BERNINA OF AMERICA IS THE EXCLUSIVE SEWING MACHINE SPONSOR OF CRAFTCATION

April 3 – 6 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Ventura California

BERNINA of America, the premier manufacturer of sewing, embroidery and quilting machines, is pleased to announce that it is the exclusive sewing machine sponsor of Craftcation, taking place April 3 - 6, at the Crown Plaza Hotel, 450 E. Harbor Blvd. in Ventura, Calif. The Quilters’ Studio, a BERNINA Dealer in Newbury Park, Calif., will provide 15 BERNINA 330 machines for Craftcation sewing classes, and exhibit BERNINA’s full line of sewing machines. Craftcation is a four-day conference featuring industry professionals who lead attendees in creative small business lectures, panels and question and answer sessions, while teaching hands-on craft and food workshops.

The BERNINA 330 offers an extra touch of luxury missing from many entry-level machines – room for creativity. The BERNINA 330 offers a generous long-term memory with 30 locations for saving stitch combinations, ensuring that favorite or most frequently used stitch combinations are immediately available at the press of a button. The BERNINA 330 also features easy handling with high-quality results, an automatic buttonhole function, a built-in needle threader and a bright LED sewing light for greater sewing comfort.

On Thursday, April 3 at 2:00 p.m., BERNINA will kick off the event by hosting the “Understanding the Machine” class in the Buena Ventura Room. In addition, BERNINA Brand Ambassadors and BERNINA’s WeAllSew blog experts Luke Haynes and Jenelle Montilone will share unique tips and techniques on Friday and Saturday. All classes will be held in the Buena Ventura Room.
Friday, April 4:
1:00 p.m. – Jenelle Montilone will teach “The Essential Floppy Fedora,” a hands-on class where attendees will learn how to construct a reversible wide-brimmed head topper using reclaimed materials. All materials provided.
3:30 p.m. – Luke Haynes will teach “Circle Marks the Spot,” that explores sewing machine feet and how they can achieve effects that will impress and amaze attendees and friends who see the finished quilt project.

Saturday, April 5:
1:00 p.m. – Jenelle Montilone will teach “Hippitee Do Dah Bag” where the stitching master of reuse will conduct a hands-on class using one favorite band or first trip abroad shirt to design a hip fanny pack or crossbody bag. All materials provided.
3:30 p.m. – Luke Haynes will teach “Why Do Laundry if You Have Scissors?,” where he will share reclaimed clothing tips and show attendees how to get yardage out of clothing.

Luke Haynes, a BERNINA Brand Ambassador and BERNINA‘s WeAllSew blogger, is an artist whose work can be classified as quilts since they follow the traditional methods of construction, but they are much more. His concepts and images combine historical painting and sculpture and domestic craft, which allows his pieces to have multi-layers of visual and conceptual intrigue. Haynes work can be found in the Brooklyn Museum, the Newark Museum and at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation headquarters. He shows across the country and internationally and lives in Los Angeles, California. He studied architecture at Cooper Union in New York and considers his fabric art to be an architectural method of images creation.

BERNINA Brand Ambassador and BERNINA‘s WeAllSew blogger Jenelle Montilone is an author, maker, creative activist, and entrepreneur and was harolded by the New York Enterprise Report as "an innovator to watch." Jenelle re-imagines waste and diverted more than 36 tons of textiles from our landfills. Her work has been featured in Lucky Magazine, The Crafts Report, Inc. Magazine, Halogen TV and numerous other publications both on and offline. You can find her one of a kind boys clothing designs and a slew of DIY tutorials at WeAllSew.com or TrashN2Tees.com.

Craftcation, being held for a third time in Southern California, is an opportunity for crafters to communicate and share ideas among industry professionals. It features panel discussions and DIY workshops on art, craft and food-centered small business. There will also be recreational and networking activities such as yoga, happy hours and dance parties along with a haunted walking tour of Ventura. For more information, please visit www.craftcationconference.com.
Located at 1090 Lawrence Dr. in Newbury Park, The Quilters’ Studio is an authorized BERNINA Dealer that provides top-quality service to area residents. The Dealer offers the full line of BERNINA sewing machines, software and accessories, and provides a variety of sewing, embroidery and quilting classes for people of all skill levels. The Quilters’ Studio focuses on providing customers and students with an enriching environment where they can explore their own passion for the art and craft of quilting. For more information on the Dealer, please visit www.quiltersstudio.com.
About BERNINA
Founded in Switzerland more than 100 years ago, BERNINA is the world’s premier manufacturer with a proven reputation for offering state-of-the-art sewing and embroidery systems, sergers and embroidery software. BERNINA’s leadership is marked by an impressive number of industry leaders, influencers and artisans who chose to partner with the company. BERNINA products are sold in the United States through a network of approximately 450 fully trained independent dealerships. In 2008, the company introduced the revolutionary BERNINA 830, a machine designed to change the home sewing industry. To learn more and to find a dealer, visit www.bernina.com or call (630)978-2500.