Well, I'm finally putting my fancy new sewing room to its intended use. I opened up shop as a teaching studio. My first class begins on Monday night. My sign to go out by the road is in progress in my husband's woodshop and should be in place tomorrow (Sunday). Currently I'm taking registration for 4 different classes, and have a grand total of 3 students signed up, two of them for the class that begins Monday.

Here's my website, for those that want to take a look. Bosky Glen Sewing Studio

I just picked up a used Pfaff 1122 for students to use. The previous owner managed to lose the entire set of feet, so I went to Sewing Parts Online to find a set of cheap generic ones as a replacement. Found them quickly, but scrolled on down the page to see what else they had that might be useful. When you search by machine model #, the page of results starts with the words "guaranteed to fit your (model #)" The majority of the individual parts for the Pfaff 1122 were labeled as Janome parts. For curiosity's sake, I also looked up the two other Pfaff machines I have owned, and those have actual Pfaff parts available. Why would this Pfaff machine take Janome parts?

Note from the Sewalong admins (aka Ruthie). Wendy has reached out to us explaining this Sewalong and I'm happy for it to go ahead. However any questions on how it works will have to go to Wendy :-) as she knows how it works!

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@Pearl mentioned something on a Darkside thread that I thought would be fun to run with for all of us. This is a "game" called WIPGO - Works In Progress binGO. This originated from a cross-stitcher and the on-line chatter for it seems to center around that craft. I thought it would be fun to get our own going that is sewing-centered.

This video explains it. She's pretty long-winded, and I easily got the gist of the concept while skipping through the video.

I'll be using the numbers that she posts for each month, and I'll pass them on here. There are two numbers each month- two tasks to complete. These are announced on the 25th of each month for the following month's projects.

To join us in our game:

1. Make up a list of 24 things you want to accomplish in your sewing room. These can be true WIPs (AKA UFOs), unstarted projects that you've been procrastinating, maintenance tasks for your space, practice time for a sewing skill, or simply items on your to-do list. You can break a large project into several chunks for separate boxes. Basically anything related to your sewing and sewing space. This is the only REQUIRED step for this thread. All following steps are for fun only.

2. Plug your list items into a 5x5 grid. You can put them in some kind of order, or scramble them up. Like in Bingo, the center space is "FREE"- don't put a task there.

3. Number the blocks 1-25. The source numbers them straight across the rows. You could mix them up if you like.

4. When you FINISH a task WITHIN it's designated month, you can mark it off your board. A task must be completed, not merely its number called, in order to mark it off. You can work on a project in advance of its month, but to be marked off, it must be completed before its designated month is over. When you complete an entire row, that's a BINGO. If you complete every task on your board before it's month is done, you will get a total of 12 BINGOs- 5 horizontal, 5 vertical, 2 diagonal- for the year. The ultimate goal is a "Blackout", every space marked off, and every task completed.

5.  If numbered straight across, we will all get a "Bingo" (a completed row) within the same month. If you mix up your numbers, your Bingo timing will differ from everyone else's. If you are working from a list only, no grid, then no BINGOs for you! Just the satisfaction of a job well done!

6. You can leave your board entirely visible with numbers written in the squares; you can slap a sticky note over each square to hide the task until its number is called; or you can get all fancy and crafty and make a cover sheet with little doors for each space.

7. Plan some rewards for yourself for whenever a BINGO is reached. A new sewing gadget, a pretty piece of fabric, that pattern you've been drooling over, or some non-sewing pleasure. You've worked hard to reach a goal and dispose of mental clutter (we all know those UFO are mental clutter!) You deserve to be rewarded for it.

8. When you've gotten a Bingo, come here and yell "BINGO!" We'll celebrate with you.

I've just realized that when I started my Darkside Diary a couple years ago, I put it on the regular diaries board instead of the Darkside Diaries board! We all make goof-ups, but I've managed to miss this fact for a couple years!  Is it possible to move my diary (Wendy's Whimsical Works of Art) to the correct board?

Our new house is finally coming together and I will have a large sewing room. I'm planning to offer sewing classes in some capacity, though it remains to be seen exactly how that will come together. I'm leaning toward week-long, half-day "camps" for kids during school breaks, and weekly small group or private lessons during the school terms.

My plan already includes space for extra machines for students, a cutting table that should be able to handle at least 2 students at a time- more if the projects are small, and a large ironing surface. The adjacent bathroom is designed with space for a dressing room. Extra electrical outlets are planned for and the details will be discussed with the electrician.

What else would you consider to be essential in a teaching studio? Looking for all kinds of ideas, not just the room itself.

Here's a couple photos of my new space. The solid wall at the far end will be all storage. A closet in the middle will hold bins of fabric and the doors will be a design wall. There will be built in shelves on each side of the closet. One side for sewing stuff, the other for all my non-sewing crafts. The additional rooms on the left side will be a guest room and a bath room with dressing space for students/clients.

Sewing room 2 by CraftymamaMN, on Flickr

Sewing room 1 by CraftymamaMN, on Flickr

Went to Half-Price Books today to sell some books, and spent a lot more than I received for the books, but I'm very happy with what I found. Spent a total of $40, and the tops pattern has never even been unwrapped.

video find by CraftymamaMN, on Flickr

I'm looking for a comprehensive book on pattern making. I've narrowed it down to Connie Crawford's "Patternmaking Made Easy" 3rd edition, or Suzy Furrers "Building Patterns".  Would you recommend one over the other? Or another book entirely?

I have several friends whom, years ago, I was in a homeschool co-op with. We spent endless hours talking while our kids played together. The kids are all grown now, but we have kept our friendships alive with bi-annual birthday parties. The party for the winter birthdays is today, and this is what I spent yesterday making. They were pretty quick to put together, but I should have made the straps just a bit wider; they were a real bear to turn right side out. 

Jeans totes by CraftymamaMN, on Flickr