customer appreciation event for our Ellisimo owners and this is what they made: Notice, Leda decided to personalize her project with her initial. What a lovely project!!!!
Leda Cunningham
Thank you Leda for sharing your projects with us!
Stay tuned for more news from our blog. In September, I get to be a part of Nancy Zieman’s upcoming blog tour featuring her latest book. Be sure to take a look at what I get to make! I’m SEW excited for you to see!
Sew Vac Outlet (Humble Sewing Center) Blog 