December Meeting: Holiday Social

 

It is holiday time again & our December meeting is coming quickly! On Tuesday Dec. 9, 7 pm, we have our holiday get together, with Potluck and Penny Auction 🙂 We are also planning on dressing up a bit for a "Holiday Frocktails" evening, so wear your holiday gear if you can

Please bring some finger food with you (we do not have places to heat things up so make it buffet style).

Bring along a small gift (unwrapped) of something nice that you might like to receive (not expensive). It doesn't have to be sewing related - wine is always a hit 😉 We will be putting all the gifts out on a table and you can buy 10 tickets for $5 and put a ticket in each bag for the gift you would like to win. You can buy as many tickets as you like!

We will have a short business meeting (and maybe a little holiday fun), our regular Sew & Tell, and our 50-50, and then enjoy some socializing, snacking, and auctioning. Everyone welcome, guests too, $5 at the door.

November Meeting: Member's Corner

 

Join us Tuesday Nov 11 at 7 pm for a lightning round of member presentations! Up your sewing game with tips and tricks from your experienced fellow members. We'll be learning about: 

• Hong Kong seam binding/lining combo
• Magical Mitred Corners 
• Perfect Waistband Elastic Insertion
• Sewing onto Solubles 

Get inspired, learn something new, have fun with fellow sewists! What more can you ask? 

All Welcome, non-members $5 at the door 

Tues Nov 11, 7 pm
River Gardens Retirement Residence, Celebration Room
10 Romeo St N., Stratford ON 

(parking at the corner of Romeo and Delamere, across from the Country Club)

October #POM

 

Inspired by our October speaker, Caitlin, this month's #SGGPOM challenge is Frankenpatterns!

Make something using 2 or more patterns that you have taken parts from to make a new whole. Bring it to the November meeting to share at Sew & Tell -- and be sure to let us all know which patterns you started with. If you have frankenpatterned something in the past, you could show that off too. Have fun!

October 2025: Creating a Dream Wedding Outfit

 

October 14 is our next meeting, featuring our very own Caitlin Keelan! We will get to hear how Caitlin went about sourcing multiple fabrics from unusual places, and did some frankenpatterning to come up with her dream outfit for her recent wedding. Those of you who were at the June meetup got a preview of this exciting presentation. Now we'll hear & see the full story!

As always, everyone is welcome, visitors $5 at the door.

Tuesday, Oct 14, 7 pm

River Gardens Retirement Residence, Celebration Room

10 Romeo St N., Stratford ON

September #POM

 

We are reviving our #POM (Pattern of the Month) challenges this year. For our first one, the challenge is Quilted Garments or Accessories!

Either make something this month, inspired by our meeting, or bring something you've made previously, to share at our October 14th meeting. It can be patchwork or whole cloth, just has to be quilted (usually three layers stitched together somehow).

September 2025: Sandra Thomas' Quilted Garment Trunk Show!

 

And the new season begins! 

Join us Tuesday September 9th, 7 pm for a dazzling trunk show of quilted jackets and vests, made by Sandra Thomas, quilter and couture trained sewist... modelled by our members! 

Enjoy the start of our season with some relaxed and inspirational makes -- maybe you'll want to dig into your scraps after this one! 

All welcome, non-members $5 at the door. 

River Gardens Retirement Residence, Celebration Room

10 Romeo St N.

Stratford ON

Membership is $40/year for ten meetings, if you'd like to join us for full benefits. 

May Meeting: WonderFil Threads

 

Join us on Tuesday May 13 at 7 pm as we welcome WonderFil educator Kate Marra, sharing tips on the many threads and notions available from WonderFil -- a 100% Canadian company based in Calgary! We will learn more about their products that are relevant to garment/fashion sewing and hopefully be inspired to Shop Canadian 🙂

This presentation will be held over Zoom, but our regular meeting and Sew & Tell will follow. Hope to see you all there!

Tuesday Mar 13, 7 pm

River Gardens Retirement Residence, Celebration Room

10 Romeo St. N., Stratford ON

ALL WELCOME! Non-members $5 at the door

April Meeting: Claire Upcycled & Annual Swap!

 

Join us next week, Tuesday April 8 at 7 pm for our Earth Month Celebration meeting! (River Gardens Celebration Room, 10 Romeo St N.) Visitors welcome, $5 at the door, as always!

We will hear from Claire Upcycled, a Stratford based company with international reach. Claire will share some info about her process and her eco fashion, gender-neutral, streetwear upcycles. She will also share a bit about running her business.

After Claire's presentation, we will be holding our annual Fabric and Pattern swap. Same rules as always: bring things in good condition, label the type of fabric and amount when possible, take home anything you brought that isn't claimed by end of night. We will be swapping following our talk, no grazing beforehand please, to keep it fair for everyone.

See you all there!

March Meeting CANCELLED

 

We are sorry to announce that our March meeting has been cancelled due to illness.

 We will move our swap to the second half of our April meeting, following our guest speaker. We are sorry for the inconvenience but want all our members staying healthy! 

(Photo credit) https://www.vecteezy.com/free-png/cancelled-stamp

February 2025: Deb Cooke: Sewing for Fashion Dolls

 

Barbies and Beyond! Are you ready for some tiny delights at our February meeting? 

SGG member Deborah Cooke will be regaling us with her expertise on sewing for Fashion Dolls of all kinds. Did you know that there are many varieties of fashion dolls all with their own quirks? Deb will be taking us through the variations and all the gorgeous miniature couture she's made for her dolls over the years.

Tuesday Feb. 11, 2025, at 7 pm

River Gardens Retirement Residence, Celebration Room

10 Romeo St N., Stratford ON

ALL WELCOME! Non-members $5 at the door.