I know this might seem contradictory for an on-line store to suggest you not buy anything, but how about waiting until tomorrow? From midnight Thursday, to midnight Friday, I will be honoring the annual Buy Nothing Day. One simple day a year to consciously not buy anything, consume anything, or add to the global market.

Hey, I’m all for shopping! But try it- go one whole day without spending a penny. It can be harder than you think, and can force you to think creatively about the little choices you make everyday.

So tomorrow, shop away! And, may I suggest that you shop here! But for today, try going without and see how that feels.

From my (turkey-less) kitchen to yours, I wish you and your friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out my new schedule of December classes!

Lined up next month is an adorable Hostess Apron class, perfect for your holiday party or as a gift for someone else; three sessions of Intro to Sewing (2 on the east side of LA, 1 on the west side of LA), now condensed into one 3-hour session built to get you sewing and onto other projects in no time; and the Sunday Dress from my book Chic & Simple Sewing, which is perfect for a beginner looking to branch out into garments!

Visit this link to download your own printable PDF calendar of my classes to post up on your fridge. Hope to see you soon in a class!

…and i felt unfettered and alive!

UPDATE!!! Oops… my class is actually from 3pm - 6pm today, so you have even MORE time to sign up!

Well, lucky you… there are still a few spots open in tomorrow’s Intro to Sewing class at The Urban Craft Center! In this class you will get all the knowledge to get going, and you will make an adorable throw pillow, which is perfect for your home, or for a holiday gift!

Call the lovely ladies of The Urban Craft Center at 310.392.0139 to sign up! Class runs from 11am - 2pm, and they open at 10am, so just call them when they open to claim your spot. Hope to see you there!

Way back, many many moons ago, I was just starting my little business and was looking to do any craft show that looked decent. I ended up finding a show that was having its first event and runway show. Perfect. Oh, but it’s in Atlanta, and I live in Los Angeles. No problem, I’ll just go to Atlanta! Which I did.

All these years later, that show, the Indie Craft Experience, has become THE show in the middle of the country to attend. In my personal opinion, there are only a handful of shows worth the drive, and this is one of them. So if you’re in driving distance, you should go and score some holiday gifts, or some handmade treats for yourself! Want some incentive? You should check out their amazing vendor list and see for yourself just how craftastic this will be.

Oh, and if it’s good enough for Daily Candy to recommend, it’s probably good enough to check out!

Here are all the details:

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009
Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Admission: $5
Location: Ambient Plus Studio
585 Wells St. SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30312

This is the sad reality of modern life: I am lost without my laptop. I’ve had vacations (like my recent trip to Paris) where I deliberately didn’t use my computer, but when you want to use it, or more importantly, when you need to use it and it’s out of commission, whoa, look out!

I’m happy to report that after nearly a week of being dead, my trusty Mac is back. After installing more RAM and more memory, things are faster than I ever remember them being.

But, of course I lost something. And in this case, that something is rather big. I am so good about backing up my laptop onto an external hard drive, and figured I had it all covered. But no one told me that all this time, I’ve been improperly backing up my emails. So that’s what’s gone: thousands of emails. I have most of my emails from the last year or so. That’s the good news. The bad news is that all those old, random emails I had been keeping “just in case” or old records of things, are long gone. I am going to see what my hosts have deep in their servers, but I’m not holding my breath. So if I haven’t heard from you or you haven’t heard from me in the last year or so, I likely don’t have your email or email information. Dang.

I appreciate your understanding of my absence this last week. It was probably harder for me than it was for you! And if you’d like to drop me a fresh new email with your information, I welcome it! Now, back to our regular programming!

I’m so proud of my book, Chic & Simple Sewing. It was years of hard work and there are so many things I love about it. But, nothing is exactly as you want it to be. There are a lot of factors: publishers, money, sales, printers, timing, and more. Many of which are out of your control. So though it is hard to read any negative comments by seamstresses who have bought and used the book, some of them are not surprising to me. Thankfully, the negatives are not the norm!

However, I’d like to openly address those negative comments and discuss them with you. I am serious about this; please comment and give me your two cents. You’re not going to hurt my feelings, I’ve heard it all at this point! Or at least I think so!

When reading the reviews, the main negative comment that comes up over and over is sizing. For those of you that don’t know, my book comes with traditional tissue paper patterns included in a pocket in the front. However, for those pages to fit inside the book, the number of sheets were limited. Both my publisher and I wanted to have as many projects as possible, but the space limitations were real too; I could only use the four 40″ x 40″ sheets of tissue paper.

The collective decision for sizing was to include sizes 2-12. I knew this would cover a lot of people, but I also knew that this would not cover everyone. If you know me, you know I’m no sizest, nor am I a size 2. I’m sympathetic to the ladies over size 12 and always make sure to have a wide range of sizes and body friendly designs in my own collection.

In my opinion, here are the options for the projects, and their respective pros and cons:
1- include traditional tissue paper patterns and as many sizes as you can (like I did for my book).
Pros- the patterns are already printed; the patterns will last a lifetime, as long as you treat them well; the book is one-stop-shopping and you can start on the projects immediately.
Cons- there is only so much room on the tissue paper and you cannot possibly include all the sizes you want; designing can be limiting, as the projects share pieces.

2- skip the tissue patterns and include a disc for the reader to put in their computer and print out the patterns on 8.5″ x 11″ sheets of paper and tape together.
Pros- as the writer I love the design freedom and the ability to disregard concern for the number of pattern pieces; I could include every size under the sun.
Cons- the reader will have to print the patterns and tape them together or take them to a print place and spend money beyond the cost of the book; those without computers are out of luck; the software one day will no longer be current and the book is useless without the disc.

3- design garments without patterns and just use diagrams for the reader to draft their own patterns.
Pros- I don’t see many pros in this option.
Cons- Design-wise, it will seriously limit the projects and drafting your own patterns will likely prove too hard for the beginner.

4- enter your suggestion here….!

So now it’s your turn. Seriously, let me know what you think. What would you like to see in my next book? If you were at the bookstore and you were holding two equally interesting books on sewing and one had option 1 (patterns included) and one had option 2 (disc included), which would you go for? What else do you suggest?

And just for fun, here’s a handy poll! I didn’t include option 3, as I just don’t see that one working.
Thanks for your input!