Advancing Sewing Skills Online

Over the past few months, our members have shared their favorite source of sewing inspiration and their favorite books.  This time some of our members are sharing their favorite online learning opportunities.  We have heard several people lament that the pandemic seems to be dealing a blow to their sew-jo.  Whether your interests lie in garments, home dec, pattern making or even doll making, one of these online classes might be just the thing to reignite your sewing drive. So let’s jump right into the list!

Want to expand you Embellishment Skills?

Gail Yellen from the CT chapter suggests a Craftsy class, Carol Ann Waugh’s Craftsy class “Stupendous Stitching.”

It made me look at the creative possibilities of my built-in decorative stitches on my machine as well as hand stitching completely differently. I created a wall hanging during cold and dreary winter days. Every time I look at it (hanging in my mudroom), I feel happy! It was a fun, total departure from my typical sewing projects and I may make another when I have the time.

Special Note from TN Marketing regarding availability of classes:

Craftsy will launch on or around September 1st. At the Craftsy launch, you will have the ability to once again purchase individual classes and subscriptions on the new Craftsy website. - posted on the Bluprint site as of July 8, 2020

Interested in Fabric Collage?

Melanie Fredrickson enrolled in Jane Haworth’s Love of Pets fabric collage class. She has been wanting to take this course and now it is online!  You can also read more about the class on Jane’s website.  

Maybe Pattern Making is your jam

Mary Jo Forbes, Debby Bowles and Victoria Gruben all recommend Alexandra Morgan’s classes.  Alexandra has both free and paid class offerings.  They report that she offers true expertise and loads of support along the way!

Mary Jo and Debby took her Knit Bodice Sloper class together and give it high marks.

Mary Jo and Victoria took her Designed to Fit: The Bodice Block class.

This class has added more value to my sewing life than any other to date. The process to produce a custom woven block is clear and simple relative to some other methods but does require an investment in time and effort to achieve optimum results.

Victoria

Want to improve your Garment Fitting skills?

Joanne Jensen suggests Linda Lee’s Craftsy class Fitting Solo: From Measurement to Muslin .  She says Linda’s video instructions are thorough and fairly simple to follow.

Victoria Gruben also suggests the Fun with Fitting – Pants Class on Pattern Review with Sarah Veblen.

This class just keeps on giving! I read through approximately 133 forum pages of Q&A’s, and continue to learn more each time a participant posts a question. The production quality is less “slick” than you will see on Craftsy and others, but the content is priceless.

If you need a boost in your Home Dec sewing skills…

Joanne Jensen has two more favorites to share, both from Craftsy so she was very glad to read the news that BluPrint was bought by a company that plans to preserve all of those “forever” class many of us bought! Her favorite instructor is Linda Lee so she suggests you try one of these:

Classic Table Linens or Sew Luxury Fabric: Pillows.  One reason she ranks these classes so highly is because there are so many techniques covered that also pertain to fashion sewing and embellishment.

And last but not least, for the emerging Doll Maker in you

Jami Roux says her favorite site for online learning is the A for Artistic website. This site offers classes mainly devoted to doll making and other small sewing crafts.  She says the classes are well organized and have been really informative.  They include PDFs for all lessons, videos of special techniques and a Facebook group for questions.

I like how well organized and informative the classes are. They include PDFs for all lessons, videos of special techniques and a Facebook group of questions.

She suggests the Moulin Rouge Dancers class or The Goddess class with Marla Niederer.  Or the When I Have Wings to Fly, A Frida Experience class with Leslie O’Leary.  Jami says she has taken an in-person class with Leslie and this online class is very much like being there.

---

A huge thank you to all who contributed to this list of online class inspiration.  We hope it gave you a few new ideas for sources for your online learning opportunities.  If you have a favorite of your own, please hop in the comment section and add it to the list!