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My latest upcoming event is the Sewing with the Stars Love of Fashion Retreat in Santa Rosa, California. 

If you want to attend a stellar sewing event, consider attending this event on March 23, 24 and 25th in beautiful Wine Country Santa Rosa, California presented by Pam Cortese owner of My Sewing and Vacuum Place. I have been working with Pam since last fall preparing for this fabulous sewing event. I have a special garment project planned for all my students. No UFOS, you will complete and entire garment during class. This year we have a fashion focus and attendees will have the opportunity to learn sewing, serging and machine embroidery tips, techniques and the sewing secrets of four internationally acclaimed sewing stars:

Simon Haskins of www.jennyhaskins.com (Embroidery)

Joi Mahon of www.designerjoi.com and Baby Lock Love of Fashion Spokes Designer (Fashion Sewing)

Margret Tully Serger Expert and Personality and

Diane Aholt Creative Director of Sewing Projects

Other special features include: "Get to the Point" on Friday presented by Rhonda Pierce from Schmetz Needle Company, and "Top 20 Sewing Tips" on Saturday presented by licensed Palmer/Pletsch instructor Janice Langan. You will attend the Finale Luncheon and Trunk Show on Sunday.

This is going to be a fantastic event! If you are from my area and want to travel with me let me know and I would love to have you join me in my travels.

Designer Joi's 2012 Design Preview

January is often a time of looking forward with expectation into the new year and to start fresh and new.  Here at Dress Forms we feel the same and there is a lot of studio news to be excited about in 2012.  My calendar is filling with goals to achieve, new techniques to share, and a list of creative new designs to  provide clients with amazing custom garments.

2012 Highlights

New Fabrics – My first task of the new year is always to source new fabrics that will appeal to my clients.  Whether an updated version of a fashion staple or a new trend, fabrics in gorgeous new colors and pattern  help start the year off with a shot of inspiration. I am currently inspired by bold color and unique texture.

In the Studio - A big part of preparing for a busy new year is studio prep.  This includes organizing my growing collection of swatches and color cards that I use to show clients.  Dress Forms studio is undergoing a major renovation that will provide a new look and more space (watch for an post in the future and tour our new space). During this time of preparation and planning, I also schedule time to learn new techniques that I will incorporate into my new designs and there is always something new to learn and share!

Bookings -  I am always inundated with requests for custom work at the beginning of the year. After all everyone else is starting fresh and new too.   BOOK EARLY!!  I already have started some eye-catching designs for my creative clientele.  Many of my past designs have been featured on popular blog sites, magazine covers, articles and more. Will your design be one of my next famous garments?

Classes - I am planning new and exciting programs for my 2012 season of Baby Lock Love of Fashion classes. I already have several events scheduled (see the list above) and am developing new designs to inspire students. I will be filming short how to videos to post on my website that help further education of my students that take my classes. I will to travel to Santa Rosa, CA in March to help kick off the start of the Love of Fashion season.  In addition, I am super excited to be filming an episode of a popular sewing TV show in April .  Stay tuned for more details!

As you can see, Dress Forms will have a  busy and exciting year in 2012. I love this time of goal setting and anticipation and am excited to see what we will create this year!

A needy family around the world can make a living off of what it costs a family to eat out for one meal this holiday season. Why not skip a holiday meal or omit one of our many gifts and make a real difference. I support the Gospel for Asia program to purchase sewing machines for the poor.

You provide the sewing machine, and they provide the labor. Within no time there's money to purchase food for the children and to even send them to school with new clothes. This year at Christmas when you are shopping for a pair of $100 shoes or a purse that you will only wear a few times and then discard, why not give the gift of a livelihood and something meaningful. For $85.00 you can purchase a manual sewing machine and for $115 you can purchase an electric sewing machine.

What about an embroidery machine to generate income? Asian clothing is often enhanced with intricate designs. For centuries, the needlework was painstakingly completed by hand. With your gift, this process can be greatly improved. This machine allows a seamstress or tailor to craft remarkably beautiful items to sell, helping to improve their standard of living. An embroidery machine is only $155.

Weaving looms are $137. Northeast India's tribal villages are known around the world for their beautiful hand woven textiles. Entire families make their living weaving cloth and sewing it into garments, handbags, hats, and household items. Donating a weaving loom allows a family to produce these items faster, increase their profits, and provide for their needs.

Visit the holiday gift catalog at www.gfa.org or www.gfa.org/gift/browse/gifts-for-the-poor

This is also a wonderful ministry of sharing the love of Christ at this special time of year. I have already purchased my sewing machine gifts for a needy family. Isn't it neat to know that there are those all the way across the world that enjoy the love of sewing and make a living with this art just like we do, and this simple gesture can help them in so many ways.

Get back to the real meaning of Christmas and give a gift that really matters. I am so happy I can share this.

(Description of the gifts is taken from the www.gfa.org website).(other gifts such as animals, water wells, and more are also available to purchase. 100% of the donation goes to purchasing items for the needy families)

The summer of my freshman year in High School I was working as an assistant to a tailor, and I saved all my money to buy a serger.  I knew I wanted to put a professional finish on the inside of my garments. After looking, I selected a Baby Lock BLSE200 Special Edition because it was one of the top of the line sergers of the time. This was my first Baby Lock machine (foreshadowing for the future). Baby Lock sergers still cannot be beat!  I think I paid around $600-700 at the time which was a LOT for a 9th grader. I of course, had my priorities right!

Fast forward through studying Fashion Design, starting my own Business, and come to 2009; all my clients are encouraging me to apply for Project Runway. This of course would be fun, but I couldn't drop everything to enter and I am not huge fan of  what goes on behind the scenes of reality TV. I was encouraged to enter the American Sewing Expo Passion For Fashion Design Competition. This is similar to  a single episode of PR. Baby Lock was a sponsor. I won. Late,r Baby Lock was looking for a designer to host an event at the 2010 Craft Super Show in Anaheim, CA, and wanted to appeal to the younger sewing demographic. They sponsored me to teach  and I had the opportunity to present some of my ideas of where fashion sewing is going to the President of Baby Lock, Steve Jeffery. The Love of Fashion Program was born, and I now teach sponsored by Baby Lock.  Baby Lock is open to new ideas, and  I love that about them because I am a bit of an idea person and when I know something will work I like to make it happen.

Since the development of Love of Fashion, I have had the opportunity to teach Baby Lock dealers at Baby Lock Tech in St. Louis, represent Baby Lock at Sewing Expos, CHA shows, Conventions, fabric stores and sewing machine Dealerships. I sew on my top of the line Baby Lock Ellisimo almost everyday, use the Baby Lock A-Line Audrey machines in my kids sewing camps, and have a  top of the line Baby Lock Evolution serger as well. By the way, almost 20 years later I still have that BLSE200 Special Edition that I bought in high school. It still works and puts the best narrow rolled edging on all of my thousands of yards of netting that I sew through each year.