Project Runway's Jillian Lewis at Brother Convention

Earlier this month I was in Las Vegas at the Brother Convention. It was super fun to see the new products and the unveiling of the new top-of-the-line sewing, quilting, embroidery and crafting machine, the Brother Quattro 6000D - creativity times four. The machine is absolutely amazing - with more features than I could have dreamed up. Some of my favorite new features are the InnovEye built in positioning camera, runway lighting, jumbo embroidery frame - 12" x 8", super wide angle HD LCD screen and the new larger workspace is truly magnificent. There are 100 new features on this machine - WOW is all I can say. For a sneak peek of this new machine in person be sure to attend one of Quality Sewing's New Product and Brother 6000D Unveiling Parties later this week.

If the excitement of this new machine was not enough - the keynote speaker was Jillian Lewis from Project Runway Season 4. She was one of the 3 finalists and really one of my favorites. She spoke to us about her love of sewing, designing and Brother sewing machines. She got her first sewing machine, a Brother Pacesetter,  from her local dealer when she was 15. This was the same machine she used all through design school and even to sew her entire collection for the Project Runway final show at Bryant Park. Brother gave her a new Quattro 6000D and she created the dress she is wearing in the photo on the right. The dress is covered with a beautiful floral embroidery designs on fabric that she hand dyed. (And yes, that is me with Jillian - so fun to meet her!)  The thing that really struck me about Jillian was how genuine her love of creating and designing is.

To find out what Jillian is up to now - check out her website at www.jillianlewisny.com.

Last week I was so busy I didn't get a chance to see what happened on Project Runway. I have it recorded and hope to watch it tonight before the show tomorrow! What happened? Who can fill me in? The week before was pretty fun with the Olympics tie in. I felt like most of their designs needed to be a little bit more sporty and less fashion - particularly since what looks good on a rail thin model, probably doesn't flatter an athlete. I did like Korto's design, it seemed to be a nice mix of sporty fashion with the vest and fun pants. I think that I would have liked Terri's design better if I had seen the tube-top. She does get super props for creating so many pieces, making it pretty versatile. Let me know how you feel about season 5 so far - does anyone have a favorite designer yet?

-Carmen
carmen@qualitysewing.com