Sewing Summit 2013

I'm going to Salt Lake City, Utah tomorrow for Sewing Summit 2013! I can't believe it's finally here. I first heard about this sewing/blogging conference last year, but it was too late to sign up so when registration opened up this year, I hesitated a bit (only because of the price, tickets are like $300) but ultimately decided to go. I don't know a single person going, and I've never been to Utah but I am excited! 

What It Is

Sewing Summit is a 2.5 day (half day for registration and opening reception) sewing and blogging conference for the modern sewist. There are hands-on workshops, networking events, lecture-based classes, and speakers. The first conference was in 2011, so it's only their 3rd year doing this. 

Who Goes

Anyone in the online sewing community, or with an interest in sewing. Their FAQ section even encourages people who are traveling alone to go, which also spurred my decision to go. Whenever I tell my friends and coworkers about the conference, they immediately think it's going to be a bunch of grandmas, but it's really not! I'm ok with grandmas being there too though! Just by looking at pictures of past events and who the teachers will be, it's mainly a group of I would say 20-30 something year olds who go! 

What I Hope to Get Out of it 

I would say I'm still a beginner sewer, especially since I haven't really had much time to pick up new projects recently, so I am expecting to be a bit overwhelmed (ok.. a lot overwhelmed) and intimidated by all the skilled bloggers and sewers there. I'm hoping that I'm going to learn about the blogging lifestyle (e.g., what it takes to be a professional blogger, how to make your blog more sophisticated), gain new skills, learn about new tools and techniques, get exposed to different ways of thinking, and most importantly meet creative people! I don't get to meet a lot of other people who are in the blogging community with an interest in sewing, so it will be cool to meet others with the same interest! Most of the time when I mention sewing to my coworkers/new people I meet, I get a chuckle and a.. "wait.. really? that's so... strange.. but cool!"  

My Class Schedule 

I thought I would be sewing more at the sewing conference, but a lot of the lecture-based classes were so interesting that those were my top picks. This year they introduced a new way to choose classes from prior years; we had to rank our top 3 choices for each time slot and they randomly assigned our classes rather than doing first-come-first-served. I surprisingly got all my first choices! 

Friday, September 20

9:00 AM - 10:15 AM         Publishing a Book with Kate McKean

10:30 AM - 11:45 AM       Sewing with Leather with Lindsey Rhodes

1:15 PM - 3:15 PM            Personal Branding with Olivia Omega

3:30 PM - 5:30 PM            HTML Basics for Bloggers with Jeni Baker

Saturday, September 21

9:00 AM - 10:15 AM         Brands and Bloggers with Bernina

10:30 AM - 11:45 AM       Metal Frame Pouch with Elena Roscoe

1:15 PM - 3:15 PM            Fitting Patterns with Sunni Standing

3:30 PM - 5:30 PM            Polo Refashion with Merrick White

I will let you guys know how it goes!!