A Journey of Random Musings: I went to Camp Ya'll!!!

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.

Our lovely Camp Director

My first Full Bust Adjustment

This is me!! This is the first well fitting "garment" ever!!

The final pin fitting, Excuse the hair.

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.