Pattern Review 10-Year Anniversary in Austin

Edited to add a link to Kyle's blog who captured all the events of the weekend so well!
Kyles' Blog: Vacuuming the Lawn

Saturday, November 19, 2011 was the tenth anniversary of Deepika's creation of Pattern Review. All of my fellow sewers know what a great resource the website has become but it has also greatly expanded the "Sisterhood" of sewists. Over the ten years, there have been many meetings and weekends across the world at which PR members gather to share their love of sewing. I attended my first one this past May in Chicago and knew I would attend subsequent events.

Deepika announced there would be events in various cities to celebrate the anniversary so I started reading about the various events to see if I could make any of them work. Cincinnati is woefully barren when it comes to sewing so I knew I would need to visit elsewhere. When I ended up scheduled for meetings in San Antonio the day before the Austin event, I decided to extend my stay and join the Texas group. I am so glad I did! It was a fantastic weekend with 40 members from all over Texas (Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, El Paso) and a few of us Texas wannabes including Kyle from NJ and Kellie from Illinois.

Leslie organized an amazing event and I think I speak for everyone when I say how much fun we all had. I was too busy having fun to take many photos but here are a few:

Betty, Kyle, Me, Leslie in front of the Aloft bar (where we may have spent just a bit of time)


Enjoying an afternoon coffee to re-energize before the evening events (the Bailey's in the coffee also helped.) Becki, Jennifer, Robyn, Leslie, Betty, Me & Kellie:


Leslie welcoming everyone to Common Threads with Jeannie (owner). A styling session by Thea Woods followed:



Mimosas and a sewing studio tour. Could a Sunday morning get any better?


Inside Juliette's studio:

Rehearsal Dinner Dress - V8742

I finished up the Mother of the Bride ensemble and Junior Bridesmaid dresses (I'll post those soon) on Saturday so I decided I still had time to make a dress for the rehearsal dinner. I've loved this pattern (Vogue 8742) since it came out and decided to give it a shot with a lightweight teal sweater knit I had in my stash. I love how it turned out, although now that I see it, I wish I had made it an inch longer. I liked it yesterday in the mirror but in this morning's photos, I think it's a wee bit short.

Pattern: Vogue 8742



Close up of shirring:





"Rear" View. Literally. :-)



I used hot pink bias tape for the neckline to add a little fun.



There are more details of the construction and pattern at PR.

Note: I have no idea why the hangar says Bill Gilson! LOL. Nobody I know!