DOS Roundup

For my birthday a couple of years ago, a friend gave me a quilting-themed book that got me started thinking about quilting circles - groups of friends getting together to quilt. Thinking further about my mounting pile of unfinished projects, several months ago I asked a couple of friends if they would be interested in getting together for a day of sewing. Encouraged by their enthusiastic response, I invited them over for a day of sewing: DOS. No kids and no spouses, just potluck snacks, chatter, and sewing.

So, approximately monthly since then I've hosted a "DOS" for sewing and crafting friends. Typically there is a mix of clothing-makers, quilters, knitters, and, most recently, a scrapbooker. People bring new projects, old projects, and stalled projects, and over four or five hours on a weekend afternoon, we joke, laugh, chat, and eat snacks while somehow also making terrific progress on our projects. I cannot tell you how fantastic it is to have a room full of experts when working through a tough projects.

Over time, group tastes have shifted around a bit - several of us are off on a knitting kick, I recently tried my hand at clothes-making, and some upholstery work is not out of the question. Next time I will remember to take some pictures, but below is a recap of our most recent meeting.

DOS roundup

Chelsea: My sister-in-law and fabulous clothing-maker, Chelsea cut the pattern for a brand new dress project, then worked through the tough final steps - hemming the double-layer skirt and adding lace edging - on a beautiful wrap dress she began at our last meeting. The fabric is a deep black heavy-ish shirting (I think) with tan-ish-mauve-ish embroidered flowers. The pattern itself is Vogue, with a narrow waist, wide skirt, long pointed collar, and great matching half-sleeve cuffs.

Samantha: Sam is knitting a fun, soft, light-blue hoodie for her son with a cute kangaroo pocket in the middle. The sleeves had come out a few inches too long, so she needed to rip out the decreasing, take down a few inches, then reknit up the decreases. She made it all of the way through one sleeve and halfway through another before calling it a day. She also showed us a cool verrrryyy stretchy bag she had made. You can see it on her blog.

Heather: Having made her way though a fleece tied baby blanket the last time she came, this time she brought her travelling closet-on-wheels filled with scrapbooking supplies. As is ever the case with scrapbooking, she had fallen a few years behind reality, so took the uninterrupted time to begin to catch up. She made it through 10 new pages throughout the day, mostly filled with her three-year-old son (now almost six). She is determined to work through her existing stash before buying more, so she made fun, creative use of what she had on hand.

Marge: Chelsea's mother is not often able to come to these because she works on weekends, but fortunately she was able to show up this week. Her project was a cushion for a bench-seat in the entry way of her home. Showing up with a large piece of foam, some backing, and some great rusty-orange suede, she took a few minutes to size up her project, then spend the remainder of the time making a remarkably accurate and visually flawless cushion.

Me: Studiously avoiding finishing the five quilts I made for my birthday hunt that I have yet to finish, I embarked on a new skirt project: a camo-patterned long cargo skirt. My lessons for the day were in curve-sewing and pocket-making. I found that each curve I completed became a little smoother and each pocket became a little more accurate, and I appreciated the valuable advice of the group while working through the sometimes incomprehensible (at least to me) pattern steps. I managed to make it through a back yoke, four pockets, front seam, and fake front fly before calling it quits.

At the end of these productive days, I am both so invigorated to continue sewing and so tired out that I just can't, so I end up laying around doing nothing for at least an hour or two. Jeff calls it being "run over by the sewing truck."