The Original Sewing Expo at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center from March 31 through April 2 was a great success! I attended a number of classes during the event, as I do every year. As always, they were excellent! The instructors did a wonderful job, and the venue is superb. The hundreds of quilts on display were both refreshing and inspirational as well. Everyone enjoyed all the vendor’s booths and I found some great buys for future projects.
One of the classes I took on Friday was taught by Emma Seabrooke of Sewkeys E. The class was called “Origami Dresses.” She has patterns for 10 or 12 block dresses and 6 block jackets which are put together in a stitch and fold fashion. It is amazing how the creation actually turns into a dress… or a jacket! I purchased her pattern, along with some great knit fabrics at the Vogue booth and made a 10-block dress of my own! I love it! I also made a coordinating “Jamie Jacket” from Emma’s line to go with the origami dress.
What was fun was the fact that as I was making the dress, I was piecing two long rows of blocks and then turning and folding the rows to create the dress. Emma includes a “paperdoll” mockup of the blocks to demonstrate how you sew and fold to get your finished product!
Emma’s website information is: www.emmaseabrooke.com where you can find all of her great patterns as well as fabrics and instructional DVD’s.
You can find out more information about the Sewing Expo which is held each year at the following website: www.sewingexpo.com/ChicagoIL.aspx.