My Bluprint Class, "Sew the Camp Shirt," is LIVE!

Friends, I'm excited to announce that my Bluprint class, "Sew the Camp Shirt," is ready for viewing!

You can watch the trailer below.



For those who aren't currently Bluprint members, you can sign up for a free trial and check it out.  You may not know that Bluprint was formerly Craftsy, which was purchased by NBCUniversal.  While many of the original Craftsy classes are still available for viewing, Bluprint is primarily a subscription-based platform. 

The entire "Sewing the Camp Shirt" class can be viewed here here.  (You can also purchase the class outright here.)

Filming took place in Denver, Colorado, where Bluprint is based, at the end of June.  It was an extremely exciting experience, completely outside my normal day-to-day routine as you can imagine, especially since I had my own dressing room (below) and someone to do my makeup (which made my cousin Cathy extremely envious).  The whole Bluprint team couldn't have been more professional or kind (or patient!) with me.

In preparation for the class I sewed up three sample camp shirts.  I worked collaboratively with my primary contact person on choosing fabrics.  I found the blue cotton-rayon twill (the fabric I teach the class with) myself in the Garment District -- it wasn't the easiest fabric to handle but it made a very elegant-looking shirt.

The first version of the shirt I made was a lovely tropical-print linen.  Originally we thought we'd use this fabric for the class itself but there wasn't enough contrast between the right and wrong sides (which makes demonstrations harder) and linen can have a life of its own depending on the hand and we all know its propensity to wrinkle.  Plus orange ain't my best color.

The third version was this gorgeous floral print.  Of the three, this was probably the most fun to make and the result is stunning.  For all three shirts as well as for the class, I used vintage Butterick 2233 (the same pattern I'd used for my lemon-print shirt).  In the class materials, there's a list of contemporary and vintage camp shirt patterns I suggest as possibilities to use; we opted not to focus solely on one pattern since there are so many out there and they're so very similar to each other.

I arrived in Denver on a Tuesday late afternoon and we spent most of Wednesday taking still shots, as well as footage of me modeling the shirts outside.  I got to choose the sewing machine I would use for the class from their large assortment of sewing machines.  I'd shipped some of my own sewing supplies I wanted to work with and everything else was theirs: they have a huge collection of sewing stuff!

I wore two of my own shirts for filming--the lemon print I made last spring and the seafoam linen with the slot seams I finished just before flying out to Denver.  You may notice that they even designed a set for me with a cool retro "bachelor pad" vibe: I was ready to move in!

We filmed the class on Thursday and Friday.  They were long days, since we had a lot to accomplish in the short time allotted.  Lauren Taylor (Lladybird) was in town teaching a jeans class and we'd made tentative plans to meet up on Friday but I didn't get back to my hotel till after 9 pm so it didn't happen (I saw her last month in NYC instead).  It's not all glamour, kids!

I didn't get to see any footage at all until last Friday when the class was ready for viewing.  I was delighted with the result.  The editing, the videography, the pacing, the music (those swingin' bossa nova and cha cha rhythms!)--it's much more than I'd hoped for.  Cutting-edge production values aside, this is also a substantive sewing class and, while not intended for basic beginners, is ideal for someone who has some sewing under their belt.

I hope you can watch the class and, if you do, I hope you find it valuable.  It's something I am feel extremely proud to be able to share.

Have a great day, everybody!