Sewing with the kids

My littlest has shown a lot of interest in learning to sew; she makes things alongside me whenever I'm working. So far it's mostly been handsewing -- buttons onto scraps or small shapes into doll "blankets" -- but she's been asking to use my sewing machine for a long time.  She's five right now (and a fairly mature five) so I decided it was time.  Our first project is tissue cozies for teacher gifts and it's been perfect -- all straight seams and not very many of them.  Plus they don't take much fabric so I get to make a dent in my overflowing scrap bin.

Both my girls have gotten involved (my eldest is 8) and they have been enjoying picking the fabric and, because each one is quick to sew up, the sewing, too. I don't think they'd have the attention span for anything more involved than this right now.  We've sewing up one or two and then they've been decorating them with fabric paint and markers.  They're really proud that they've made them themselves and have been compiling a huge list of people they want to give them to.

Teacher Gifts

During the last O+S pattern sale, I bought Feed the Animals Coin Purses pattern with the intention of making my girls coin purses for xmas.  K. requested one for her teacher, too, so I got both girls to pick fabric and cut out 4 purses.  I started early with the best of intentions but I kept putting them aside for other projects because I really wasn't enjoying making them.  I should know by now that I'm too impatient to make anything with too many little pieces.

And this week, of course, I have no time.  So I decided  to pack it in.  My girls were disappointed (about the ones for the teachers, they didn't know about the ones for them) until I whipped up these:

I used the poochie bag tutorial over at Happy Zombie except without the "pooch".  The top fabric is Premier Prints from fabric.com and the bottom is voile from girlcharlee.com.  The grey on both is quilters linen from Hawthorne Threads.   Three bags in one evening is doable.  Trying to finish those coin purses was not :).

Teacher Gift

Last weekend J. and I went to a  community fair sponsored by the art centre.  There were lots of cool things for the kids to do including trying out silk screen printing.  The kids chose the print and the colour and the artist helped them make one print on paper and one print on fabric.  J. was enthralled by the whole process as well as the result so when we got home I helped her make it into a pillow.  She chose the fabrics from my scrap bin, I cut them and she and I sewed them up together.  She was very good at lining the pieces up and getting them ready for sewing.  She also liked pressing the pedal but was a bit nervous about guiding the fabric through.  I stood behind her and did that while she got some good practice in controlling her speed ;). 

We stitched up the four sides randomly but they turned out suprisingly balanced.  It's now stuffed and ready to go -- three weeks early, yay!!

Teacher gifts

Teachers work hard, especially at this time of year -- the kids are so squirrley, I'm glad they're in school this week!   Hopefully a little handmade gift will let these two teacher's know how much I appreciate what they do for our little ones every day. The fabric for both of these gifts is from my cloud 9 giveaway win.

First, I made a little tote bag using the poochie bag tutorial at Happy Zombie.  It's very cute and a great way to show off fat quarters.  I love the addition of the pockets to the outside, and it's a great size for a teacher to carry notebooks or papers. 

The other teacher received a fully lined zippered box pouch that I made from the tutorial over at It's a Pretty Modern Life.  I wanted to be all fancy and show off two fabrics on the outside but I didn't take into account how the fabric would go round the edges --  I had to make the corners deeper so the second fabric wouldn't carry over to the side.  It ended up being more squat than the tutorial as a result but still very functional, I think.  I added quilt batting to the back of the outside which helps keep the shape but still keeps it really soft and squishy.

School Quilt

This week my eldest will be completing her last year of a three-year Montessori program so I volunteered to make a quilt with artwork from the "graduating" class. 

I ironed a square of fabric to a piece of freezer paper and sent it home with each child along with a set of Pentel Fabric Pastel Sticks.  I asked the kids to draw whatever they wanted and send it back to me.  The sashing is Kona Coal ordered from the Fabric Depot, the binding is a made up of scraps, mostly from this quilt.  I embroidered the year on the bottom (I had visions of re-creating the school logo in applique but seeing as I only just finished this, I'm glad I scrapped that idea!)

The kids will present it to the director of the school tonight!

I have a sneaking suspicion that one of the kids did not do their own artwork.  Very uncharitable of me, I know.  Can you spot the one I'm talking about??

Infinity Scarf

I was looking for a quick and easy teacher gift and this infinity scrarf is definately it, taking under 45 minutes to make.  It's made of two pieces of voile - forest hills in sea and water - cut into strips 12 inches by the width of the fabric and then stitched on all sides.  It's wonderfully soft and drapey, and can be worn in one loop or doubled up.

Teacher gifts

This year I wanted to involve my daughter again in making gifts for her teachers.  I made the coffee cozies (using the tutorial from house on hill road http://houseonhillroad.typepad.com/coffeecozy.pdf ) and J. sewed the buttons on.  She loved them all except the one made of Michael Miller Feeling Groovy, which is my favourite.  I ordered that fabric when she was in her everything-purple-all-the-time phase but she took an instant and intense strong dislike to it. Oh well, my gain!

I wrapped them using Create Studios Petal pusher pockets, which were so easy, so cute and so impressive! http://createstudio.blogspot.com/2009/11/petal-pusher-pockets.html