A few weeks ago, liZ and I had the opportunity to attend Fabric Fest, a sewing conference that was put on by Riley Blake Designs in Las Vegas. It was a wonderful mid-week conference of sewing, food, and new friends and we really had the best time. We met people from all over the world (hello new Aussie friends!) and we laughed more than we have laughed in a long time.
As part of Fabric Fest we taught a pattern-drafting class for drafting a children’s bodice and then did a panel discussion with Melissa from Polka Dot Chair and Lindsay from The Cottage Mama about “Creating a Signature Style.” Those girls are amazing I tell you….I felt like I learned more from them than anything I ever said in the panel (Those poor people that had to listen to me. On the other hand…liZ was awesome, as usual, though. She even dressed up for everyone….but that a story for another day.)
This picture is Melissa’s. She did an awesome presentation on how to find inspiration for your signature style and the rack of clothes that Lindsay brought with her to show how to find your signature style.
We got to take classes as well and it was such fun atmosphere to sit in classes and sew together with women from all over. Amy from Diary of a Quilter, Eleanor Burns, and The Missouri Star Quilt Company were all there teaching awesome quilting classes. (It gave me the quilting bug all over again…they taught so many great tips and tricks for a super-beginner quilter like me. Like better corners and piecing techniques—those women know their stuff!)
Also, during Fabric Fest there was a fashion show that Riley Blake Designs put on with a lot of their fabric lines. They had fashions mixed in with some of the most gorgeous quilts that I have ever seen. I really wish I had taken some pictures of them. They were so intricate and so detailed that the audience was oohing and ahhing over so many of them.
liZ and I were asked to sew a few things for the fashion show and our lucky little girls got to go down with us and walk the catwalk and spend the rest of the two days lounging at the pool (with Nana).
Both liZ and I wondered how they would do with all the people….butwe should have know that they would be “all about it” (they are so different from their mommas). They are still talking and giggling every time they see each other about how they were in a “real fashion show.”
We were back stage most of the time so I didn’t get any pictures as they were walking, but we did get a few shots after the show.
These were actually our favorite dresses that we made for the show with Riley Blake’s basic polka dots, solids, stripes and neon lines. liZ made their accessories and they looked so cute together. I am still loving how the stripes and polka dots looked on stage together.
And because we know that not all of you could go to Fabric Fest, we decided to bring home a little Fabric Fest to you!
We brought back a Fat Quarter Bundle of Riley Blake’s Shuffle Line especially for one of you. (liZ made the most amazing dress out the black shuffle line—but you are going to have to wait a couple weeks to see it) and it is one of our favorites of their basics lines.
To enter all you have to do is leave us a comment.
Let’s see, what shall we talk about today?
Why don’t we discuss your biggest sewing injury?
(How’s that for a Monday morning discussion 😉
Leave us your biggest sewing injury in the comments and you will be entered. We will choose a winner on Friday.
Good luck everyone!
~Elizabeth
*The winner has been chosen and this contest is closed…but more will be coming soon :)*
Those dresses are awesome. Pink is the perfect compliment to black and white.
I guess I’ve been pretty lucky on the injury front. Maybe a small iron burn. Hope I’m not jinxing my luck! Although, my pride has been hurt once or twice when something doesn’t work out. Does pride count? 🙂
I guess I’ve been pretty lucky on the injury front. Maybe a small iron burn. Hope I’m not jinxing my luck! Although, my pride has been hurt once or twice when something doesn’t work out. Does pride count? 🙂
I seem to consistently stab myself with straight pins, but other than that, I haven’t had any “big” injuries. Which is amazing, because I am so uncoordinated!
My injuries have been mental ones. Doubt. Fear. Luckily no big physical injuries to date. Thank you for the opportunity.
It’s very cliché, but I have sewed through my finger on the sewing machine. I actually had to pull the thread out – that was probably the worst part! I must say I was quite impressed with my little machine that it was able to do it, but less impressed with myself for the deed 🙂
Two years ago while putting pintucks in a skirt, I sewed through my finger with a double needle. Yes. As in had the needle sticking out of my finger and my finger attached to the sewing machine. I’ve also cut myself on my closed sewing shears, which I really didn’t realize was possible, and accidentally nipped the webbing between my thumb and other fingers with my shears. I’ve had fingertips bleeding from too many pricks with embroidery needles…. I think that’s about it…. aside from iron burns. And yes, I’m still sewing!
No big sewing injuries but I consistently bruise my thumb when fabric catches and I use my right hand to help and it gets hit by the screw holding in the needle.
I’ve been sewing casually since I was in preschool – awkward little stitches on scrap fabric – but when I was 8 my mom sent me to a sewing store nearby for my introduction into the wide world of sewing machines. After the necessary stack of drawstring bags and pillows, we started on our first real garment. For some reason, they didn’t stop me when I chose a single-layer wrap skirt. Even in 8 year old size, that is a major amount of hem to fold and press! 8 year old + regular height ironing board + iron on “cotton setting” = 2nd degree burns all over my hand. Thankfully that didn’t scare me away, though 2 decades later I’m still super cautious around irons!
Pin jabs and paper cuts. I’ve been lucky!
sewing injury – ha! I don’t think I have any, but I love that that’s what you thought to ask about 🙂
Who hasn’t sewed your finger with your sewing machine. I also broke the needle at the same time . Ouch!
Love that fabric, and your little fashion models are adorable!! My biggest sewing injury, without a doubt, is when I sewed through my index finger, nail and all. It was horrifying having to back the needle up to get it OUT of my finger and then having to clip and pull out the thread was the creepiest thing ever. The funniest thing was that my kids were in the room and didn’t even know it happened. Apparently I deal with adversity quietly and calmly — who knew?
No big sewing injuries for me – just pricking my finger when hand piecing 🙂 So far so good!!
I was going to say pride because I couldn’t think of anything else 🙂 Then I remembered my bad habit and how I broke it. For some reason I used to help guide the thread while making a bobbin if it wasn’t loading even enough in my opinion. I know it was and I was just showing my OCD side. Anyways, one day I was making a nylon bobbin and put my finger on the spinning thread and burnt a nice strip into my finger! Last time I did that.
Sewing injury? Every single time I pull out that sewing machine, I poke myself with the pins. Every time!!!! My fingers have been do sore that I just have to stop and relax so that I can sew without poking myself next time!!!
I’ve been sewing since I was five, even dabbled in reupholstering, in white velvet no less. so take your pick after 28 years of sewing, needles and straight-pins through the feet or hands, sewing myself to the project, breaking the machine needle and having it fly and pierce my face, cutting skin on the cutting table, scissor cuts from opening brand new scissor packages, dropping the machine on my foot… oh the joys of sewing all make up for it.
Love the fabric! My cutting tools have been known to cause injury in the past.
I recently sewed my finger to a onesie with my embroidery machine. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been but boy did it scare me!
I recently sewed my finger to a onesie with my embroidery machine. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been but boy did it scare me!
I’ll be honest, I can’t really think of any sewing injuries I’ve had. I’ve had some close calls, but nothing more than just a finger prick. Now I need to find some wood to knock on!
I always prick my finger while hand stitching. Almost everything I’ve made has a dot of my blood on it. A sure sign the garment was made with love.
Just last week the tiny screw holding the bobbin case came undone and the whole case flew right out of the machine while I was sewing. Thankfully, it just hit me in the chest, but that was a weird one!
I love the topic you picked! I’m so glad I’m not the only one that has done most of these things. I’ve never sewn through my finger, luckily! I guess my worst sewing injury would be to my machine. I was picking it up in its case… where the bottom of the case attaches to the sides of the top part.. anyway, I picked it up and the bottom of the case fell off so needless to say, out came my machine and bounced across the floor!! I was horrified that it was completely broken but it still works!! It needed a trip to get itself checked and realigned but it works!! 🙂
I burned my hand on the iron once, in the same week I burned it on the oven. That was a fun week. And I avoided both appliances for a while afterwards 🙂
I think the worst sewing injury I’ve gotten is when I’m seam ripping and accidentally jab my hand with the seam ripper. It wasn’t that bad, but it did hurt!
Luckily my worst is pins and needles in the fingers. I seem to do that a lot.
I did sew/break a nail…it scared me more than hurt and sine my nails are not long I was very lucky it wasn’t worse.
I poke myself with pins all of the time, I wish they made a blunt pin that still went through fabric easily…hummmm guess that isn’t going to happen.
Needle thru the finger while sewing a white knit pant suit – that will date me – back in the 70’s. I was in college and had just started sewing for myself.
I’ve been super lucky so far and have only received a few pin pricks here and there. I’m still waiting for the attack of the rotary cutter!!
Luckily I wear glasses as I have a hard time with breaking needles and pieces flying up and hitting my glasses! That was close! And going into a daze and hurry the pressure foot that results in a tangled mess and takes
I always seem to jab myself with pins under the fingernail. Makes for sore fingers for awhile. I always forget why they are sore
I was trying to shove a pearl-headed quilting pin into some very think denim and the pin slid right through the head and stabbed me in the thumb, full force. I retaliated by throwing out every single one of those pins. ‘Cause I’m so sure it was THEIR fault.
Pretty bad iron burn (Ironing tiny outfits for baby girl is dangerous!!) and I have also sewed through the tip of my finger- but that wasn’t so bad 🙂
I ran the my finger down the edge of my scissors to clean off the edge–yeah, those things were sharp! Needless to say there was blood involved and the scissors did not get cleaned. Thanks for the giveaway!
So far my biggest injury is stabbing myself with pins while pinning on a ruffle. I did it three times last night!
you would not believe how many times I’ve been stupid and nicked myself with my rotary cutter. Not as exciting as many of the stories here, but it feels like the worst paper cut you could ever imagine.
My sewing injuries always involve me and the rotary blade. I have Psoriatic Arthritis and I can’t always move them fast enough to get out of the way of the blade. I keep bandaids handy!
I have had some of the physical injuries,but I think the mental ones hurt more. More like the emotional scars my 3 year old is getting every time he talks to me while I am focusing on doing buttonholes…
Probably just a big poke with the needle.
Probably stabbing myself with pins, I keep doing that, don’t know why I haven’t learn to do it anymore!
Stabbing myself with pins. Maybe the occasional stab with the seam ripper.
I think stabbing myself multiple times within 5 minutes with pins and a seam ripper. You would have thought I would have learned after the 1st time not to do that. Nope.
Sorry it posts hubby’s name
Chiara
My biggest sewing injury is repeatedly poking myself with pins. Like the ones that are already in the fabric holding the pieces together. 🙂
Luckily my worst physical injury is just pin sticks. But when I was younger and making a dress for a huge competition my fabric got cut right in the middle of my piece. Thankfully we were able to patch it up and it was inside a box pleat so not to obvious!
I have a habit of standing on my tip toes when I’m concentrating on anything. This includes ironing. Normally it’s not an issue, it’s just a funny quirk that my family teases me mercilessly about.
However, during my pregnancies my tip toe standing put my big belly right in line with the top of my ironing board and, as any woman who has been through a pregnancy knows, you’re both highly aware of your girth and completely incapable of judging it’s presence. I ended up burning my belly multiple times, through multiple pregnancies and I never once learned my lesson.
only rotary cutter nicks yet!
I sewed my finger once in 9th grade sewing class.
I love those dresses and those beautiful models. When I first started using the rotary cutter, I kept cutting myself. Not bad but I had to get in the habit of putting it down once you are done cutting. I would carry it in one hand, like a pencil and continue using my hands to do other things. It took a few cuts to learn to put it down. Thanks for the chance to win this lovely fabric.
I am knocking on wood as I say no major sewing injuries for me, but I did break two bones in my leg playing Duck-Duck-Goose with my Pre-K class!
I Sliced A Nice chunk Of Skin off My Finger, While Using A Rotary Cutter. Thanks For The Chance
Amanda
I Sliced A Nice chunk Of Skin off My Finger, While Using A Rotary Cutter. Thanks For The Chance
Amanda
I don’t want to jinx myself! No major injuries – but I did put a needle into the tip of my finger pretty deep while embroidering a dress! It ached for three days…
Well, I started a baby quilt a week or so before my 2yo daughter was due and sliced the top of my finger off. I lost a small part of the top and half a fingernail. OUCH! Plus, I get very sick from those tetanus shots. The timing was pretty awful, but the quilt is beautiful! 🙂
Sounds like you all had a great time! I loved looking through the pics.
I have not had any major injuries sewing but I have pooked myself many time with straight pins and I have burnt myself with the iron several times.
No major injuries, but I hate poking myself with the straight pins! Doing wood work, now that’s another story- cut my finger on the electric band saw (?) to my students’ amusement
I haven’t done anything major, but my mother in law sliced the tip of her finger off with a rotary cutter. She had seven stitches, I think.
No MAJOR sewing injuries, but I’ve gotten my thumb “hammered” by the screw on the needle post (OUCH), and a couple of non-fatal (but still really painful and scary) nicks with the rotary cutter. I’m not even going to mention how many times a day I get stuck with pins and needles (it’s embarrassing).
I have sewn through my finger on the sewing machine twice!
I love love love shuffle! Thankfully, no major sewing accidents for me just lots and lots of pricked fingers and a grazing from the machine needle – that was a close one.
No sewing injuries. Thanks for the chance to win.
Iron burns, steam burns, needle pokes aplenty. Luckily nothing too serious. But I’m pretty new to this, so give me some time. 😉
Love the fabric! The girlies were adorable! My worst sewing boo boo is trying to cut the tip of my finger off with a rotary blade.
I love that bundle! I’ve burnt myself with the iron before – Ouch! And had plenty of pin sticks and a sore neck/back!
My biggest sewing injury is when I got the sewing machine needle through my finger. talking to someone and sewing fast are a painful combination!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Owwee … I’m cringing just reading some of the other comments. I’ve never had a really big injury – just certain projects that seem to result in lots of pins through my fingers.
Hi Liz! The girls are so cute in their beautiful dresses! I am new to sewing but like the others, I’ve had needles pricks and iron burns! Thanks for the giveaway! Blessings from Bama!
I have a three inch long burn on my arm from my iron. Other than that I usually just prick myself with pins on a regular basis.
So far I have been lucky and try to be super careful.
Jabbing myself with the seam ripper…:(
Knock on wood I have never hurt myself badly while sewing, just a few needle punctures.
Iron burns, finger needle pokes, too many to count……
Holy cow!!! I didn’t think of sewing as dangerous before reading through some of these comments!!! I’ve poked my fingers w/ straight pins many times, but so far that is about it!!!
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! You are a brave woman.
I’ve cut my fingers numerous times with my rotary cutter, but the worst was when I cut the skin between my thumb and hand/first finger … that hurt!
Surprisingly, I haven’t had any serious injuries sewing but when I cut my finger tip off when cutting the frozen butter with a fillet knife. I had a huge bandage with my finger. I was at Al’s graduation and Ryder was way too excited that Al was speaking (he was saying, “Hi, Hi, Hi. And then waving until she would wave back) so I had to take him to the cry room. All the women there were trying to calm down their kiddos and they ask what I did all of them showed me their finger tips and they had sliced them off with rotary cutters. Since that day I have been very careful when using the rotary cutter because the rotary cutter injures were far worse than the fillet knife. This injury did slow me down in my Christmas pre-baby sewing since it happened the first part of December and Boston was born in January.
I must have dropped a straight pin on the floor at some point. Then I found it…with my big toe. Straight through 🙁
As scatter-brained as I am, all my sewing injuries have been pretty minor. Mostly sticking myself with pins and needles. I had a close call once and almost sewed my finger, luckily I pulled away just in time.
Impaling my finger with a needle!
Lucky enough to be injury free so far while sewing…hopefully the luck continues!
(majesticjenkinsATgmailDOTcom)
Love the picture of your girls! How fun that must have been! My biggest injury was with my rotary cutter. I thought it was closed, and when I picked it up, I sliced my hand right open. It was pretty minor, but the blood dropping off my hand was pretty dramatic looking. A friend of mine sewed through her finger and got the needle lodged her in thumb nail! YIKES!
It looks like you had fun at the fest and thanks for bringing us home a giveaway. The only thing I have ever done is poke myself with a pin, nothing gory lol.
smjohns63 at yahoo dot com
I feel better seeing that I’m not the only one with sewing wounds! I’ve done the classic needle through the finger, blood cover rotary cutter, and broken machine needle to the eye, as well as pin sticks and needle screw hammered thumb. Now I realize why my husband stores first aid supplies in the closet beside my sewing room! 😉 thanks for the chance at this giveaway!
The only injury I can think of is the hit to my wallet every time I walk into our local quilt store! LOL! Seriously, i haven’t gotten injured physically, so that’s a good thing!
I cut the tip of my finger off with the scissors when I was snipping a thread. I got carried away i guess.
My worst, so far, has been an extremely deep gouge out of my hand from when I tried to “catch” my open, very sharp scissors as they fell off my sewing table. Ouch!
I once sewed thru my finger nail and partial finger and boy did it hurt
When I was young yes I sewed through my finger now as an adult- tennis elbow from all the cutting (with a bad blade I might add and poor ergonomics ). It looks like a great time and lovely things made.
What fun fabric!
No major sewing accidents unless I’ve blocked them out of my memory; however, a few run-ins with exacto knives!
I snipped my leg with scissors once. Ouch.
A sewing machine needle went through my finger one time
Pretty much the same as everyone-pin pricks, iron burns, scissors cuts, needle through the finger skin.
I have sewed my thumbnail. I had to get a pliers to get needle out!
I sewed through my finger last summer. It was pretty traumatizing. I didn’t end up going to the emergency room and luckily it healed okay. I hope I don’t do that again.
I sewed through my thumbnail once -ouch! Now I always turn off my machine before trying to fix issues 😉
Well, I got a needle in my eye once when it broke (the tip broke off and went flying right into my eye) but, luckily, I wasn’t actually hurt. So I guess the worst injury would be the big burn on my forearm. It boiled up and everything…still have a big scar from that one!
I have had the usual things happen to me when I sew. Having needle pokes while hand sewing. A cut or two with scissors when I wasn’t watching what I was doing. Nothing too serious. Knock on wood!!!! You guys have such cute girls! Love the dresses. Thanks so much for the chance to win.
I was sewing a costume for a show I was in and I sewed my finger into the machine. The needle stopped in my fingernail and I sat there frozen knowing that something had happened but not sure what to do about it. I finally figured out to turn the flywheel so the needle came out of my finger and nail. The worst part was I still had to go on stage an hour later.
Shuffle Line looks great! I’m exciting to try some of it out, thanks for the chance to win some! My biggest injury was sewing right through my thumb with my Bernina. It hurt so bad! Now I am terrified I will do it with my long arm machine, that thing is heavy and might just take my thumb off for good if that were to happen!
I have burned a few fingertips when ironing my quilt blocks. I also used my Bernina to sew through my finger. Luck was with me though it missed the nail and went in right next to it. I was surprised that it did not hurt that bad.
Hilarious subject choice! I once dropped my sharpest scissors point down onto my foot. Thanks for the giveaway!
I can’t think of the worst sewing injury I’ve ever had, but certainly the most stupid was leaning too close to the machine to focus on some detail work and having the machine arm come up and whack me on the forehead! Right between the eyes… I’ve learnt my lesson there and try and focus from a distance now!
I sliced off the side of my thumb with my rotary cutter. You really need to look where you are cutting.
I have been VERY lucky so far – the worst thing I’ve done is step on a pin that fell on the floor. I once cut through the cord to my ear buds using my rotary cutter, though …
I sewed straight through my finger. It was awful! I bled all over the garment I was making. 🙁
The dresses in your blog today are beautiful! I don’t have a really bad injury from sewing, yet, but I do seem to have an issue with constantly sticking myself with those darn super sharp quilting pins. OUCH! 🙂
So cute, love the fabric!! I gave myself a really deep cut (probably should have gone to the ER) with my rotary cutter blade, yes just the blade. I was trying to put a new one on the cutter and grabbed it wrong and sliced my hand pretty good. I am always careful to grab the blade with a piece of fabric now 🙂
After I had sewn a pin cushion my 18 month old wanted to check it out, I was squishing it to make sure there werent any hidden pins or needles in it before i gave it to her and I got a needle straight through my finger. it still smarts sometimes…..
Many minor injuries — machine needle in finger, slice by the rotary cutter, chunked by the scissors, and burned by the iron. Fortunately no major injury (knock wood — shoot — now I have a splinter to add to that list {wink}). Love the fabric!
A few days ago, I sliced my knuckle open with a rotary cutter I left sitting out, and I’m still sporting an iron burn on the same hand.sheesh, I’m always injured!
My biggest injury has got to be my pride. I’d be danged if I didn’t just throw away 2 1/2 yards of fangled fabric that was supposed to be high waisted pants. After sewing for MOST of my life, I still can’t get it right. Back to the drawing board.
Oh wow, I’m still new to sewing so I haven’t gotten any boo boos but I would just love to win those fat quarters.
My biggest sewing injury happened while I was making one of those stiff fabric boxes, which I shall never make again. I was pushing with all my might to get the fabric to feed correctly and my finger ended up under the needle as well. Sewing a finger through the nail with a machine is no injury I would like to repeat.
My worst injury…an incident ith my rotary cutter (how predictable…! Those things are sharp!)…luckily, I only sliced throu a CNN of fingernail but it was so close to being worse! Thanks for the chance to win lovely fabric!
Oops that typo was “chunk” not “CNN”…?!
I fall into the needle through the finger and nail category…not fun. It was while making a thick wool coat and I was “helping” the fabric through. Not a good idea.
A scar from an iron burn, pins under the nail, grazes in the side of the forefinger knuckle from hand piecing, separating the thumb nail from its bed when hand quilting by using the nail to force needles but the most bizarre injury was falling onto the thread scissors in the bag I was carrying…. They pierced the leather bag, my jeans and lodged in the back of my thigh. The sewing machine has been safer for me to use 🙂
What darling dresses and darling children! Thanks so much for sharing your talent and the fun from Fabric fest. I guess my most serious sewing injury was slicing my finger with a rotary cutter. (Don’t cut when you are tired and in a hurry). I was more upset by the blood on the fabric than I was about the injury though.
When I was in elementary school, i was hand-sewing some little project and I set the needle down to fix something on the fabric. I leaned over to look for the needle to pick it up, but I ended up leaning onto the needle (which was even a little rusty). It went about a half inch into the side of my elbow. I still feel kind of sick thinking about it 20 years later.
While altering a friends wedding dress, sewing machine needle broke… didn’t realize it had broken in my thumb for a couple of days ! ER doctor couldn’t get I out… had to have it in radiology with the help of a continuous xray pointing the way.
Thanks for the giveaway of these beautiful fabrics
It’s nothing really big but it sure hurt like the dickens and bled a lot too, somehow while snipping a piece of ribbon I managed to snip the little web of skin between my fingers at the base OUCH!
That would have been me too…..the fabric…save the fabric!!
That was my post too but I snipped the web of skin between my 1st & middle finger, your so right OUCH! lol
Most of my injuries are pin stabs when I’m sewing around odd-shaped things and forget there are more pins on the other side. Did recently manage to slice my finger with the rotary cutter, though…. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
Lkat80@gmail.com
Luckily, I haven’t injured myself too terribly – just pokes and jabs!
No sewing injuries yet! Like above, just little pricks with a needle! No big deal…yet!
Pin sticks, rotary nicks, and nearly sewing through my finger oh my! 😉
Fray check to the eye – the top literally came exploding off. It resulted in a fabulous trip to the emergency room 🙁 Beautiful fabric thanks for the chance to win.
Love the bright pink with the black and white. The worst I’ve done in all my years sewing, is stabbing myself with pins… just lucky I guess. Thanks for the chance to win.