We have some very exciting news for you – ASDP has a new chapter – the Metro Detroit Chapter!

The ASDP-Metro Detroit Chapter was installed in June. This chapter services the entire Metropolitan Detroit area and runs its operations in donated space from PonyRide, a small business incubator located in Detroit MI. The chapter was installed with five members. They are Monica Minor, Kenyetta Caldwell, Brenna Lane, Kathleen Tootell and Maxine Jackson. Monica Minor serves as the President of this chapter. This is their vision statement:

“To unify people while bringing new opportunities, new outlooks and new exposure to sewing and design professionals within the Metropolitan Detroit area.”

Monica says: “The chapter considers itself a unique addition to the association. Metro Detroit has tons of hidden talent in the sewing and design profession; one of our goals is to bring exposure to that talent. 

Additionally, we are invested in preserving the integrity of our profession. With that, we aim to host several trainings, workshops, seminars, etc. aimed at (a) increasing our knowledge and skills and (b) fine- tuning and polishing up our business ethics and skills. Finally, we intend to start a program within our chapter that is aimed at mentoring our students of fashion for the future. The goal would be to recruit at the college student level with the intent of maturing the student members onto the intern level and to the professional member level. This will not only enhance the talent in the Metro Detroit area for our industry, but will ideally create a future generation of leaders for the chapter and association. All of these initiatives are obviously at the premature stages of planning and development, but we feel that this is where we should start to be of best service for the industry in this area via the association. “The remainder of the year’s meetings will serve as planning meetings as our core team of 5 also serves as our planning committee. We plan to ‘reintroduce’ the chapter with a huge Membership Drive meeting in January 2016. We should have the date set within the next couple of weeks. We will be advertising substantially to ensure a huge presence at this meeting. We also will have a presence at the American Sewing Expo with a booth which is in September in Novi MI where we will provide information about the association and our chapter.”

Susan Khalje has invited the Baltimore Chapter to her gallery for their first meeting of the new program year. She’ll be talking about lace and showing members lots of beautiful examples. An added bonus - Alice from Mendel Goldberg will also be there, so they’ll have the opportunity to see (and purchase!) her gorgeous fabrics. The Chapter is going to be focusing on ‘Topnotch Techniques’ this year to encourage members to participate in their Chapter’s evaluation program.

The British Columbia Society has been extremely busy getting ready for their Sew-Ed Conference in September. They have a great working team there, and all are working together for the common goal of a successful event in advance of the 2016 ASDP conference in Vancouver.

They have contacted businesses all over Canada in preparation for next year’s conference, not only for sponsorship but also to advertise the event. Their sponsors are sending e-blasts to their own client lists, and displaying posters in their places of business. Members of the chapter have also attended different types of events related to sewing and fashion in the Vancouver area promoting their event. They also had a phone campaign calling every contact on their mailing list collected from the spring sewing expo. Carol Lees and Brenda Breitenmoser have been busy promoting their Facebook page and the exposure has been amazing. Some of their class registrations are looking very good and they look forward to filling the classes. If you haven’t already, ‘like’ their Facebook page and you’ll see all the great classes and instructors they having at their event.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/SewEd-Open-Conference-September-18-202015/901757139865518?fref=ts

Brenda says – “It is an exciting and stressful time for us all. Looking forward to seeing everyone at this year’s conference.”

In June, Wisconsin chapter members met at Linda McCoy's studio in Oostburg, about an hour north of Milwaukee along Lake Michigan. Members present were joined via Skype with another Wisconsin chapter member, Lynne Williams, from her studio in Rhinelander which is in far northern Wisconsin, about 3-1/2 to 4 hours north of Linda's studio. It was a great way to meet another chapter member! Members also worked on their muslins for the Sheath Challenge.

In July, members met at Chris Kazmerzak's studio in Sun Prairie, near Madison. They discussed client relations, cancellation and refund policies. Several of the chapter members are planning to attend Conference!

The Colorado chapter has been busy upgrading their technical knowledge. They are using cloud computing and a web cataloging tool called LibraryThing to make its growing list of library resources available to members online 24/7. LibraryThing is a web application that allows you to create a catalog or database of library resources including books, DVDs, magazines, articles, and journals. Once created, you can share this catalog with others, and track whom you lend your resources to. Moreover, by assigning specific keywords and phrases (tags) and populating the review, comments and descriptions fields for each resource, it becomes possible to perform very specific searches and for members to share their knowledge by recommending best practices.

Accessing the Colorado Chapter catalog is fast and easy. All you need to do is type the catalog URL http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ASDP_Colorado/ allcollections in your Internet browser and click the enter key on your keyboard. A User Guide is available to demonstrate how to view, sort and search the library catalog. However, only members of the Colorado Chapter can borrow resources from their library.

Currently, Colorado Chapter members are busy reviewing their library resources and identifying additional key words and phrases for each resource so searching can be more targeted, thus saving members valuable research time. In addition, the Chapter Board is considering how best to vet and recommend specific sewing techniques as a best practice, raising the efficiency and level of quality of the Chapter as a whole.

The Colorado chapter has just uploaded a new website for their chapter. Check it out - http://colosewingpros.org/. This update includes better professional profiles for our juried members and a login area for all members to access chapter documents and resources (library). We will be using this tool to communicate with other seamstresses and potential new members.

In other news, the Board will be rolling out a new program at conference this year – Chapter of the Year. Chapters will get points for all kinds of things they do and the Chapter with the most points wins! They will be awarded a trophy, bragging rights and perks given at the discretion of the Board.

Our chapters are doing very fun and exciting things. If you live anywhere near a chapter, join it! You won’t regret it.

Written by Debby Spence, VP of Chapter Relations