What's a great sewing class for this summer???

April 25, 2011 10:57 AM

For sewing/textile geeks out there: My summer just opened up and I have the time and financial resources to take an awesome class somewhere in something. Any recommendations???

Hi all! I work in costumes but occasionally feel like a total hack when it comes to sewing. I'd like to improve my skills in the following areas:

-draping
-patternmaking
-tailoring
-millinery
-specialty sewing skills

I've been looking around at FIT, craft schools, etc. But my dates are a little screwed up - I'm free at the end of June to mid-October.

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

posted by ashtabula to opelika to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (7 answers total)

I've done the summer session classes at FIT in patternmaking and draping. I did the evening classes in couture sewing and tailoring during the regular school year. The classes are really intense and great fun--I highly recommend them. FIT's second summer session starts July 6, so it seems to work with your schedule.
posted by Lycaste at 11:08 AM on April 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Stitch Lab here in Austin is a great textiles and sewing centered class space. It sounds like most of their sewing classes are going to be too easy for you, but a few of their instructors do private lessons. Also, they have an accomplished milliner on staff who teaches a variety of classes (including blocked hats) - I've only taken the one day Feather Fascinator workshop from her, but it was great. She does costumes and hats for theater productions in town. She also does private lessons.

The offerings at Stitch Lab are more casual then a full session at FIT, but it'd be a fun long weekend trip to come down to Texas to learn some true Southern hat-making!
posted by leastlikelycowgirl at 11:15 AM on April 25, 2011

I would LOVE to be able to take any of the classes from Susan Khalje, especially the Couture Sewing School. Gertie (from Gertie's New Blog For Better Sewing) wrote up a series of posts about her experiences with it starting here.
posted by mollymayhem at 11:32 AM on April 25, 2011

Valerie Mayen from Project Runway is opening a neat learning space here in Cleveland called Buzz and Growl. Bonus: cheap housing around here, VERY foodie town, and if you want to learn to knit, I give lessons as well. :)
posted by bitter-girl.com at 1:06 PM on April 25, 2011

I was going to say Susan Khalje Couture Sewing School, which I wish I could go to this year. Maybe 2012?
posted by Medieval Maven at 1:20 PM on April 25, 2011

Thirding Susan Khalje!

I think there are usually listings of classes/retreats/etc. in Threads magazine.

Claire Schaeffer teaches classes (but is very spotty online! She can be reached at [e-mail])

you could also memail metafilter's own dpcoffin for a recommendation (maybe he's teaching a class that will fit your schedule.)
posted by vespabelle at 2:39 PM on April 25, 2011

I took the Susan Khalje French Jacket class when I was a student at Apparel Arts and I highly recommend it. She'll be in SF in September this year and it sounds like it will fit with your schedule. Not only is it incredibly fun to be sewing a challenging project all day for six days but Susan is a very warm and friendly person with tons of great stories.
posted by bendy at 10:13 PM on April 26, 2011