(The following is an exhaustive re-cap of my recent trips to nearby cities to promote Weekend Sewing, written by Leslie Henkl, publicist extraordinaire. Looking at these makes me realize that we had some serious fun. Thanks, Leslie! -Heather)

Ahem. Hi there. Okay, so clearly this is not the Heather Ross you know and love, as she would never call her readers and fans “Heather Rossites,” as if you were mere minions lurching about the blogosphere wearing virtual “Church of Heather Ross” t-shirts, maniacally chanting, “One of us! One of us!” while inspiring/infecting people with your newly smocked and stitched duds from WEEKEND SEWING.

Or would she???

Oh, what the heck! Why not just own up to your freakish Heather Rossiteness right now?! I mean, I have. And not just because I’m being paid to, as her publicist, or because I really want her spare Necchi. Mwahaha!

Oh yeah, this will soon be me grinning psychotically with my glossy coif and polyester blouse:

Seriously though, I think I’ve become a card-carrying Heather Rossite simply because she’s so much fun to tour with!

First stop on our non-blog tour: Honfleur Home/Marimekko in Silver Spring, Maryland. Look! There I am with Heather, looking so cute!

What, she didn’t mention that her publicist was still in elementary school? We grow up fast in the city!

Alright. That’s not me, just a really cute kid, and I didn’t go to this demo. But! I was there in spirit, texting Heather affirmations to make sure she hadn’t had a nervous breakdown driving herself here. Fortunately she hadn’t. She survived the trip and came out looking like a demoing dream! And how lovely is this store?

Next stop, with the real me and my primordial dwarf of a sewing machine in tow, was the legendary Stitch party at Spool in Philly!

This place is a buzz! Heather meets, greets, and signs.

Meet Crisco and Frisco, the cutest duo EVER!

Entire families love Heather!

Hey! It’s Laura from Red Red Orange and The Philly Etsy Street Team

P.S. I want to live in Philly sooo bad just to take their classes! I looooove these quilts! Whoa! It’s Laura, Spoolster extraordinaire!

It was also Spool’s first birthday, and Go Knit in Your Hat was there to encourage people to accessorize with their birthday cupcakes…

…as was Freespirit designer and Project Runway season one winner,Jay McCarroll, putting everyone in stitches (pun so intended!) with his hilarious remarks!

Later, Jay and friends lead Heather on tour around Philly: to the Rocky steps, the Rocky statue…to the best falafel place in town…to the best hot pretzel place in town…etc., etc.

Needless to say, Heather was glad that the demo the next morning didn’t start any earlier than 11AM, even though she didn’t end up running the Rocky steps.

After the smocked sundress demo, which everyone loved, we hit the eats and streets of Philly! Bye Spool staffers, you’re the best!

Wow, look at all these cute people! Everyone here rides bikes and dresses nattily…

…um, except for all the tourists waiting in line for cheesesteaks!

But we, being posh New Yorkers, opted for classier fare. Mmmm, cheesy chips and guac! Oooh, Heather’s going to hate me for this pic!

Yum! After lunch we lost our minds in the awesome Eyes Gallery! It was impossible to take a bad picture in this place! Seriously! Every nook was a photo op! I’ve never used so many exclamation points in one description of a store before!!!

Heather came soooo close to buying this blanket. Next time!

Heather and I both wanted these cute little jazz dudes. But breaking them up was out of the question, and buying them all would’ve broken the bank! Aw, next time guys!

OMG, we can’t leave Philly! These crazy lamps drew us into Dumpster Divers, a gallery full of great found art!

Love this chair!

Love this sign!

Love this diorama!

Okay, so after finally tearing ourselves away from South Street, we head over to Baltimore, aka, “Little Havana”…

…where Heather and Chauffeur Tom try to chat about weirdos following Heather on the waterfront earlier that morning, and how earlier in life, Heather saved a group of lady backpackers from certain death (seriously!), over the sounds of Cubanesque frat boys and girls playing bar-shuffleboard, or whatever you call that game played with pucks in bars.

Chauffer Tom does not find Baltimore very Cubanesque at all, so we move swiftly along to the sparkly courtyard of the American Visionary Arts Museum. Perhaps we can suspend our disbelief regarding “Charm City” here?

We can! It’s a bird! It’s a crab!

It’s Heather sporting her love for this town! She’s so wacky! Now off to Atomic Books…

…where my camera died. So until some kid from The Brooklyn Messenger sends me his pics, you will have to use your imagination, or else believe me when I tell you that the demo and signing went almost exactly like this:

Thanks goodness we got her out of Baltimore and back to NYC in one piece (following, of course, a gigantic piece of carrot cake at the charming Cafe Hon)! 

But even after this mega-sugar rush, poor Heather was still so worn down and flustered by the whole “swift rise to fame” and “waterfront stalker” thing, she really just needed to knock back a cold one at Craft on Draught at Spacecraft Brooklyn...

…”Draught” loosely interpreted as PBRs with some crafty Brooklynites…

…and the ever-dapper TC, PBR-drinking husband deluxe!

Heather helped this dude get his craft on…

…and this lady scrapplique a cute tee…

…while people wore ironic mustaches…

…splattered and embellished…

…raffled things, including Weekend Sewing (you may have heard of it) and Complete Embellishing by the wonderful Kayte Terry of thisisloveforver blog...

…and basically, had a really great time crafting!

Bright and early the very next day, it was off to what I like to call part of “other Brooklyn,” Cobble Hill, for a demo at Brooklyn General. Um, how cute is that squirrel belt buckle?

Friday mornings the store always hosts a knitters group, but it was great to see so many knitters getting into the demo and the book, as they considered crossing over into sewing; foreign territory for some.

Brooklyn General, by the way, is awesome and huge! Packed with fabric, yarn, notions…

I could have stayed all day, were it not for the fact that I had to return to my real job. AKA: Octo-publicist!

Aw, but it was fun while it lasted, being a tour journalist /roadie /on-the-road groupie.

By the way, this post took me all day and then some! I’m so tired now! How does Heather do this?! Why does Heather do this?!

Hmm…maybe because I thought a blog tour would be a fun idea? Ha ha, maybe fun in a sightly masochistic, downing Redbull after Redbull and never cleaning your house way?

I jest! Kind of. But please, please! Give a round of applause to Heather for blogging so beautifully and enthusiastically these past few weeks (check out all the posts on the blog tour when you get a minute. They are so thoughtful and lovely!), and for doing the smocked sundress demo so many times, she can probably do it in her sleep.  She’s truly a stronger lady than I, who is sooo ready to sleep and dream about weekends of laying low and sewing ’til summertime.

I hope you all can do the same…especially you Heather!

Goodnight everyone! Heather, thanks for having me. It’s all yours again!

Join us tomorrow night at Spool  in Philadelphia for a Stitch Party and Weekend Sewing book signing, and if you've made anything from Weekend Sewing, WEAR IT! OK, at least bring it. I will also be doing a demo the next morning, spreading the word about magical elastic thread and demo-ing the Little Girls Smocked Sundress. 

On Sunday at 4:00pm I will be in Baltimore at uber cool Atomic Books, signing books, talking about some neat sewing tricks, and trying not to spend the rent money. Is there any better place to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon than an independent bookstore? I really don't think so.

underwired vintage / photograph by alison leigh, hair and makeup by eskandalo!

I am extremely honored to announce another addition to my book tour this weekend (thats my actual tour, as opposed to my blog tour, the main difference being that one requires putting pants on), a party hosted by Moravian Book Shop but actually taking place just down the street at uber cool Underwired Vintage. Its happening this Sunday, the 22nd, from 2-4. This could be my chance to wear those fake eyelashes that have been sitting in my makeup bag since a month before my wedding. I haven't been able to work up the nerve to try to put them on since that horrible day that the adorable makeup artist at Barneys Coop accidentally glued my left eye shut while trying to apply them. 

I'll be talking with them about my book and about the stuff I talk about here, except for the topic of my mother, who is less than pleased about my last post. Well, OK, maybe a little bit about my mother.

I have quite a few other new calendar additions and announcements, please visit the Book Tour and Events Page  for more information.

But seriously, a party for me? For my little book? At a Marimekko store? Not just any Marimekko store, but one of the DC areas premiere home design store? Oh just push me down the stairs now because it does not get any better than this.

You all have to come. more info here!

This is exactly what I was hoping for. 

The clothing projects in Weekend Sewing are basic pieces. They are intended to walk you through your first sleeve, your first collar, your first zipper, your first buttonhole, your first bust dart. Once you've got the hang of things, you can change things around any way you like. Or at least... thats what I was hoping! Which is why I was sooooo thrilled to come across this post today (whilst googling myself shamelessly) by "Film in The Fridge" who was inspired by the Summer Blouse project to sew her very first sleeve! How exciting. And then, even better, she made some simple alterations to my pattern (actually, it sounds like she may have ignored it altogether the second time around, but I prefer to feel needed), opened up the neck a bit, very flattering, customized the length (if you are curvy, a blouse looks best when it hits the top of your hip bone) and the sleeves (three-quartered and re-shaped) and voila! Plus she made a fantastic fabric choice in Anna Marias red and orange print. 

Am so proud. Could just burst. Emailing her now to see if she is willing to write up her revisions for us all and allow me to post them here.

And thanks so much for all of your kind emails, comments, and notes about Weekend Sewing, I am so glad you like it!