PR Weekend Montreal - Recap

What fun last weekend was! I took full advantage of being only 6 hours away, and made it to PR Montreal.

Ok, I will confess I was nervous about meeting so many sewers! My dress had french seams partly because the silk frays, but mostly because I wanted to do the best possible job for a dress that would be displayed to other sewers. I packed with extra care, since everything I made was going to be on display. It was all very nerve-racking.

Very unnecessarily nerve-racking, because of course, everyone was super-nice!

Friday morning, I checked into the dorms, and then headed to the two talks - by Kathryn Brenne and Jeanne Bidet. Both very different, both very informative. For Kathryn's talk, I was sitting all the way over in the back (umm, I was late - my major character flaw - I am always late...) Which meant I couldn't see all the detail in the yummy garments, so for Jalie, I made my way over to the front, and sat in the front row like a good little teacher's pet. Fascinating and informative! I've several new techniques to try.

Friday evening - cocktail party time. I liked my dress (yes, I did finish sewing it) but didn't sew a clasp, and didn't want to enter it in the contest. But everyone made me. What wonderful dresses there were there! It was so inspiring to see what everyone had made, and I totally resolved to sew more better/slower/with more care.

(Oh, and the dinner was amazing.)

Saturday morning - super early (for me), it was get on the bus and go fabric shopping. I have no illusions, I'm not sewing my own workout wear (and if you know me, you know I almost never work out, I'm really lazy), so I went instead to Madeline Soie et Laine. Great store - I wanted to buy the entire store. Instead, I settled for 3 pieces, two off the remnant table, and I bought one meter of Michael Miller cotton that's going to be a great summer skirt.

Most of the day was spent fabric shopping. I bought 7.5 meters in total, which was on the low side, it seemed. However, my stash is out of control, and I really am struggling to find time to sew, so this seemed plenty.

Saturday evening, pizza and a fun show-and-tell. And a pattern/fabric swap. I wasn't organized enough to bring fabric or patterns, and I felt bad about taking any patterns, but there were tons of vintage patterns, and I didn't have the power to resist. Bad Reethi!

Sunday morning, I headed to the McCord museum to see their old costumes and Cirque du Soleil costumes. It was hard at the Cirque du Soleil exhibit - I wanted to touch everything, and of course, you actually can't, at a museum.

After that, I wandered back hostel-ward, and got on my bus...

Special thanks to all the organizers - Anne-Marie, Kay (and isn't her dress to die for? I saw it in person, it was so spectacular), Connie (who made our oh-so-cute badges and pins, I have no idea how much patience that takes!) and Claire (who found me a copy of La Mia Boutique, and then traipsed all over town with me looking for other sewing magazines)

It was really a great weekend. I met tons of cool people, everyone was nice and friendly and welcoming, and it was so much fun to talk sewing non-stop for two days.

And, umm, I was too busy talking to take any pictures, hence this is a picture-less post.

Since my life is a whirlwind, I leave in the morning to go to Chicago for the weekend. I'm hanging with college buddies, so there will be no time to fabric shop (and this is a good thing, trust me.) But, I'm itching to sew, and sewing will definitely happen on Monday.