"... young, knowledgeable, very active sewers!"
This past summer, our office got a call from the organizers of The Sewing Summit. They were very interested in NSC and wanted to talk to us about their plans. We were very intrigued by what they were planning and how it would go over in the world of sewing, especially younger sewers, so come October off I went to see what this Sewing Summit was all about.
If you haven't heard about this event yet, let me fill you in. The Sewing Summit was formed by two young women who blog about their sewing, and especially quilting. The two had always talked about how they should meet in person since they seemed to have so much in common. It didn't take much to realize that there were hundreds of other bloggers out there that felt the same way, so why not all meet up together? The idea of a sewing conference especially for sewing bloggers/internet friends was born.
Arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would everyone already "know" each other? Would the room be full of big internet personalities who are shy in person? Am I going to embarrass myself in front of a blogging celebrity I am unaware of? All of those concerns went out the window as soon as I entered the reception held the first night. For two days I was surrounded by a great group of women who were all gathered for the same reason - SEWING! There were college students, moms, grandmas, quilters, craft sewers, garment sewers, pattern makers and everything in between. Everyone was very talented and knowledgeable. Unlike in my personal life, telling people I worked for the National Sewing Council was received with excitement instead of a confused eyebrow raise. After explaining what we are about and our mission, each person was very interested and pleased to hear such a thing existed.
During the weekend conference there were seminars, hands on classes, shop hops, and free sewing times in the Baby Lock sewing room for the 250 attendees. For a first year event that was spread by word of internet mouth that seemed like a good turnout, and I was extremely impressed by how organized and smoothly it was run.
Overall I was pleased with the event, especially the attendees - 250 young, knowledgeable and very active sewers! They are out there!
The National Sewing Council, it's members included, can and should have a great impact on future Sewing Summits and our office has an appointment to speak with the organizers soon and will report back to members at that time.
