Fabric Swap, Bra Repair Demo & Raffle!

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Is your fabric stash out of control? Or do you have large leftover pieces of fabric? It's time to go through that stash and see what you'd like to give to another sewist. Bring your leftover yardage, fabric that you know you aren't going to use, or fabric that's the wrong color for you but could be great on someone else. Please bring fabric that's at least 1/2 yard long.

Before you arrive, please label your fabric, note the yardage and whether it's 100% cotton, wool, rayon, poly, a blend, etc. And sort your fabric by type: wovens, knits, silk, home dec, etc. so you can quickly put them on the appropriate tables. If you don't know the fiber content, don't worry. We'll have a table labeled "mystery" for unknown origin fabric. (See below for details on how the swap process.)

Our special guest is Bay Area Sewists member and custom-bra maker Amy Jenkins of Custom Fits Best (http://customfitsbest.com/). Amy will be doing a bra hacking demo.

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(photo credit: Bonnie Rae Mills)

Amy says that bra repairs, such as fixing a popped wire, and minor alterations, such as strap and band shortening, are probably within your sewing skill set. She will show us 3 easy, though not necessarily obvious, ways to hack your most intimate garments. She uses these 3 basic bra modifications to get a better fit and longer wear:

• repairing a "popped" underwire,
• shortening a bra strap, and
• shortening a band.

Feel free to bring a bra with a popped out underwire, too-long straps, or loose bands.

Bay Area Sewists members get 20% off at Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics (http://www.stonemountainfabric.com/) on our Berkeley meetup days. Feel free to stop by the store before or after our meetup. On Sunday, the store's hours are 11 am to 5:30 pm. Stonemountain carries a lot of bra-making supplies.

AGENDA
Sunday, January 29, Berkeley Public Library, 3rd floor meeting room

1:30 pm to 2:00 pm - Put fabric on tables/browse*
2:00 pm to 2:30 pm - Announcements and introductions
2:30 pm to 2:45 pm - Select fabric (put tables away)
2:45 pm - Raffle for giveaway prizes and group photo! (set up chairs)
3:00 pm to 3:40 pm - Bra demo

*NOTE: For each piece of fabric, you will get one entry for the interfacing sampler giveaway. Maximum of 4 entries. All leftovers will be donated to Hello Stitch Studio in Berkeley.

The fabric swap has a total of four rounds of selections. If you brought at least three pieces of fabric, then you can participate in each round. For the first three rounds, you can only select one piece of fabric. The last round (fourth one) is open to everyone, and you can take as many pieces of fabric as you want! IMPORTANT: If you have won a giveaway over the past year, then you cannot enter the giveaway drawing. Thank you!

The raffle prizes for this meetup are courtesy of two Bay Area Sewists members:

Lovely sewing-themed zip bags by Jana of Just Sew Jana (https://www.etsy.com/shop/JustSewJana)...

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... and a copy of Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing by Gretchen Hirsch (never used) - courtesy of Molly. Thank you Jana and Molly!

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Location: Berkeley Public Library Community Meeting Room, 3rd Floor
2090 Kittredge at Shattuck (near Downtown Berkeley BART station)

Note on Parking: There is metered street parking but it can be tough to find an open spot. You may want to park in a lot. There are a couple within walking distance of the library (for example, lots at 2020 Kittredge St., 2061 Allston Way). Wheelchair accessible. Please refrain from wearing scented products to public programs.

PLEASE NOTE: This event is not sponsored by the Berkeley Public Library. Groups and organizations may use meeting rooms when they are not being used for activities sponsored by the Library. Permission to use the meeting rooms does not imply Library endorsement of the goals, policies or activities of any group or organization. For more information on meeting rooms at the Berkeley Public Library, visit BerkeleyPublicLibrary.org.