GOOD SWEATER

An evening of fiber, fashion & friends

Friday, November 6 · 6:00 PM
Mrs Emily · 907 Arrow Road, Champaign, IL
Behind Art Mart
$30 per person · Limited seating · Advance tickets required

What makes a good sweater? It's not just the color, the cut, or even the price tag. It's what the sweater is made of, how that fiber behaves, and how it fits into your actual life.

Join me at the salon for a hands-on evening exploring sweaters and the fibers they're made from. We'll pass around real garments, feel the differences between fibers, and talk about what makes some sweaters worth reaching for again and again.

Why can a chunky cotton sweater feel wonderfully warm, while a fine merino does the job without all that bulk? When is polyester a smart choice? And what are you actually getting when you pay more for a natural fiber?

I'll share what I've learned from years of working with textiles, and you'll leave with a handy pocket guide to fiber types to take with you on your next shopping trip.

We'll have drinks, snacks, and plenty of time for questions and conversation. Think of it as a little night out for people who love clothes and want to understand them better.

The goal isn't to memorize a list of good and bad fibers. It's to develop a feel for how clothing behaves, so you can shop with more confidence and choose pieces you'll genuinely love wearing.

Afterward, the salon will stay open for shopping and general merriment.

It's the difference between 2D and 3D.

You can learn about fibers and how they behave. But it's experience with each fiber, in different outfits, different seasons, different weather, and different situations, that gives you a real understanding of what makes a sweater work for you.

When I'm shopping and I read the fiber content on a sweater, I can immediately put that sweater into the context of my own life. I know when and how I'll wear it based on what it's made of. I know when I want wool (and when merino versus virgin wool), and when acrylic is actually the better choice.

The payoff is simple: I save money, I save time, and I buy pieces that are genuinely thrilling and effective because I know how they'll work in my wardrobe.

Dressing without fiber knowledge is life in 2D. Once you start to understand what fibers are doing for your experience of the clothing, things go 3D. You pick clothes for their squashy, feel-good qualities or their wrinkle-resistant, travel-minded qualities. You start to understand not just how a garment looks, but how it lives.

You stand up to the fashion industry bully that says, “Fashion is how you LOOK.”

And you twirl and spin and say, “On contraire, it's how you feeeeeel.”

A little about me

Fiber knowledge is my jam. From being the textile lab assistant in college, to wandering the aisles of Mood when I started my brand in 2010, to working with silks and glorious textiles at Amsale, to diving head-deep into handmade and handwoven textiles over the last six years of my business, I've spent years learning how materials shape our experience of clothing.

I taught style classes at Parkland a few years ago, and I've broached this subject online, but there's something about being in my own space that feels very much like the time to do it again.

I want my salon to be inspiring, but also educational. A place where we're equipped to get our hands into dressing.

Every shopping trip is made more exciting by the thrill of the hunt. And that, to me, is a lot of the fun of dressing.

Not just color, silhouette, and drape, but FIBER.

How does it feel? How does it live? How often do I reach for it? What does it feel like when I'm actually wearing it?

$30 per person · Limited seating · Advance tickets required