A beautiful, Lotus decal, Singer sewing machine from the 1930's. I was fortunate to buy this a few years ago, and recently found a beautiful treadle cabinet for this machine.
Aurora made her dress for the first day of school. I think she was only 7 years old at the time. She has an unusual talent.
Laura's Sewing School both at Arlington Town Day.
Netta has been making sewn pottery with clothesline wrapped in strips of fabric.
Frances loves her new pillowcase.
Sophia and her mustache pillow. All her own idea. We made the pattern together.
Umbrellas! I made both and have the kits and patterns available.
Sherry copied the image of the painting, her friend made, onto fabric. Then she made a bag in colors that complement to the painting and included the painting in a panel on the side of the bag.
And iPad cover and a GPS case that I designed and made.
The girls both made blankets in a class together.
This is a quilt I made for my friend's daughter.
This is a bag that I helped the student design and make.
This lovely tuffet is made out of 64 strips of fabric. It's a beautiful project and it's fun to make.
Shelley had a quilt that was falling apart. She decided to cut it and make two pillows out of the parts of the quilt that were still in good condition.
One of my favorite students, Betty. I taught her how to sew and knew her for at least 6 years. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2015.
Susi is making buttonholes in her camp shirt.
Sherry found an art print in Maine, and she was inspired to re-create it out of wool and needle felting.
Here is a photo of Sherry with both her work and the print that inspired it .
While Norma is not in this picture, she made this bench cushion and the bolster pillows at each end.
Ruth made this jacket out of silk dupioni. The buttons are made out of the same fabric.
A local Brownie troop came and made some little drawstring pouches.
Sherry is always good for fabric art. She did a fiber version of a photograph in which she captured a hummingbird in flight.
Jeanette (on right) and her daughter, Stephanie. Steph is wearing a lovely dress that Jeanette made from a home dec fabric.
Alex is 9. He made this zippered pouch for his mother, for her birthday. He's been sewing for 6 months and has made even harder projects than this. His second project was plaid PJ pants.
Marcia made this Dress Form Collage quilt in a workshop we had with Donna Girard. The pattern is designed by Laura Heine.
We will be resuming classes the week of October 26-31, 2020!
To sign up for classes, go to our registration form, linked in the green bar above the photo slideshow.
It's been 7 months since classes were suspended due to the statewide lockdown from the pandemic.
On March 19, medical organizations started reaching out to me asking me to coordinate making masks for their health care providers. As many of you know there is a terrible lack of Personal Protective Equipment (or PPE) available in this time when they are desperately needed. A cloth mask is better than no mask at all. Cotton alone can prevent 50% of pathogens from being breathed in.
Since that time, we have made over 8200 masks! We have given them to healthcare personnel, the elderly (1000 to the town of Arlington seniors alone,) food bank workers, homeless shelters and many others. I have a page dedicated to sewing masks. You can click on the link in one of the green bars above the photo slide show. It includes links to documents and videos, too.
Changes to the Sewing School in response to the pandemic.
We have totally rearranged the sewing school to make it safe for students to return to classes.
1. There is now a lot more space to move around and keep 6+ feet of distance.
2. All of the sewing machine tables are over 6' apart and facing the wall or windows.
3. There is hand sanitizer at each sewing table; at the entry; at both ironing stations.
4. Touch free technology has been installed in the bathroom. This includes a touch free faucet, touchess soap dispenser, and a new towel dispenser which has you touching only the towel you use. And, I purchased a new waste can with an open top, so you won't need to touch the can to put your used towels in there.
5. We have 2 new, top rated air cleaners. The large one cleans a 2,000 sq ft area (my main space is 1,000 sq ft) and the smaller one is for the back hallway/bathroom area. The technology is used by NASA and developed by Aerus/Electrolux. The cleaners were made in the USA!
6. Surfaces are disinfected after every class, with FDA approved cleaner.
7. Masks are required at all times in the space, including the bathroom, back hallway and entryway. If you need a break, go outside.
8. No food or drinks will be allowed in the sewing school until further notice. This includes water bottles.
9. Dogs will be available in classes for puppy therapy. They are not touch free, and happily welcome your attention.
If you'd like to take a tour, I have made a video so you can see the changes to the school.
In person classes will be limited to…
Adults (no youth classes for at least a year)
Those who have been and will be continuing to socially isolate
Those who work remotely.
Those who do not have kids going to school in person or in sports or other activity groups
You may ask why so limited? Laura has an autoimmune disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis. To control the condition, she takes a number of immune suppressant medications. This puts her at high risk during the pandemic. This is a non-negotiable situation. Please respect that and we appreciate your understanding.
We are going to try to offer instruction to those who cannot attend in person classes.
1. Laura has a YouTube channel called SewInGenius
A good number of videos on how to make PPE are already loaded on the channel.
We are trying to upload videos on a regular basis, now that we are resuming classes.
These videos are a way to communicate basic sewing techniques. The following are already uploaded and available to watch:
How to wind a bobbin
How to thread a sewing machine
How to clean out the fuzz under your throat plate, and oil the bobbin area
How to sew a pillow cover with an invisible zipper
How to sew a button on a blouse/shirt
How to make shirring with elastic thread
And, there are more, but this is just a little teaser.
2. We are exploring formats, such as Zoom, Livestreaming, and Pantheon or Vimeo. We will send out announcements of our offerings via email and on our facebook page.
1. There is now a lot more space to move around and keep 6+ feet of distance.
2. All of the sewing machine tables are over 6' apart and facing the wall or windows.
3. There is hand sanitizer at each sewing table; at the entry; at both ironing stations.
4. Touch free technology has been installed in the bathroom. This includes a touch free faucet, touchess soap dispenser, and a new towel dispenser which has you touching only the towel you use. And, I purchased a new waste can with an open top, so you won't need to touch the can to put your used towels in there.
5. We have 2 new, top rated air cleaners. The large one cleans a 2,000 sq ft area (my main space is 1,000 sq ft) and the smaller one is for the back hallway/bathroom area. The technology is used by NASA and developed by Aerus/Electrolux. The cleaners were made in the USA!
6. Surfaces are disinfected after every class, with FDA approved cleaner.
7. Masks are required at all times in the space, including the bathroom, back hallway and entryway. If you need a break, go outside.
8. No food or drinks will be allowed in the sewing school until further notice. This includes water bottles.
9. Dogs will be available in classes for puppy therapy. They are not touch free, and happily welcome your attention.
If you'd like to take a tour, I have made a video so you can see the changes to the school.
In person classes will be limited to…
Adults (no youth classes for at least a year)
Those who have been and will be continuing to socially isolate
Those who work remotely.
Those who do not have kids going to school in person or in sports or other activity groups
You may ask why so limited? Laura has an autoimmune disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis. To control the condition, she takes a number of immune suppressant medications. This puts her at high risk during the pandemic. This is a non-negotiable situation. Please respect that and we appreciate your understanding.
We are going to try to offer instruction to those who cannot attend in person classes.
1. Laura has a YouTube channel called SewInGenius
A good number of videos on how to make PPE are already loaded on the channel.
We are trying to upload videos on a regular basis, now that we are resuming classes.
These videos are a way to communicate basic sewing techniques. The following are already uploaded and available to watch:
How to wind a bobbin
How to thread a sewing machine
How to clean out the fuzz under your throat plate, and oil the bobbin area
How to sew a pillow cover with an invisible zipper
How to sew a button on a blouse/shirt
How to make shirring with elastic thread
And, there are more, but this is just a little teaser.
2. We are exploring formats, such as Zoom, Livestreaming, and Pantheon or Vimeo. We will send out announcements of our offerings via email and on our facebook page.
