PR weekend in Philadelphia

A front door garden on a Philli street

What fun I had! I just wanted to start by saying that the best about this past weekend was meeting all my fellow sewists; I really enjoyed talking to everyone and finding out about their backgrounds and families, we are such a diverse group and what fun to get together and be able not just to get along but so enjoy each others company. My only regret is that I missed meeting some of the 50 or so participants and it was only due to lack of time.

I left early on Friday by train. Trena and I coordinated taking the same train so we could share a cab to the hotel, this also gave us the opportunity to chat for a while.

Kenneth King was very entertaining and the workshop was informative. Having everyone together in one room where we could relax and chat was a great way to start the weekend. I also met my roommate for the weekend, Shirley, for the first time. Thanks Shirley for being a great roomie!

Sample from workshop


Entrance to the Perelman building where the garment collection resides.

After the workshop we split up in groups to go have lunch and then go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see a fashion exhibit and to get to see some of the designer garments in their collection. I did not take pictures but you can see some of the garments here (My favorite was the Chanel knit coat) I did take some pictures of the surrounding area of the museum. While at the museum I also got to see an amazing collection of Indian quilts.


That evening we had a wonderful dinner and while we waited for the rain to stop we had a fashion show. I enjoyed seeing everyone's creations up close. Connie you convinced me to make the Michael Kors you were wearing!


Pyracanthas shrubs trained as espaliers!!


On Saturday we started early. I enjoyed an early morning walk before our shopping trips where I found myself on beautiful cobblestone streets in the surrounding area.




Our first stop was 4th street also known as Fabric Row. I only had a chance to visit two stores because the line at PA Fabrics lasted about an hour but that is the one place I wanted to visit to get hair canvas, buttons and miscellaneous supplies. I also got the beautiful purple wool/acrylic knit at Kinkus.

Our next stop London Textiles in Cherry Hill, NJ was a madhouse of women pulling cuts of fabric from huge cardboard boxes. I only found the above navy wool crepe (3 yards) of beautiful quality.



Next came Jomar. Talk about low prices! I found two cuts of nice lining and the light blue which is a woven with lots of stretch.

And of course you know that women like us who are so conscious of fashion would only travel in style...in a bright yellow school bus!!!!


From left Connie, Karen, me, Touran and Lee

Saturday ended with a visit to Karen. As you can see we enjoyed dinner and wine and great conversation. As Mario was trying to take our picture he kept saying "Say patterns" "Say Burda"...He's a keeper Karen! We also had Karen modeled for us her latest creation, the Burda Mag Plus shirtdress she graded down to her size, it is gorgeous!

On Sunday morning we got together at the hotel for breakfast and then my roomie and I went for a walk and ended up back in Fabric Row where Fleishman's was the only shop open. I found belting material and the larger military style buttons I had been looking for. Back at the hotel we waited with Jackie and Jaeng making time to go to the train terminal, of course even waiting can be fun in company of new friends.

Thank you Connie, Karen, Lee, Annette, Andrea, Mimi and Elaine you all did a wonderful job!

I will soon update my blogroll to include all the new blogs I discovered this past weekend!