Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion ~ Teaching Recap

I just got back this past Monday from being away for eight days teaching sewing classes at the Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion. It was such a wonderful and memorable experience, but I am so happy to be back home with my husband and little ones. I was so incredibly flattered when I was invited to teach at the School of Art Fashion. I knew that the teachers at this school were truly legends in the heirloom sewing world, so to be included in this group was very special to me. The school takes place twice a year……in February and July.

To be honest, I didn’t know quite what to expect upon arrival. I knew about the school prior to teaching, but I had never attended and didn’t really have much of a visual about the event. I even ‘google’ searched it to find some pictures, but came up short, so I just brought what I thought I needed and decided to go with the flow.

I arrived in Huntsville, AL on Sunday, February 2nd, 2013 to teach for a full seven days. I have never been to AL, but it turns out it is only an hour and a half from Chicago by plane. And it also turns out that Alabama folks have the most charming accents I have ever heard. Oh, they all just sounded so sweet…….’Bless Your Heart’……I loved it!

I prepared my classroom for seven days of teaching. I brought all sorts of samples of my sewing. Most of them were my patterns or things that we were sewing in my classes, but I also brought some other pieces that I just really loved. I hung things on the walls inside the class and on the outside as well.

At the School of Art Fashion there are three days of pre-day classes and then a four-day school. I taught three different, day-long classes during the pre-day with different sets of students and then had the same group of students that sewed with me for the full four days in my school.

I was also give an assistant for the week. I don’t know what I would have done without my assistant, Terri. She had previously worked for Martha Pullen, attended the school as a student and worked as an assistant prior to helping me. She was a wealth of information and made me feel so at ease with everything. Not to mention that she was very quick to pick up on some of my (somewhat) complicated sewing tricks so that she could help assist the students. I’m so thankful that I had her help!

So what did we sew? In my pre-day classes I taught the Shortcake Double Ruffle Dress, the Ruby Ruffle Dress and the Janey Jumper. In my school, I taught a new variation of my Charlotte Apron Dress pattern, machine applique and embroidery, a double layer twirl skirt, bloomer capris and two embellished shirts.

Also, during one of my classes the students expressed interest in learning about how I pair and select fabrics for garments. So we took a mini-field trip to the Martha Pullen store at the school and I tried to show them the method to my madness. It’s kind of hard to explain what I do, but it was helpful for me to be able to pull several different bolts and discuss pattern, color and scale with them.

Here are some of the students busy at work sewing, tracing, cutting, ect…….

Each class has a kit that is given to each student upon arrival. I selected all of the fabrics, trims, buttons, ect. Then they had a list of extras that they had to bring (basic sewing supplies, thread, and some other extras). Each kit also contained the pattern needed for each garment.

We had a lot of fun doing some machine applique and embroidery on the apron of the Charlotte Dress. Darlene, my wonderful machine educator that was in my classroom all week, had some great tips and tricks. I encouraged the students to get creative. Three of my applique designs were actually digitized by Darlene and in all of the students machines so they could use those if they wanted (a strawberry, owl and bird) or they could choose a built in embroidery design. It was very exciting for me to see them all go in different directions and create something different.

In addition to the classes there are several other events such as lunches with amazing sewing and embroidery machine giveaways, a banquet with little children modeling different gorgeous garments constructed by students and teachers, a barbeque, and teachers selling night (where I sold my patterns) and a table top clinic (where teachers each demonstrate different sewing projects or techniques).

Also, there is a giant pop-up Martha Pullen store in the center of the event. There is everything from quilting cotton, linen, silk, lace, ribbon, patterns, books, notions and so much more. I tried to keep myself out of there as much as possible, but I finally caved and bought some things on the very last day. You should have heard the buzz around the school when they had silk dupioni on sale for $5.00. It is so much fun to be around other women who are just as obsessed over quality fabrics as I am. And the ladies who attend the School of Art Fashion take it to a whole new level. I love it!

So I’ve shown you a lot of my experience, but what’s even more impressive is the work from this talented group of instructors hired by the Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion. Here are some inspirational pictures from some of the other instructors classrooms……