Slow FASHION 2.0, July 25-31, 2022 with Meg mcElwee, Christine Haynes & Grace Jones
Monday afternoon, July 25th through Sunday late morning, July 31th
Medomak Retreat Center, Washington, Maine
Thank you all for your enthusiasm for this new Slow Fashion retreat I am offering this year! 2.0 is now sold out. If you would like to be added to the waiting list send me an email.
A small group of just thirty six Makers will spend five full days in exploration of line, color, and stitch at a contemplative pace. Surrounded by the woods, on the edge of a lake, with the rustic beauty and charm of Maine as the backdrop. Small groups, individual pacing, natural inspiration-this will be a week for unwinding and exploring....
Expanded from the original pre-pandemic length of five days total, this updated retreat offers a full week to dive deeply into the subject. We have even more time to unwind, connect, and stitch…
All possible precautions regarding Covid will be taken. Proof of vaccine and whatever boosters are readily available will be required for participation. There will be no exceptions.
Tiered pricing this year:
• $2100 for a private cabin
• $1900 for a cabin with one roommate
• $1700 for a cabin with two roommates
Are you seeking the time and space to slow down and connect with your skills, your agency, your creative practice? In these challenging chaotic, isolated pandemic days, we crave connection and community with other Makers. Maine is a good place to retreat, step back from the daily pace, and spend some time in community with needle, thread, and cloth. This July, I invite you to join Meg McElwee, Christine Haynes and Grace Jones to make that time and space for yourself.
Join Meg, Christine, Grace, Katherine, and I at the Medomak Retreat Center in Washington, ME where you can relax, unwind, and dive into your stitching practice. You will sleep in a modern yet rustic cabin, eat three meals a day with the community, and spend as much time as you like with cloth, needle, and thread. Each day will be spent with Meg, Christine, or Grace, learning their techniques and tips, and practicing new skills or sharpening old ones. In addition there are two days of time for musings, wanderings, exploration, and epiphany, both of the textile and human variety. The emphasis here is on settling into your Making practice and letting the rest of it float away....
~Meg will lead a modified version of her Mindful Wardrobe Project. So many of us feel overwhelmed by our closets and our to-make lists, confused about our style, or unhappy with our bodies. Over the course of a relaxing day among new friends, Meg will lead you in vision exercises to define your unique style. She'll show you how fabric and color selection can support your personal expression, and how you can craft a wardrobe that includes the full spectrum of YOU - from your varying lifestyle and climate needs to the different (and sometimes opposing) aspects of your personality. You'll cover styling tips and how to put together well-composed outfits - and nail down your favorite outfit formulas for stress-free dressing. Armed with a sense of clarity around your actual wardrobe needs, Meg will help you craft a small sewing and/or thrifting wish list that can guide you as you work to align your closet with your values.
~Christine will lead you through the nuts and bolts of garment techniques. Instead of producing a wearable item in this workshop, you will learn many techniques to take to your next project. She will guide you through working with volume (pleats, darts, ease, gathering), stitching (top stitching, understitching, stay stitching), seams (French seams, flat fell seams, bound seams), closures (buttons and buttonholes, centered zipper, invisible zipper) and more! You will watch Christine demo each skill, then sew each technique for yourself, leaving with a full notebook of samples and instruction.
~Grace will share her comprehensive approach to getting a flat pattern to fit Your body. It is time for you to Focus on Fit! You will have the opportunity to work on improving and perfecting the fit for your own pattern/project of your choosing. It could be a special project (such as fancy wedding guest attire, a blazer, or a winter coat), or a basic block pattern (torso, bodice, dress, trousers or slacks) that would become a fit reference for future projects.
With Grace you will receive demonstration and individual help as appropriate to your project; including but not limited to:
Taking a new set of personal measurements
Measuring the pattern and choosing a size to test fit
Analyzing the pattern with a critical eye to identify preliminary changes for personal fit and checking the pattern for drafting and grading issues.
Tracing patterns while incorporating pattern adjustments.
Cut and sew a simple muslin to check fit.
Fit analysis of a 1st muslin and suggestions for pattern revisions *
Guidance on how to make pattern revisions for fit and style.
Fit analysis of a 2nd muslin (time permitting) and suggestions for further pattern corrections.
You will spend a day with each teacher, with plenty of time for inspirational wanderings. Two back-to-back, then a break. On the third day we hope to have a small field trip to the coast (depending on virus safety protocols), and a fabulous local fabric store. Or if you prefer, you can go for a swim, take a hike, do some stitching, some reading, or whatever your heart desires. The last day of instruction on Friday. Then Saturday is entirely for you to do with as you please. Check in with one of the instructors on a technique you need clarification on, take a nap, sew up another muslin, the day is yours!
We will have a clothing swap, so bring any and all wearable items that no longer sing to you, and watch them leave with another, while perhaps bringing something new and thoughtful into your closet. If you don’t have garments to swap, yardage and pattersn are also welcome. The swap nights are always tons of fun! We will also have an evening for Garment Stories. Bring a beloved item of clothing that has a story behind it. We will share our stories and our thoughts about the lives of our garments. This evening is always engaging, even if you can’t imagine it. Our garments hold so many untold stories and memories, it is fascinating to hear them. So much emotion, so much history, culture, identity in our closets. Let’s share our stories.
The primary focus for the week will be on slowing down, taking time, connecting to your practice, the community, and your inner voice. Evenings will be open for more stitching, conversing, knitting, star gazing, cricket concerts, Loon appreciation, and anything else you might like to do in Maine in July....
Meg McElwee
Meg McElwee started sewing after finishing an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a graduate degree in education. While living and teaching in rural Mexico for three years, she studied pattern drafting and made her own clothes - first out of necessity, then because of the sense of empowerment and joy it brought to her life. The meditative act of stitching continues to bring her a deep sense of well-being.
Her passion for slow fashion has expanded over the years to include the Sew Liberated sewing pattern line, two books, a sewing course with Craftsy, and her own online course, The Mindful Wardrobe Project. She enjoys supporting the slow stitching community through her writing on her blog and Instagram.
Christine Haynes
Christine Haynes is a sewing author, teacher, and pattern designer. Christine grew up in Saugatuck, MI, a small beach community on the southwestern coast of Lake Michigan, where the arts were part of her daily life. Her mother taught her to sew around the age of 10, and it grew from a personal hobby, until it became her main artistic outlet, many years later. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the department of Film, Video, and New Media. After graduating college in Chicago, Christine moved to Los Angeles, CA and sold ready-to-wear garments for many years. When Random House approached Christine to write her first book, she left ready-to-wear, and turned her focus to teaching others to experience the joy of making clothing for themselves, through her patterns, books, and workshops. While in Los Angeles, in addition to teaching, patternmaking, and writing, she was the shop manager at Sew LA. Following more than a decade in Los Angeles, Christine relocated to New York, NY, where she became the shop manager of Purl Soho. After managing Purl Soho for a few years, Christine returned to patternmaking and teaching, which she now does from her vintage bungalow in the small beach town of Grand Haven, MI. Christine has written four books, How to Speak Fluent Sewing (2015, C&T), Skirts & Dresses for First Time Sewers (2015, Barron’s), The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Construction (2014, CPI), and Chic & Simple Sewing (2009, Potter Craft), and her articles have been published in many magazines. She teaches sewing classes in-person, as well as virtual & video workshops on-line. You can find Christine at her site here: www.ChristineHaynes.com
Grace Jones
Grace Jones obtained her pattern making certificate from the Fashion Institute of Technology after receiving her master’s degree in apparel design from Florida State University.
As a technical designer in the New York garment industry with over 15 years’ experience, Grace works for a garment manufacturer of women’s ready-to-wear, and has the opportunity to fit twice weekly on missy and plus live fit models. This experience has enabled her to develop the skill of assessing fit, identifying issues and communicating pattern corrections to factory vendors overseas.
As a lifelong hobby sewist, Grace is an enthusiastic consumer of commercial sewing patterns (big four and indie patterns). She regularly shares her personal sewing process and pattern analysis in her Instagram stories (@wzrdreams). Over time, she has come to realize that all patterns have quirks or errors, and has become adamant about the need to carefully review and check patterns early in the sewing process.
When not sewing, Grace loves to thrift and knit, and recently picked up roller-skating during the pandemic. She lives with her husband and cat in Brooklyn New York.
If your time in Maine opens up even more pathways to creativity, our good friend, Katherine Ferrier will offer up her workshop, Making, Being, and Being Made, Contemplative Writing for Makers, again this year. Folks who are interested can sign up for this two hour workshop on site.
Katherine Ferrier is familiar to those who have spent any time at an AGOS event, but for those new to this forum, she is a poet, dancer, maker, teacher, curator, and community organizer. Her research grows out of a deep practice of paying poetic attention to the world, and lives in the intersecting communities of movers, makers, writers and activists. A self-taught quilter, she has improvisationally designed and constructed nearly 100 quilts, drawing on her studies, both formal and independent, of movement, poetics, painting, and architecture, among other forms. She is the Director of the Medomak Fiberarts Retreat in Washington, Maine, and has recently expanded her fluency as a maker by embracing felting, weaving, and natural dyeing. She regularly teaches and performs throughout the US and abroad, and believes in patchwork as a radical practice of being patient, saying yes, and making space for everyone at the table.
Registration includes lodging in a cabin (shared, or otherwise), all meals, and all instruction for six days. The cabins are rustic and spare, but modern and comfortable. Please do note that many of the cabins are in the woods, and require an uphill walk. If mobility is an issue for you, please contact me when you register. We can accommodate most dietary restrictions within reason, just alert us to your needs in advance.
There are ten private cabins available. You can make this choice at registration. However if you do not get a private cabin, I can assure you there is plenty of room in each cabin for two or three adults.
A supply list will be sent out at least a month in advance of your arrival in Maine.
Otherwise, all you have to do is get yourself here, I'll take care of the rest. I will send out recommendations for what to wear and bring in advance. I send very detailed emails about how to get here, what to bring, how to prepare. Read them when they show up, most everything you could need will be in there…
The food at camp is fresh, simple, wholesome, and satisfying. Please notify me of food allergies, or if you are Vegetarian (specify if you do/do not eat dairy, eggs, fish, etc…) , but we suggest that unless you have a specific medical condition, you will find plenty to nourish you during your time at camp.
Medomak Retreat Center is in Washington, Maine, about 80 minutes from the Portland airport, 3 hours drive from Boston, 7 hours drive from NYC. Washington is only 30 minutes inland from Camden. The campus has 250 acres of blueberry fields and forest, with trails for hiking, tennis courts, and lakefront where canoes and kayaks are available. The cabins are clean and spare and perfectly comfortable. Medomak is going to great lengths to secure our safety as regards Covid. We will be conferring with them up till arrival about best practices to keep all safe. You will be required to be fully vaccinated and boostered as advised by the CDC before coming to camp. No exceptions. We will require written proof of your vaccination before arriving. These measures are taken to keep us all safe.
In order to give you some time to check, and double check, your schedule, and confer with partners, bosses, children, parents, and pets, to make sure this will work for you, I delay the opening of registration. This year registration will open Sunday March 6th at 3:00pm EST. I will send an email to my newsletter group when registration opens. If you want to be notified when registration is open, you should sign up for the newsletter, spots have gone quickly in the past….. You will need to pay a non-refundable deposit to register, and then arrangements can be made for how to pay your balance.
[If a pandemic lockdown forces me to cancel the retreat, all deposits will be returned, otherwise the deposit will be non-refundable.]