Sanaa with Egg Placemat

StiTch KiTchen student Sanaa Bengholam is pictured here with one of our egg placemats. The placemat is a great product to teach bias edge binding and applique. The material, all donated*, are beautifully woven tan hemp, white poplin and yellow linen. We cut the bias strips from the linen (1-3/4" wide). The egg is appliqued with a short stitch length and a wide zig-zag on a home sewing machine.

Important note: This is a 7-week series, this coming Sunday the 3rd week. The curriculum is as follows and is designed to encourage drop-ins ($30 a session, scholarships available).

Contact Nan (nan@bspoketailor) or Ingrid (iggygoo@sbcglobal.net) to enroll or inquire.

Week 1-3 Basics of sewing, cutting

Products: Napkins, handkerchiefs, placemats and coffee filters

Skills: hems, handkerchief hem with attachment, mitered corners, french seams)

Week 4 More sewing basics

Products: Aprons, tote bags, lunch bags, potholders

Skills: Bias binding, straps, patch pockets

Week 5 Intermediate sewing and construction, use of setting tools

Products: Fanny packs, tool belts

Skills: Zippers, snap setting, 3D pockets

Week 6 Intermediate sewing and construction, use of grommet tools

Products: Shower curtains with grommets

Skills: Hems, grommet setting

*Donations listed were made to the Stitch Kitchen by Melissa Gomes and the Sustainable Living Roadshow.

COMING April 14 - May 26: Production Sewing Lab Series

Welcome Back!

Nan and Ingrid invite you to join us in a 6 week class series beginning April 14th.

Increase income for yourself, your business, your group or community! Create products to barter with!

What: Production Sewing Lab Series

When: 9am-12pm, April 14th through 5/26, one week absence allowed, or come for all seven.

Where: A Place for Sustainable Living (PLACE). 1121 64th Street (near San Pablo) Oakland 94608

Cost: $150 (or $30/class drop-in). Scholarships available.

Registration Contact Email: Nan Eastep nan@bspoketailor.com or Ingrid Good iggygoo@sbcglobal.net

Class description:

Learn production sewing methods by sewing collaboratively in small groups of 3-5 people. Ingrid and Nan will supervise you as you learn and improve your skills while you make Stitch Kitchen products such as napkins, placemats, lunch bags, shower curtains, pillow covers, throws, pot holders, cushions, coffee filters, shop and kitchen aprons. More advanced students will make tool belts (fashionable ones!). The idea is to turn used clothing and donated scrap into useful, marketable products. At the end of the series you will take some of these products home with you to use as samples, for your own personal use or two give away as gifts. Any remaining products will become part of the Stitch Kitchen inventory, proceeds from sales will benefit Stitch Kitchen and the PLACE.

No experience necessary. Ages 7-107 welcome!

Materials:

• Portable sewing machine (if you have one)
• Snips
• Scissors
• No need to bring any unless you have high quality upholstery cloth, linen, cotton muslin or canvas, or something you love and know will be useful. All materials are donations. Do not bring personal projects, as this is a production sewing class and we will all be working on the same products together.

Stitch Kitchen spring classes coming!

The Stitch Kitchen is gearing up for spring classes. Please stay tuned for the calendar release!

Good Tools!

Thanks to Diane Winters and Andrew Buckingham for the wonderful Pfaff and Singer sewing machines that are now in our collection of machines for sewing classes!

Upcycling Workshop Saturday July 9th Noon - 2.

This Saturday July 9th is Yard Sale day at A Place for Sustainable Living, home to the Stitch Kitchen. Come from 9 am - 3 pm to donate* and shop. Donations are being taken on Friday July 8th all day.

In keeping with the sensibility of reuse, there will be two awesome workshops in recycling creativity: Bookmaking with Juliayn Coleman from 10 am - noon and Stitch Kitchen Clothes Upcycling with Nan Eastep and Ingrid Good from noon - 2. Sliding scale donation ($5-25).

*Donate to the Yard Sale: clean clothing, fabric, arts and crafts materials; working kitchen appliances, garden supplies,furniture, electronics; anything else you think will be a great item to sell! 1121 64th Street in North Oakland.

Recruiting Sewing and Apparel Manufacturing Teachers

The first Stitch Kitchen sewing class series was a great success. Ingrid and Nan integrated both class into one, with children ages 6-10, the younger ones with a parent, learning to use the sewing machine for the first time. Above is Josie Green-Lake transferring her manatee drawing to cloth to make a surface design using the machine to make the line drawing.

Students when on to made pillows, bags and skirts. By the end of the class they had gained facility with the machine, knew how to thread the top thread and bottom, troubleshoot problems, replace broken needles and oil their machines.

We are looking forward to offering more such classes, as well and advanced garment construction, garment upcycling and industrial machine maintenance and repair.

The Stitch Kitchen is a teacher's coop. For more information about classes and/or the cooperative model we are creating and how you can fit in as a teacher or a volunteer, please contact Ingrid (iggygoo@sbcglobal.net) or Nan (nan@bspoketailor.com).

East Bay Bike Party, Spokeland and Skirts!

Join the skirt ride in the next East Bay Bike Party, a benefit for Spokeland, on Friday June 12. Gather at the new Ashby BART Bike Station celebration, 7:30 pm, wearing your best bicycling skirt!

If you would like to make, alter, improve, or embellish a skirt for the ride, join us at the Stitch Kitchen Monday night open lab, this coming Monday from 6-9 pm. Same location as Spokeland, A Place for Sustainable Living, 1121 64th Street in North Oakland. Lab fees are $10-20, donation-based, no one turned away for lack of funds.

Note: Wearing a skirt on a bike is a great way to use clothing to maximize visibility to motorists (to the point of distraction?). The fuller and more colorful the better!