The Australian Sewing Guild runs a Spring Industry Day in Melbourne each year.  In 2020 they held it via Zoom.  The ASG run plenty of workshops, both online and ‘real’, sewalongs, provide sewing information and industry discounts. And yes, you can be part of a local ASG social sewing group and meet up with nearby sewing enthusiasts on a regular basis. I’m an online member only as a regular meeting doesn’t suit me at this stage of my life, but I still find membership worth it.

The December 2020 Spring Industry Day had the following program:

9:00AM – 10:30AM – Shingo Sato – origami workshop (hands-on workshop)
11:00AM – 12:30PM – Louise Sparrow – Natalie “Alabama” Chanin stitching (hands-on workshop)
1:00PM – 2:00PM – Susan Khalje – couture and working in a couture house (presentation)
2:30PM – 3:30PM – Yahav Ron – couture finishing techniques (presentation)
4:00PM – 4:30PM – Tatyana Anderson – winter 2021 colours and styles (presentation)

Shingo Sato ran a fascinating workshop that took us through a method of manipulating a half-size bodice block into one that manipulated darts and created fascinating folds.

I have never done anything like this before (and haven’t replicated the process since) but it was super interesting! I’d seen similar manipulations before, but Shingo is certainly a master at this technique. He is on Instagram and Facebook and runs in person and online workshops.

The next workshops was a sampler of Alabama Chanin style stitching. I own a few of the Alabama Chanin books (plus a Craftsy class) but it still took an online real-time workshop to make me actually give it a go.

Alabama Chanin garment are traditionally handstitched, generally using two layers of cotton knit that are also stencilled and are sometimes also embellished with hand-beading along with the embroidery. As you’d imagine, they’re very time-consuming to make. I’ve had ‘make an Alabama Chanin style garment’ on my to-do list for a very long time, but still haven’t actually done it!

Doing the workshop certainly did give me the taste for more, plus additional appreciation of the work involved in sewing these garments. I have a feeling that it will be on my to-do list a little longer!  Do go and check out some of the stunning garments that can be made using this technique; my little sampler is a bare-bones example of where things can head.

The other presentations we had on the day were excellent. All extremely well qualified, talented, and experienced people who generously shared their stories and their knowledge. It was a great day, and the online format worked really well for me.  Well done ASG!