American Sewing Guild

I joined the American Sewing Guild (ASG) last year. I’ve been a sewer all my life and had never heard of this organization. I wanted to share some of what I get out of it and encourage you to check out your local chapter. This texture quilt is an example of a project from last month’s meeting.

One of our members makes and coordinates other sewers all over the Olympic Pennisula to make these therapeutic texture blankets for severely disabled children served by Holly Ridge, a neurodevelopmental clinic. At our February ASG meeting we each brought stacks of 6 inch squares cut from textured and washable fabrics sitting in our stash. Each member went home with 36 squares to assemble into a texture quilt.

ASG has a unique structure. There is a Chapter organization which covers a fairly wide but manageable geographic area. The Chapter holds an annual meeting where all members can get together at one time. The rest of the year you attend Neighborhood groups.

In my Chapter, there are 12 of these groups. Some meet in the evenings, others on weekends or on weekdays. The locations span the Chapter’s region. The Neighborhood group is normally smallish. Anywhere from 5 to 15 members. A monthly newsletter is published by the Chapter and lists the times and activities planned by the groups. As a member you can attend an ASG Neighborhood group anywhere or anytime you want and as many as you want to in a month.

The focus of ASG is home sewing and community related sewing activities including education and charity sewing. Many an ASG member takes pride in not being a quilter. The group welcomes members of all different skill levels. I always show up to meetings with my list of questions for the experts. I enjoy the small nature of my Neighborhood group, it’s a very informal get together of like-minded individuals sharing ideas and learning new things. A side perk is the 10% off your entire purchase discount card from Jo-Anns.

When I originally told you all about my Out of the Box creative group I got a lot of questions about how I found the other women in the group. My connections came via women I met at larger sewing and quilting organizations. So sometimes even though the larger groups may seem overwhelming or not your cup of tea, they’re great ways to meet individuals just like you!