Grand Rapids American Sewing Guild

06/04/2026

If you like THEATRE & SEWING, you won’t want to miss the next GR American Sewing Guild Meeting.
Claudia Lee, Costume Designer at the Performing Arts Center at Paw Paw Public Schools, will be speaking to GRASG members on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, 6:30 PM at the Northview Senior Center, 5255 Grand River Dr. (Note: the DAY is different than our regular meeting day because of a scheduling conflict with a Senior Center event.) Claudia has worked with directors, helping select shows, casting roles, setting schedules, preparing budgets, building her costume crew and of course, doing the fun stuff: designing, constructing, dressing, and preparing for “Show Time”. She will share her process for developing her amazing costumes. You will even be able to see her handiwork firsthand from Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat to Monty Python's ethereal Lady of the Lake, to the enchanting Nemo and Dory.
We love visitors! If you are not a member, and like theatre and sewing, please come join us. Visitors are invited to attend two free meetings to experience the American Sewing Guild and see if GRASG is a good fit for you.

05/13/2026

May 2026 – GRASG Meeting
Carol Schut from Lakeshore Sewing presented about Machine Embroidery, with an emphasis on stabilizers. It was fascinating the direction machine embroidery has taken, with all the freestanding and tiling options available today. Hours, lots of thread and stabilizers later, these new embroidery works of art are formed. For stabilizers, the new wash away stabilizers are way better and water soluble than those of the 90s. Thanks Carol, for a very interesting presentation. The visual aids were fascinating.
Show and Tell had two items from the Challenge, a new quilt idea, a new jeans creation, an ‘I can do’ book and a very unique purse made from a stuffed hand puppet. Are we creative or what?
Hop on over to the Photos page of the GRASG website to see more pictures of this great meeting. www.Grasg.org/photos

05/06/2026

GRASG – Meeting May 12, 2026
Next week’s meeting is pretty important!
• It will PROBABLY be THE LAST DAY you can sign up for the September Sewing Retreat at Camp Geneva on Lake Michigan. It's a beautiful place to sew, visit, hike the trails and check out Lake Michigan. There are only a few spots left. Come prepared to save your spot before it is gone for 2026. (See GRASG.org for more info about Retreat.)
• It IS THE LAST DAY you can donate socks for the In the Image Sock drive for the Fall Back-to-School shoe giveaway. Get your socks now. We are behind last year’s donation, so get your socks now and bring them to the meeting May 12, 2026 at the Northview Senior Center.
• It IS THE DAY that Carol Schut, from Lakeshore Sewing, will present on Embroidery Stabilizers. Stabilizers play an important role in how the end result of your embroidery project looks. And surprisingly enough, stabilizer is also important for all those decorative stitches on your machine.

See you at the meeting! (We LOVE visitors. If you are interested, come and see what GRASG is all about. You will be happy you did!)

04/16/2026

The April 2026 GRASG Meeting was dedicated to the “Inspiration” Challenge and a lot of news. Many members took the challenge to sew something that inspired them. Some challenges were projects that had been started many years ago or were inspired by a memory of someone or something from the past. Other challenges were inspired by sustainability or community service. With SEW many projects to see, go to the GRASG website. Checkout the whole story, including the news, on the GRASG home page. Photos are on the Photos page of the same site. Come take the challenge with us at www.GRASG.org

04/02/2026

It's Time!!!!!
GRASG CAMP GENEVA SEWING RETREAT

SAVE THE DATE: Sept. 28,2026 - Oct. 1, 2026 for the GRASG Camp Geneva Sewing Retreat. Start thinking about it now. Check your calendar. More info at the April Chapter meeting. Be ready to sign up to hold your spot at the April meeting.

03/13/2026

Sewing Friends Back Together

Big smiles entered the GRASG meeting room, one by one, as people reconnected with sewing friends after a long winter break. Our speaker, Rae Hoekstra, shared her story about learning to sew very young and hand stitching doll clothes as she watched Sesame Street. Before she even started her business, she started a blog just to connect with other seamstresses. Then began designing simple clothing patterns for her kids. Blog friends saw them and asked for a copy. As time progressed, she realized that she should be charging for the patterns she was giving away. Since then, she has moved forward one step at a time, learning each step along the way. The building blocks of pattern design and selling printable versions on Etsy were oftentimes a challenge. Along the way, she learned software for pattern design, grading sizes, transitioning into adult sizing, learning the printing tricks that allowed printing only the size you need, and selling through an Etsy online shop and a lot more. She even designed some of her own fabrics, including fabric for rain slickers she made for her children.

Thanks for sharing your story Rae. We enjoyed the journey with you and seeing many of your creations.

Check out more pictures of Rae's designs and Show & Tell on the website www.grasg.org/Photos.

03/10/2026

GRASG Meeting tonight!
CORRECTED ADDRESS:
Meet at the Northview Senior Center at 5255 Grand River Dr. NE
Social hour starts at 6:30 and business meeting with speaker, Rae Hoekstra, Pattern designer and blogger, at 7pm. Visitors always welcome. Can't wait to see you there.

Send a message to learn more

03/04/2026

WHAT’s NEXT?
GRASG is meeting in person for the March 2026 meeting. After several winter months of Chapter meetings on Zoom, we are ready to see our sewing friends. Rae Hoekstra, patternmaker and blogger, will present at our get together. You can check out her claim to fame on made-by-rae.com.
During the cold months, while Chapter meetings were on Zoom, Neighborhood meetings were meeting for sewing and camaraderie. The Tuesday Evening Neighborhood group had a lot going on. The best part of meeting was connecting with others and getting updates on what they have been sewing. Everyone enjoyed just getting together. Cindy and Marsha were working on quilts. Peggy had a quilt too. Renee and Rita had their own projects, but were helping Jo fit a jacket. Rita was getting another group of library books to distribute to local libraries. A visitor, who was sizing up GRASG for a possible fit, was working on a swimsuit. Jo was cutting blocks for a Sleep in Heavenly Peace quilt, from a stack of jeans that Rita had saved from the landfill. All in all, a well rounded bunch of projects were happening. Check out the rest of the neighborhood group photos on GRASG.org/photos.

02/11/2026

Marta Swain, Independent Artisan and Business owner of Clothing Matters, spoke with us on Zoom about her commitment to Fair Trade, Upcycling, Sustainable Clothing and Fashion. She became addicted to nature as a child when a neighbor taught the kids in the neighborhood all about nature. Marta is very conscious about non-toxic sustainable clothing and fair trade. She told us how appalled she was when she learned that natural cotton is treated with all kinds of toxic chemicals in the field. She now proudly sells non-toxic organic cotton, silk, h**p and wool clothing in her store, Clothing Matters on Diamond in the East Hills neighborhood near Diamond and Lake Drive.

02/04/2026

SUSTAINABILITY, FAIR TRADE & UPCYCLING
You won’t want to miss the presentation at our February GRASG meeting by Marta Swain, Independent Artisan and Business owner of Clothing Matters. Her commitment to Fair Trade, Upcycling, Sustainable Clothing and Fashion has produced the best kept secret in the East Hills neighborhood near Diamond and Lake Drive.
GRASG extends an invitation to non-members to join us for two free meetings to see if you are interested in joining GRASG and if we are a good fit for you. If you are interested in joining this Zoom meeting, email [email protected] requesting a Zoom link to be set out the day before the meeting.
We love visitors.