Retreat Reflections
It was somewhat of a busman’s holiday… but also a completely unique experience.
For the second time, I took the opportunity to attend a sewing retreat in Maine with A Gathering of Stitches. My first was in 2019 and this one, for a week starting July 18, came at just the right time.
The corner where I sewed.
I was surrounded by folks who had come from around the country to gather and create. Samantha Lindgren has been organizing these gatherings for several years—a week for garment sewers and a week for quilters. This week we were at a retreat center in Maine, staying in cabins, eating wholesome camp food, and stitching together.
Instructor Jessica Marquez arranging our group’s work for a photoshoot.
I stitched sashiko with Jessica Marquez, author of Make & Mend, and producer of wonderful stitching kits. I first learned sashiko in her class in 2019 and am grateful to spend some more time in her classroom with my group, the Blueberries. I was really impressed with the inventiveness and care with which they adorned and mended garments of all sorts.
We learned to draft a top with Cal Patch, who taught pants drafting at the retreat in 2019. In Cal’s class I got a little bit free with my design lines and am so happy with the sunshiney top that I created. I am hoping that Cal will be able to come teach a workshop at Make It Sew soon!
After some show and tell of antique French and Japanese textiles, I learned to create a top from a Japanese pattern/technique and sew it entirely by hand. I was skeptical about so many parts of this class and this top but trusted Kristin Axtman’s teaching and her keen eye. And now I want to sew a closet full of these simple tops and hope that Kristin will come to Virginia to teach and share.
Hand sewing tool setup from Kristin Axtman / Brooklyn Haberdashery
I sat with some handwork and some other contemplative stitchers as Katherine Ferrier led us in some writing exercises, a class she presents to makers. We were chased out of the screened-in classroom on the summer camp’s hill by a fierce thunderstorm… Presumably we writers brought on the rains, winds, and lightning with our thoughts and words!
Stitchers out of the rain
After a year and a half of iSEWlation and pods and hand sanitizer, I spent a week around crowded tables, easily sharing from one another’s toolkits. At mealtimes we navigated the table’s lazy susans with grace. Skilled paddlers accompanied new friends to swim across the great pond. Connections were made, tears were shed, laughs were shared* and as my new friend Emily said (and I’m paraphrasing), “I didn’t finish sewing anything this week. For me, that wasn’t the point. I came to be around my people.”
As the owner of a small shop, I get to be around my people. A week around my people in Maine looked and felt a little different: the accents, the weather, the accommodations. Slow Fashion 2021 sent me back to home in Virginia with two new tops and some deeper sashiko & mending skills. It also sent me home with some new ideas that I hope to bring to Make It Sew in the coming months. Stay tuned!
*I will likely never forget the dinner conversation involving the massage ball and the baby monitor.
*If you are curious, I went with one empty bobbin.