Sewing with La Fred

Designer Fred Bloebaum visited Portland and our chapter meeting in September. She was a lovely person, a patient and thorough teacher, and amazing seamstress and designer. What a treat it was to see her designs up close and learn from her in person.

La Fred started with a trunk show of her patterns and it was delightful. We got to see what her patterns look like sewn up in various fabrics and try them on to see how the styles looked and fit. The Artemis coat with an attached scarf/hood was one of the stars. She showed it sewn in a drapey fabric for evening and a practical rainwear fabric for daywear. All her patterns were elegant and very wearable. 

Saturday afternoon we learned several wonderful finishing techniques. My favorites were a gorgeous – and easy – skinny welt pocket and a really cool silk lined elastic waistband – very luxurious and oh so comfortable!

Sunday she showed us techniques for making a reversible t-shirt. It was definitely a challenge, but also an interesting concept. All of the different choices of fabrics were fun and interesting. Mine is black silk with white polka dots on one side and a cool lavender, gray, and green rose print on the other – and it is almost finished! Maybe we’ll see all the finished t-shirts at the coming meetings.

Maryanne Leipper