Common Threads 2016

I was the lucky “chosen one” to attend this year’s Baby Lock Common Threads event. And boy the hype did not disappoint! For those of you who do not know about the Common Threads event, it is a place where the top industry professionals and the best bloggers out there get together and make magic happen!

Off to St. Louis, MO!

Upon arrival I received an AMAZING swag bag filled with goodies from Baby Lock and other attendees.

Welcome to Baby Lock Common Threads event!

Everything is set up for three days of fun!

A lovely opening welcome from Steve Jeffery, Senior VP Sewing Sales.

Did you know that Tacony is celebrating their 70th anniversary this year and Baby Lock will be celebrating their 50th anniversary next year?! There is a reason when a company reaches such a milestone. They truly care for their employees and customers as if they were family.

Welcome to the Tacony tour!

Craig Meyer, Senior VP of Marketing (who is one of the sweetest people I have ever met) gave us an inside look to Tacony’s warehouse.

My “Journey” though the warehouse!

You could say that there were machines for days! Scratch that. Machines for YEARS!

Even Heather of TheSewingLoftBlog.com wanted her photo by the mass amounts of machinery.

Even though these machines looked sad, they were in working order.

We were even allowed access to their print workshop.

Miranda of OneLittleMinuteBlog.com couldn’t resist the color shot!

After a nice night of sleep we arrived at the headquarters in the morning to start our first project of the day.

Evy of aBitofStitch.com introduced us to the Baby Lock’s Destiny and we created our first appliqué project. I am lucky enough to work with this machine in our office, but I learned a few new tricks! This embroidery machine is INCREDIBLE! It may look intimidating but believe me, it is almost effortless.

In progress!

Tada!! She is complete! (Or at least the embroidery and appliqué are).

After the embroidery process, we finished the project off by creating these adorable handbags! Not to mention how darling the display was!

After we broke for lunch we returned to to start a new project put on by Lindsay of TheCottageMama.com. This project was extra special and I encourage you all to take part in this charity. Little Dresses for Africa is a project built on providing on just that, giving little girls in Africa clothing, dresses in particular. Many of these girls go without clothing until they hit puberty. When they receive these dresses not only are they given clothing but they are also given love, support and encouragement. Feeling loved and looked after goes a very long way. You can find all the information needed to help and send dresses of your own by going to www.LittleDressesforAfrica.org. They will even provide you with instructions on creating a pillowcase dress. So simple, so meaningful.

We decided to make the dresses extra special with little appliquéd and embroidered birdies and sweet “Dainty Darling” fabric from Riley Blake Designs (which Lindsay designed and will be released in February 2017)!

How cute! Am I right?! My charming partner Truly of Pink Elephant Designs (who is an extraordinary couture designer) shows off our finished dress!

Here is Lindsay in her “Dress Shop” filled of our gifts to the little girls of Africa.

We finished the night by a panel of experts. Vanessa of CraftyGemini.com gave great insight on industry standards, partnerships and the importance of brand identity. Dana of MadeEverday.com gave us amazing tips on how to get your Instagram to be one of the bests! These women were amazing! I learned SO many great tips! I am so thankful for their time and efforts.

Free Sewing Night! We had some fun and the creativity was flowing! Here is a look at Truly’s one night creation.

The next morning was our last. We had a fun “speed dating” round where we could all get to know one another a little bit more.

We took a group photo and all signed the community wall and answered, “What does sewing mean to you?”

One last project was hosted by the lovely Sara Gallegos! We were able to make a zippered bag entirely on the Baby Lock’s Ovation Serger! And it was all completed within two hours! Amazing!!

And that’s a wrap!

I had the MOST amazing and memorable time at the Common Threads 2016 event. A BIG thank you Baby Lock for all of the love and compassion they continue to share to the sewing community. To check out more stories of this year’s event, simply click here.

-Jessica