Is that a challenge? You don't have to tell me twice!

At the end of August I decided to try and challenge myself to wear only the things I make myself (see below). At the time the weather was hot and after sewing a ton of skirts for the summer I was thinking I could slowly add to my wardrobe as the weather got cooler and cooler and be good to go by winter. But then the weather literally changed overnight and I thought “Oh yea – I live in Minnesota!” So instead of starting the challenge September 1st I thought I would make a few things and maybe try the challenge as a New Years Resolution.


Then today one of my customers (Patty with the cute Flippy Skirt) informed me of “Self-Stitched-September” from So-Zo’s blog. www.sozowhatdoyouknow.blogspot.com By the way, did I also mention that I believe that when things present themselves more than once it is a sign that you should sit up and pay attention because someone bigger than yourself is speaking to you? Well I do. Self-Stitched-September was just too close to MY challenge that I can’t just ignore it.  So, given that September IS National Sewing Month, I am going to go ahead and do this challenge. 

I, Nikol Gianopoulos, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade or refashioned items of clothing every day for the duration of September 2010.

I hope a few of you will join me in this challenge. I will post pictures of my creations though out September and who knows -once I'm on a roll I may just decided to go a full year! 

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My original post/challenge:

I’m not a very competitive person, but I do like to challenge myself … mainly because when I challenge myself it makes me live with intention. Being a single mom and business owner I often feel like I’m living by default - just reacting to all that is going on around me

I was listening to the radio this past weekend and they interviewed three women who decided not to buy any new clothes for one year. They mainly did it because of the economy and the whole realization that they might have too many clothes in their closets. But I also believe they did it because they wanted to see if they could, which sounded right up my alley.

I started to wonder if I could go a year without buying any new clothes. Probably, since I’m not a big clothes shopper to begin with. But then I though…. I wonder if I could go a year wearing only the things I make. Hmmmm??? Maybe…. I did make a lot of skirts this past summer. But I would need some time to ‘build-up’ my wardrobe. You see, I don’t sew as much as I should or ALL that I could. For example; I’ve never sewn a bra (though I know it can be done) and I haven’t sewn many pants (mainly because they are too hard to fit). I’ve never sewn a coat (but it’s on my list), or a pair of gloves (though I recently bought a pattern). And when I do sew it is mainly store samples or things for other people. I know that if I sewed more I would get better at it. Plus, it would force to become more creative which has always been a running goal of mine.

So, starting September 1 the challenge is:

1. Not to buy any new clothes for one year. Exception: I can buy from the thrift store as long as I repurpose the clothing before wearing.

2. Everyday wear at least one item that I have made or repurposed.

3. Make at least one new item of clothing a week. (My real goal here is to sew a little bit everyday)

I also challenge myself to blog about it once a week since I could really use the writing practice for another challenge I have brewing in the back of my mind, but more on that challenge a little later.

Wish me luck – I’ll keep you posted.

Catching up with Tammy

This past weekend I had the privilege of serving as a sewing judge for the 4-H Fashion Review at the Hennepin County Fair. Last week also happened to be the first week of the Kids Sewing Camps at Sewtropolis. Both of these events involved young sewers, had a larger number of new sewistas than anticipated and all the sewistas had sewn items that impressed the heck out of me!
So this week I intended to write about how impressed I am with all the young sewistas out there, but then something else happened last week that made me stop and think about the people who influenced me and shaped me into the creative sewer I am today.
Last week, after 30 years of searching, I found my best friend from Jr. High on Facebook. I’ve moved around a LOT (so much that I’ve literally lost count of all the times) and I’ve had a lot of people come and go from my life over the years. Thanks to Facebook I’ve been able to reconnect with some of them, but it was finding my best friend Tammy from Jr. High that literally brought tears to my eyes.
My family lived in Las Vegas when it was nothing but a small, dusty desert town. Tammy lived down the block from us and when Tammy and I met the thing I liked most about her was that she was so creative! She could draw, paint, cook and she could always come up with the CRAZIEST things to do! (and Tammy if you are reading this you know exactly what I’m talking about ;-)) She took all the cool art classes in Jr. High and she created some amazing things. Wanting to be as creative as she was I signed up for every “Art” class offered and ended up being placed in Industrial Arts and Language Arts etc. Eventually though, I learned about dimension, color and balance, skills that I rely on every time I sit down to sew. These skills help me create things that are UNIQUE!
Tammy and her family moved to Kentucky about a year before my family moved to Montana…. And someplace over the years, and many, many moves, we lost contact. Last week I learned that Tammy is now in the U.K. and runs a small business dedicated to inspiring young people to find their creativity. http://www.undiscovered.org.uk/ She hasn’t always had it easy, but I will venture to guess it was her art that helped her survive. I know it was my love of sewing that helped me survive.  Without Tammy’s influence I have to wonder if I would have made the jump from "hobby" to "passion"?  From "passion" to trying to make a living from it?  I honestly don't know...
So what’s this got to do with the Sewing Camps and 4-H? These young sewistas have had some type of influence in their lives that made them want to pursue sewing. If it was you pat yourself on the back because sewing is a lifelong skill, one that has helped this sewista survive some pretty tight times.  Continue to encourage them, you never know where their life might lead them or when those skills will come in the most handy! Thirty plus years from now they might just track you down to thank you for it. 
Now please excuse me while I catch up with Tammy!

CRAVE Minneapolis

One of the challenges of owning my own business has been getting the word out that Sewtropolis exist.  It's an ongoing process.... lucky me I found CRAVE.  I can go into the great things that CRAVE does for women business owners, but I'll probably loose you someplace in the second paragraph - because in the back of your mind you'll be thinking "Why is she telling me this?"  So I'll just cut to the chase; CRAVE has published a "Manifesto" which is the go-to resource for urban-minded women when it comes to all things business and pleasure.   

CRAVE Minneapolis is a unique and stylish guidebook for Minneapolis living. It is a celebration of women entreprenesses that showcases some of the most creative, interesting, and gutsy proprietors throughout our city.  I was lucky enough to meet a few of them this past Tuesday during the 'book launching party'.  There were so many creative women there offering great services and products that you won't find anywhere else - especially in a big box store.

I encourage you all to:

 1.  purchase the CRAVE guide -you can do that from any of the businesses featured in the book - http://thecravecompany.com/minneapolis/crave-guide/where-to-buy/

2.  Support the women owned businesses featured in the book (don't forget to use the coupon in the back of the book) and

3.  Continue to support your local economy by shopping local.  http://www.the350project.net/dine_local_home.html

Being a part of the CRAVEguide has been a wonderful experience... my hope is that it will be so successful that it will inspire more women to follow their dream of owning their own business and that CRAVE will publish another guide next year filled with these new businesses!  It CAN happen.

My First Quilt Market Experience - Wow!

As you know over the weekend I had the pleasure of attending Spring Market 2010 here in our own city and if I had to describe it in one word it would be: WOW. I was super excited leading up to the Market, I had talked to people who had attended in the past and one piece of advice they all had was: Bring a big bag. They weren’t kidding. In fact, I brought the biggest bag I had and it still wasn’t enough to hold all the samples, pamphlets and other gadgets I managed to collect by the end of the day.


Day one the objective was to just look – but as soon as Jennifer, Emily and I walked in it was apparent that Quilt Market was so large that if we saved all the ordering for the second day we would never have enough time. So we mapped out the vendors we knew we wanted to see and set off. First stop the Kokka booth. I have been listening to my customers and I think they will be pleased with the selection of beautiful fabrics I purchased. (for a sneak preview check out Sewtropolis’ Facebook photos)  We then visited the Michael Miller, Westminster fabrics/FreeSpirit, Cloud 9 Fabrics and finally Riley Blake booths. We placed our last order of the day with about an hour to closing. I think that maybe that's a good thing; there are so many beautiful fabrics out there I could have easily kept going! But instead I grabbed brochures and will try to bring some of the other vendors in at a later time.

Day two my main objective was to place orders for notions, patterns, books etc. Having walked the floor the day before I was able to take notes of those vendors I wanted to revisit. When it came time to order buttons I stopped in at the vendor who had the largest selection (they had over 3000) thinking how hard can it be to order a few buttons? I was quickly reminded of why I prefer the independent businesses. As soon as I walked in I was handed a clipboard and told I could choose so many 'cards' to fill the largest rack they had or a few less to fill the next rack down, etc. etc. With over 3000 to choose from how was I to know where to start? I then asked the sales person if they sold to JoAnn Fabric’s. she indicated they did, but that JoAnn's only carried 3/4 of their selection and that I could order something different for my store – but she didn’t say which ones JoAnn's didn't carry!  I handed the clipboard back to her and said I needed to think about it. I then found my way to a smaller vendor who was incredibly helpful, had a great selection of buttons, and told me I could order a ‘pre-loaded’ rack with a sampling of all the buttons they carried.  I even got to ‘modify’ my order with buttons I thought my customers would want. After placing my order I walked away thinking “This is why I shop Independent” By the way, the buttons are hand dyed and incredibly cute – and you won’t find them at JoAnn’s.

Over the course of the two days I thought it might be kind of fun to get my picture taken with as many designers as I could. It was such a pleasure to be able to meet Alex Anderson, Ricky Tims (who I have been a big fan of for years), Valori Wells, Kay Whitt, Sandi Henderson etc. The highlight of the show for me though were the 10 minutes I spent with Anna Maria Horner. I stopped by her booth at a time when she was at lunch, but was told she would be signing books in about 20 minutes at a distributors booth. I had more to see so I slowly made my way over to the booth she was at and then kept walking after seeing the long line of people waiting to get their books signed. After placing a few more orders and looking around a bit, I was ready to go…. But first I wanted to see if I could catch Anna Maria.  So I made my way back over to her booth and as I walked up she must have read my name tag because she greeted me with “Pos Eisai” which is Greek for “How are you?” I was so stunned it took me a few seconds to answer “Boli kala, k eses?” which means “Very good and you?” We then spent the next 10 minutes talking about our Greek Heritage, where in Greece our ancestors lived, how much Greek we knew (which for both of us was not very much). It was definitely the cherry on top of the my first Quilt Market dessert! 

I hope you all enjoy the selections I chose. I have a few patterns already in the store, some fat quarters from Riely Blake and ½ yard cuts from Kokka. The rest should start arriving any day – I’ll post on Facebook first so be sure to ‘like’ Sewtropolis! You will also find the fabrics for sale on Sewtropolis.etsy.com

I love Sundays

What a beautiful day we are having here in Minneapolis.  It is so warm out that I opened up the front door and have had non-stop foot traffic ever since.  Some were sewers, some just browsing and seeing what the store is all about! 
I hope you all were able to get out and enjoy this day!  If your in the neighborhood stop in and say Hello!

Handbag Happy

I'm a bag lady - no seriously, I love making bags.  I also love buying a good bag, but if there's a chance I can duplicate a 'ready to wear' bag by making it - I will.  (and now that I'm sewing on leather I guess you can say I'll never have to buy a ready-to-wear againg - but to be honest - I probably will).  Anyway, I stumbled on a blog today that, to me, was better then finding that perfect bag  (well almost).

http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/2007/02/had_a_quiet_wee.html
 
U Handbag has all kind of tutorials on how to make all kinds of handbags - I love it!  You can even download a PDF of the tutorial!  If your ever inclined to make a bunch of bags and sell them at one of the many craft shows this summer she even gives hints on how best to set up shop, price your goods etc. 

I just received this fabric from Amy Butler

and have been itching to make something with it.  Now I'm going to be struggling to decide which handbag to make with this fabric!  Did I mention I love making handbags?  Hmmmm - we have a sewing group, a quilt group ... maybe we need a "bag lady" group at the store!

Pink Messenger Bag

I created another upscaled bag using two leather jackets found at my local thrift store.  One of the jackets is a pink suede style with cute little front pockets that I wanted to try and utilize.  The other jacket was a rust red duster style which was super soft!  No fancy pockets, but I did end up using what was there on the inside of the bag.  (see below) 

I had a hard time deciding what type of bag to make and ended up on the messenger style.  I figured leather was really strong and I'd be able to carry a lot of stuff in this bag - and I wanted to save my shoulders & back by carrying the bag across my body.

 Here is the final project. 

I found sewing this bag a lot easier then the first tote bag I made, there are many reasons why that might be:

1.  I learned a lesson and removed all the bulk before I started to sew.

2.  This is a softer suade leather - the rust jacket was actually pretty thin in places.

3.  I used a different sewing machine.  The black bag was sewn using my Janome Quilting machine and this bag was sewn using a Viking Dream 2 machine.  I love, love, love my Viking and part of the reason may be it is just 'stronger' then my Janome.  Not to say the Janome isn't a nice machine, it's great for quilting, just not so much for sewing through multiple layers of leather.

I can't get enough of these projects, but I'll think I'll hold off till I catch up on the rest of my sewing.  Yea, right!