In my neck of the woods

(The tree in front has been topped. It is a sad day in the life of a tree when it gets topped. Please don't top trees.) Right across from my apartment is "The Sewing Workshop," a sewing and art school. Can you believe it? A couple of weekends ago I dragged my hung over self across the street and to the open house they were having. Three hours later still hung over I crossed the street to go back home, but this time I was full of new knowledge and excitement for sewing. That was the first time I had been in there. The Sewing Workshop was showcasing there upcoming classes. It felt good to be surrounded by sewers. I will give you some of the highlights for me from the open house.

• Jasmin Zorlu: she was attending. She is an amazing hat designer and millinery. She was wearing a fish skin hat that she had designed. Although I am not really down for wearing animal products she "strives to use sustainable materials whenever possible, like the eco leather 'fish skin', cashmere sweaters, and fruit bags in my handmade headwear." She calls her hats Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings. She has an upcoming hat making workshop that I would love to take. Check her out at: http://www.jasminzorlu.com/index.html
  
  
• Jarred Garza: One of the teachers at the school. He is one of the designers for Ric Rac Clothing. He talked about his classes. I was mostly interested in his vintage re-dux technique. He searches thrift stores in search of vintage pieces and remakes them into more modern pieces. It was cool to see his excitement for it. This is something I would love to do.http://www.shopflick.com/stores/Ric-Rac-Clothing
• Cockades: French hat decorations popular during both wars in the 20th century. They were used as military insignia, award ribbons, show bows, jewelry, hat and clothing decorations. One of the teachers was showing quick tutorials on how to make these. They are basically ribbon that is folded insanely awesomely.

The Sewing Workshop might not be the hippest place in town, but it is very professional and it offers a wonderful selection of amazing classes. I would definitely recommend them. Unfortunately there classes are out of my budget right now, but hopefully in the future. http://www.thesewingworkshop.com/