Dream to Sew - Stitch Studio

. . . dream a little seam

Press Release

Why are Sewing Classes on the Rise?

Is it because sewing is a proven stress reducer? Is it because garment construction is rarely taught in schools anymore? Or, is it for creativity due to the number of do-it-yourself home decor programs now on television? Whatever it is, beginning sewing classes are filling up everywhere. Seattle, WA Capitol Hill fabric boutique Stitches opened three years ago with just one sewing class a month. Now, there are six or seven in that same time frame, and they are almost always full. Now they just keep a waiting list for the next class.

In the wake of the crafting boom, sewing is experiencing its own resurgence among young people eager to make their own clothes. Bravo's addictive reality design show "Project Runway" spurred even more people to take up sewing. One philosophy is the care and concern about the environment, they don't want to support companies making things in China; It's young imaginative artisans and moms that want to take things back into their own home and create things themselves.

An amazing 30,000 people attended the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup in 2006, and the number grows each year. Vendors for the past couple of years, have catered to younger sewing enthusiasts with seminars on eco-friendly projects and with options like more affordable sewing machines, ASG’s claim that their membership is UP too

In an article in the Seattle Times…..Over the past 20+ years, we've seen the serger arrive on the market and witnessed the use of computers and embroidery machines in our sewing world. Sewing experts have taught us to do heirloom sewing, sew on polar fleece, make wearable art, use new threads, print pictures on fabrics, and to emulate the quilts of our grandmothers. Sewing programming is regularly featured in the media and sewing has shifted from traditional clothing construction to home decoration, quilting, and using an embroidery machine to embellish

Diane Shropshire is a freelance Certified Sewing Instructor and the owner of Dream A Little Seam! She also is a graduate of the Palmer/Pletsch Beginning Sewing Teacher and FIT For Real People Training in Portland, Oregon. It is the first international training program established by a private company to instruct teachers on the Palmer/Pletsch system of teaching Beginning Sewing. “No other seminar or workshop has provided me with teaching information and possibilities like the instruction and networking with other attendees at this Beginning Sewing Teacher Training Workshop.” Since completing the training, Diane Shropshire shares her love of sewing and its many values with others from her home studio and is available for classes in stores.

Pati Palmer, owner of Palmer/Pletsch Publishing, has been designing fashion patterns for Vogue, Butterick and McCall’’s patterns since 1975. After testing techniques and pattern pieces, two teaching patterns were developed by Janet Corzatt for Palmer/Pletsch. The guides are fantastic and all the pattern pieces are designed to make sewing easier. One important note is that all of the projects can be sewn in quilt cottons, and there are now quilt stores in most every market. It allows a quilt store to teach beginning sewing...a way to branch out. “Many trained Palmer/Pletsch Instructors have found a ‘‘teaching home’’ in their local quilt store,” states Pati Palmer. Along with making a notebook of sample techniques, the projects in the four levels of Beginning Sewing include a chef/artist’s apron, kimono robe, shirt-style pajama top and pull-on pajama bottom.

For further information on Beginning Sewing classes, contact Diane Shropshire directly by phone at (360) 692-2365 or by e-mail at dshrops@wavecable.com.