Camp. Workroom. Social.
My first sewing related retreat and it was a success. For those who
are not aware, Camp Workroom Social (CWS) is a 4 day retreat held by Jennifer
of
Workroom
Social, which is a sewing studio in my home town of Brooklyn, NY.
I've known Jennifer for a while through the Sewing Community in NYC, so I was
aware of CWS before this year. Last year I found out too late to participate in
the inaugural year, so I promised myself that I would go this year.
CWS this year had six different tracks for students to choose from.
This year's tracks were Fit, Shirtmaking, Bra Making, Jacketmaking, Hand
Sewing, and Surface Design. By the time I signed up, most of the classes
were sold out. I ended up signing up for the fit class, because of the
classes that were left to choose from, this class was the one that seemed to
fit into my sewing journey.
Fast forward to October 14, departure day. We left from Penn Station
in Manhattan on chartered buses up to the YMCA Frost Valley Camp in the
Catskills. It was about a 4 hour ride. Once we were checked in at the camp
registration office, off we went to our assigned rooms. There were 6
women to a room. The swag bag was amazing. We received a CWS badge,
a copy of Upper Case magazine, a seam ripper and a headlamp from Singer Sewing
Machines, who was one of the sponsors. After we got settled and had dinner, it
was time for class orientation. After orientation it was time for the Pajama
party. In our Facebook group, many of us decided to make the Carolyn pajamas by
Closet Case Files to wear to the party. I only made the pants because I don’t
wear. PJ tops. That will be a later blog post. The party was amazing, and
it was really cool to see the Carolyn in different fabrics. Another amazing
thing about Camp was that I got to see many of the indie patterns that I
currently have or
lusted drooled over in real life.
I also got to fangirl over all of the
teaching staff, who are all people in the Sewing world that I follow and
admire.
Melissa Watson and Pamela Leggett were the instructors. Both were well
versed in the Palmer Pletsch tissue fitting method. For this class we used the
M7279 Fitting Shell pattern. I had the book "fit for real people" but
I didn't understand it fully. I was measured to find the right pattern
size, which for me was a 14. After prepping the pattern tissue and trying it
on, the tissue began to mold itself to my shape. By the time I cut out my
fabric, I was amazed at having a garment that fit me perfectly with no drag
marks. It was as if a lightbulb went off. Now I want to sew all the
things. Learning to fit myself was the push that I needed to cut into all of
the fabric that I own. It also allowed me to understand my body to see how
the adjustments work in relation to ready to wear garments.
Through the 4 days of camp I got to meet some amazing campers from all over
the world. At the end I didn't want to go home because I found my tribe.
Being with this tribe opened my eyes to all that the sewing world has to offer.
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| Our lovely Camp Director |
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| My first Full Bust Adjustment |
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| This is me!! This is the first well fitting "garment" ever!! |
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The final pin fitting, Excuse the hair.
|
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This shirt was made by the shirt making class using pieces from each shirt that was made during class.
This was given to the YMCA manager as a thank you from the whole group. |
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Back of Shirt.
The back pocket was to hold his Jokes |
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| The Carolyn Crew at the Pajama Party |
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| The Camp Staff taking a group pic |
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| This group of women are awesome and so very talented. |
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| The Final Serenade before it was back to reality. |
