A Visit With Rachel Clark

As the “Special Events Chair” for my 230 member American Sewing Guild chapter, I have the privilege of bringing in a speaker once a year or so. This time I wanted to bring in someone who could make both quilters and garment sewers happy. I made a great choice in bringing in Rachel Clark. We loooved her and everybody was thrilled.

Rachel is such a kick-she’s funny, creative, talented, experienced and just a delight to be around. Someone made the comment that she was such fun to look at; her style and clothes were so eclectic and vibrant. We had a grand time with a wonderful afternoon lecture and fashion show followed by a 2-day workshop.

I learned so much-techniques, sure; but what I really learned from her was her “organized chaos” way of thinking. Isn’t that a great phrase? It resonated with me. She showed us how she worked, really opening up her brain and letting us take a peek. She usually begins by setting up parameters for the project at hand-usually color, fabric choices and some general concept of where she’s heading.

And from there, free rolling with color and piecing and assembly-but still within her defined parameters. Rachel was so accessible and she was able to work with each one of us individually. We all left the workshop with a clear vision of where we were going and excited about the prospect of finishing our projects.
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And she brought exotic fabrics-hand dyed fabric, true wax batiks from South Africa, fabric I never find! I don’t know what I’ll do with them yet but they are beautiful and I know I will be using them in something fabulous.
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Once the workshop was done I had all these fun assemblages that I had made and a bunch of pre-cut strips. I have several deadlines looming and knew I would not get to work with them right away. Which left a storage issue-how to store them, not get them all wrinkled, keep them together as a collection.
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I spied this “puzzle keeper” and found it to be the perfect place to hold them until I can use them. The keeper has trays with foam inserts. I placed all the strips and pieces on the foam, closed it up and they’re stored, wrinkle-free and all together.
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Somehow, while I was busy with all the preparations for the Rachel Clark event, spring came. I came home, looked at my yard and found all of this blooming beauty. I love spring in northern California!
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