Camp, week 2

The second camp session there were 4 campers.

This was a mistake.  With the space I have, and the attention they require, 3 most the most I can handle.  Possibly the most they can handle, as well.  There was more squabbling this time - for space, for machines, for attention.  Just for the fun of it?

But we still got a lot done.

The girl who started doll making last time finished a total of 15 dolls. She's going to sell them at the local farmer's market during Labor Day weekend, with all proceeds going to Planned Parenthood.  (It is West Philly, after all).  The second girl made a tote bag/birthday gift and helped with clothing for the dolls, and her little sister (the quilter), made accessories and a very large bag to carry them.

The fourth girl, who only did the second week, wanted to make a dress.  She showed up with 2 different fabrics, one for a dress for her little sister and one for herself.  Since we didn't have patterns to fit, we just took her tank top and drafted a pattern from that.

The pink gingham is for her sister (they're 3 years apart but nearly the same size because my student is a gymnast), and the zebra stripe was her own.  Because the zebra dress was more fitted, we added a zipper and did a front and back facing to make the neck and armholes neater.  The smaller dress was just pull-over and had hemmed neck and armholes, mostly so she would get frustrated and agree to learn about facings.  (It worked).

I think we all learned a lot.  They learned about sewing and the best ways to drive me crazy.  I learned a lot about patience and how loudly I can bellow without scaring the neighbors and yet still be able to freeze 4 girls in their tracks.

Not sure if I'll be doing this again next year - we've been talking about moving, and it might put us out of range, but it's still a possibility.

I learned enough to know that I'd do it again, just a bit differently next time.

Camp Projects

Another camp session will start on Monday (I'm not ready, I'm not ready) and I wanted to share some projects from the first week.

Two of my campers are sisters, 9 and 11.  The 9 year old wanted to make a quilt.  She'd made a few small patchwork pieces in the after school class, but she wanted something big enough to sleep under.  I said sure, thinking, "She's 9, she'll realize how much work it is and find something else to do."

Nope, not this kid.  It may be a little wonky-shaped, and some of her fabric choices weren't the best -- but at 9, I would have mixed fabrics with abandon, too -- but it's a quilt, it's big enough to sleep under, and she did it in a week.  I'm really proud of her!

Some of the squares got decorated with patterns from my embroidery machine, which was in use as a reward for good work.  Others have pockets, or drawings, or drawstrings from a pair of PJ pants so she can practice braiding.

We yarn-tied it, because machine quilting may be a little much yet, and with 2 (soon to be 3) other campers, there really wasn't enough space to properly lay it out to stitch.  After being shown, she did most of the yarn work herself, except when the layers were really thick and she was having trouble pulling the needle.  Then I showed her how to pin the binding, and she stitched it herself.

Her older sister, who for a year has fought the idea of hand sewing, decided she wanted to make these hand-sewn felt dolls she'd found in a book.  Because she learns best by repetition, she's now made 8 of them, and she intends to sell them at the farmer's market in a few weeks.  The third student didn't have a specific project in mind, and decided to join in on the entrepreneurial project by making clothes for the dolls.

And because they're kids, in addition to the sewing and inevitable eating, there was some goofing around.  It's not sewing until someone falls into the box of stuffing and can't get out.

Happy campers

After four semesters of once-a-week after school sewing class, I decided this summer to take on a week-long sewing camp at my house.  Actually, two sessions, separated by a week so that teacher has a chance to recover.

It's been interesting.  In a mostly good way.

I don't have kids.  I've never particularly wanted them, and this week has reinforced why that was the right choice for me.  It's also made me realize that kids -- particularly smart, creative ones -- are pretty cool, so long as you can give them back at the end of the day.

There are 3 campers this session, 4 next time.  They're all from my after school class, my favorites, the ones who worked hard and actually wanted to be there.  Which doesn't make them any less than what they are, which is 9-to-11 year old girls, stewing in their own pre-adolescent hormones and with more energy than they (or I) know what to do with.

My cats took one look at them and moved upstairs for the duration.  Katie is the only one who comes downstairs, and she generally likes to supervise from the middle of the dining room table, where all the action is.

Tonight she's paying the price.  She's been out cold like this on the bookcase for over an hour, with no sign that she's moving anytime soon.

Actually, I feel pretty much the same way.

Last day of school

Potential new housemate

Tuesday was the last day of school, and also my last after-school sewing class of the semester.  I didn't really expect many students to show up since it was the last day, and also their fifth grade teacher was retiring and I'd heard something about a farewell party.

The director asked me to come in whether or not I had a class to look over some old sewing machines they'd found in a closet and were thinking of selling.  (These were the machines I'd tried using with my class initially, but they're older and idiosyncratic and cranky and just not what ten-year-olds want from a sewing machine).

When I got up to the third floor classroom where the machines were set up, it turned out that six of my twelve students were there too.  (Flattered that they chose me over their other teacher, but really, none of us were prepared for anything, so they ate water ice and watched a movie on one girl's phone while I futzed with the sewing machines).  They came over occasionally to see what I was doing, or to comment that the machine pictured above looked like an old car -- which it does, all it needs is fins and a little more chrome.

How to watch a movie.  

The turquoise and white Revere machine may be coming home with me.  My bargain with myself is that I have to Craigslist the two unremarkable table machines that live in my dining room, and which never get any use except as tables anyway.  The Revere weighs a ton but sews like a dream, and hey, it looks like a vintage car, so if I'm not sewing, I can just look at it, right?

The girls all left a little early -- they had a graduation party to attend -- but I enjoyed them while they lasted.  I'll be seeing four of them in August, when they're coming to my house for a week-long sewing camp (I must be mad).  Until then, my life will be blessedly child-free.

As far as the photo to the right, there were plenty of chairs in the room, they just decided not to use them.  There were two more girls sitting on the floor under the edge of the table, one of whom was holding the phone for the rest.

It's going to be very quiet without them on Tuesday afternoons, but I think I'll get used to it.

Time to let go

While I wouldn't call myself a hoarder, I do keep things.  Lots of things.  Some for sentimental reasons, some because they're useful.

Some because I just haven't found the right home for them, and they can't just be given away.

I've had my set of Anne of Green Gables books since I was a kid.  The first book came for my 9th birthday, and I accumulated the rest over the next few years with my allowance money.

I loved those books.  And they couldn't just go to the thrift store or get left in a free box.  They needed to go to someone who would also love them.

Last week in sewing class, one of the girls said she wished she could just be left alone to read, write, sew and pet her cat, and I knew I'd found the right person.  I checked with her mom to make sure she didn't already have them, and once that was confirmed, I dug them out and got them ready for their new home.

Hopefully Phoebe, and her younger sister, Hannah, will get as much enjoyment from these books as I did.

And it's good when the universe puts the right person in front of you know when it's time to let go.

Awww

Well, I survived the weekend.  Barely.

Sometimes you just have to realize you're not Superwoman.

To say that I was exhausted after 2 long days of being personable, on my feet, in the sun (and dealing with the inevitable sunburn because I never remember sunscreen), would be an understatement.

And then I strained my back.  Not badly, just enough that when I went to work on Monday, I knew I should have stayed home, and flat.  So I contacted my afterschool sewing program, made sure my assistant could cover for the day, and stayed home and flat on Tuesday.

That evening, I got a text from Kia.  She'd left a package for me in the box on my porch.  When I went to get it, this was inside -- a little something from the kids, who apparently missed the teacher who spends all her time saying, "No, you can't do that."  "Get off the table."  "Stop climbing on the window seat."  "Don't lean out the window."  "Those are sharp, don't poke her."  "Don't wave the scissors around."  "Didn't you hear me the first time?"

They missed that.  Awww.

Happy Kid

I want every customer to be as happy as this kid looks with her new doll.

That is all.

I've Still got Class

6 girls, 16 weeks, 18 pieces

At the mid-point of every semester, I decide I'm not going to teach the next time around.

Three times now I've made this decision, and three times now I've changed my mind.  They're little monsters, but they're starting to be my little monsters.

When the fall semester started, I panicked.  Sixteen weeks seemed like an eternity, and then I got an idea -- I would "suggest" to them that they do a service project, making stuffed toys to donate to our local Red Cross House.  I wasn't sure how the idea would fly, charity without a choice, but the other idea, a half dozen 10-12 year old girls all wanting to make different things, would drive me over the edge.  Not only that, it would make supply-gathering much more difficult.

Surprisingly, they were all for it.  Every so often there'd be grumbling about keeping a piece, but they were always shamed out of it by one of the other girls.  Eventually, with the holidays approaching, I instituted the "make three, keep one" rule.  Whenever a piece was finished, I bagged it and took it home so there would be no problems.

The Tuesday before Christmas was the final class, and, like the Grinch, I brought everything back.  We set it up in the main room for the parents to see when they came to pick the girls up, and at the end, only two pieces ended up going home, and those had been made deliberately as Christmas presents.

Class starts again on January 10th.  I know I've got at least 4 of the same girls again, and probably all 6.  I asked for suggestions as to what they would like to make this semester, and two of them asked if they could learn to quilt.  Part of me wilted at the suggestion, but then I thought of the 3 large bags of scraps in the class cupboard, and agreed.  My supply order this time was enough batting to make 8 crib-size quilts, a little more polyfill for a few remaining stuffed animals (I know they're not totally over that) and a few random supplies that were running low.

It's been lovely having a break, but I'm actually almost ready to go back and face my little monsters again.

Two Custom Dresses

One of the best things that happened back in August, at the craft show that got rained out, was Ron.  He approached my booth, looked at my girls' dresses and shook his head.  "I've got nieces," he said, "but I don't know their sizes.  I'm afraid I'll buy the wrong thing."

Now I hate letting a potential sale get away, but even less do I like selling and knowing that the item possibly won't get used, and having an unhappy customer to boot.  I gave him a business card and asked him to contact me when he knew their sizes and we could work something out.

Miracle of miracles, a few weeks ago, he called me.  He knew the girls' sizes then - and good thing he didn't buy before, because nothing I had that day would have fit them - and he an idea of what he wanted.  I suggested that he look at my Etsy shop for ideas on styles and then let me know what he liked, and what colors he thought would work.

When we next spoke, he had very definite ideas.  His older niece, size 6, liked pink and purple and all things ruffly girly.  His younger niece, size 3, liked green and blue, and was more of a tomboy, although she still liked dresses.

Good enough.  I knew from the beginning what fabric I wanted to use for the girly dress.  I had a shirt I'd been given years ago that I liked, but which never fit me properly.  The buttons gaped in the front, never any woman's best look.  The fabric was a detailed geometric floral in pink, purple and brown.  I cut it up, constructed the simple shift-style dress he requested, and faced the interior with a tiny brown polka dot.  Then I embellished the neckline with three poly chiffon roses.

The smaller dress took longer, but went together easily all the same.  He liked the jumper-style dress with an applique that I had done in a print/denim combo, so I remade that with a Liberty of London remnant on the top, a gathered denim skirt and an appliqued owl made from Liberty and some of the brown spotted fabric from the sister dress.  Button eyes, a beak and buttons up the back and it was done.

 Last night, I was trying to clean up the workroom and I realized I had some bits left over of that pink / purple floral.  Before I knew what hit me, I had grabbed a heart-printed scrubs top, took it apart and constructed yet another dress, this time with accents of the floral print and another chiffon rose front and center.  The tiny pockets are mainly for accent, but I thought the hearts needed a little breaking up.

So two custom dresses out the door, and one more for the shop.  And barely enough remnants now to save for patchwork, but save them I will.

Someday, someone will want pink and purple . . .

Not so Mellow Yellow

Yellow is one of my favorite colors.  Not to wear -- yellow makes me look yellow, and not to decorate with (although our bedroom is a deep dijon-mustard gold), but just as a color in general.

It's happy, it's cheerful, it's . . . a difficult color to wear.

And because of that, I'm always on the lookout for yellow garments at the thrift store to incorporate into my work, and I hardly ever find any. You would think that someone out there would have bought a gorgeous, but unflattering, yellow dress in her time - and gotten rid of it.

But no.

Recently, a couple of sewing friends came to town and we went on our annual fabric pilgrimage.  The place is wholesale, but will do retail if you show up and ask nicely.  Since most of their stuff is high end, I tend to stick to the remnant boxes in the front of the store.   (They're appliance boxes, so plenty of room for remnant goodness!)

One of the first things that I saw, which made me do a total happy dance, was a chunk of brilliant, sunny yellow cotton. The next thing was a second chunk of it.

My day was made.  (I'm easy, right?)

All this yellow goodness was going to last me for ages.  It was going to be incorporated into a dozen different projects, accents on dresses and strips in patchwork, a little everywhere, to make it last.

Which, of course, is why the first thing I did was to cut out a dress.

The appliques are made from  some Hawaiian shirt fabric brought back from a co-worker's vacation (I asked her for fabric, and she brought 4 fat quarters of different colors -- pretty, but never large enough to make something from).  The green stems are from a set of lime scrubs from the thrift store.

Red and green ornamental stitching at the hem, red buttons, green buttonholes.  Obnoxiously charming, or charmingly obnoxious?  You tell me.

No more pillowcases

Instead, they've become dresses.

I'm pretty happy with these two.  The motifs on the pillowcases really lent themselves to becoming dresses.

Not as happy with the photography on the bottom dress -- the blue facing doesn't show half as much straight on; for some reason, flash or no flash, it's much more obvious in the picture.  Grr.

The only other "grr" moment -- going through SIX boxes and cans of buttons and not being able to find eight pale blue shirt buttons.  Which I know I have a boatload of, because I used them when I made a shirt for my husband a year or so ago.  (And no, I didn't scavenge the buttons off his shirt, though the thought did occur to me.

These dresses are now available in the shop.

What's Black and White

Can you handle another dress?

I almost can't by now, but this one came out of nowhere.  I was tidying up the workroom (which was somewhat of a pit due to my trying to get ready for the show and just generally not picking up after myself, and I happened upon a pair of black and white gingham pants (Ralph Lauren, stained, but very nice) and a black and white cafe print sundress.

These were not purchased together, and last time I saw them, they weren't in the same part of the room.  Do these things migrate when I'm not looking?

Anyways, they insisted on being dealt with right then and there.  Insisted, I tell you.

Since the sundress had piped seams, I couldn't get any really wide pieces from it, so I decided to play with the two prints and alternate them.

The bodice is constructed from the gingham, and the alternating skirt panels are gingham and cafe print.

Because I love my stash of vintage rickrack, I added a wide red waistband and bright red buttons down the back.  Facings are solid black, for contrast and so as not to waste any of the "good" fabric, which will have other uses.

One last red button at the front neckline finishes.

I'm happy with the result, though I'm still not sure where it came from.

One glass of wine

I'm not talking about me -- at least not directly.  While I have been known to sip while sewing, the wine-stained tablecloth that provided these adorable dresses was not stained by yours truly.  I picked it up at the thrift store for a couple of dollars, originally thinking I would make a skirt for myself if I couldn't get the stain out.

Well, the stain didn't budge, but I also couldn't work up the interest to make the skirt, so the tablecloth has languished in the fabric limbo for well on three years now.  Last week, I remembered its existence and thought it would be the perfect source fabric for a few more toddler dresses in time for the craft show next weekend.

But then of course I couldn't find it.  I remembered before I reorganized my workroom a few months ago that it had been rolled and shoved into my fabric shelves, but it didn't make it across the room in the move.  I knew I wouldn't have gotten rid of it (when do I get rid of anything?), but where did it go?

A few nights ago I went rummaging in the standing cedar closet in the workroom (otherwise known as the supply closet of doom), and lo and behold, there was the tablecloth!  I was so happy to find it that I pulled it out, shut the door and promptly forgot what I was looking for in the first place.  I still don't remember.

However, the tablecloth has given me four dresses, two in size 1, and one each in sizes 2 and 3T.  I love how the embroidered motif varies from dress to dress, and even more do I love that I was able to take advantage of the scalloped hem of the tablecloth.

I think I can get at least one more dress before I'm out of un-stained fabric, but I might move on to something else for the moment.  Like getting ready for the craft show tomorrow.

More later.

New arrivals

The chocolate, vanilla and strawberry dress is finally finished (the new machine makes beautiful buttonholes) and is listed on Etsy.

As I showed before, this one was made from a pre-pieced skirt that couldn't be salvaged.  I was able to re-use the waist tie and turn it into the cute little bow at the neckline.

To keep it company, I also made this yellow and brown plaid dress.  I'm calling it honeycomb plaid, because that's what the colors remind me of.

This one started out as a plus size blouse with an unfortunate ruffle down the front.  (I took the ruffle width down by two thirds, and it's still a little overwhelming on this dress, but I think in a good way.

The front was pieced and because of the bias, the plaid and the smallest touch of lycra in the fabric, I couldn't get the plaid to chevron neatly.  When the top lined up, the bottom went wonky; when the top and bottom lined up, the middle was completely out of whack.  I had been contemplating re-using the ruffle, and that's what pushed me to finally do it.

The back, on the other hand, chevrons perfectly.  Doesn't that just figure?

Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry

In my recent post, I showed off a thrift-store find that was going to become a little dress.

Here's the result -- finished all but the little pink buttons down the back, as my new sewing machine and I haven't become sufficiently well acquainted for me to risk mangling cotton lawn while making buttonholes.

There are some scraps left and I'll try the buttonhole attachment out on those before finishing this off.

It's not easy to see in the photo, but I used the waist tie from the skirt to make a tiny bow on the shoulder of the dress.

I'd still wear it, if I could fit into it.

In the pink

When I saw this skirt at the thrift store recently, I had to have it.

Confession: even though I make most of my own clothes, I wanted this for me.  I sew; I don't always have the patience to piece strips of fabric, even if I can find that many coordinating colors and prints.  So the original plan was: mama has a brand new skirt.

Until I looked at it more closely, and saw that the previous owner had mangled the zipper.  We've all been trapped by an invisible zip at least once in our lives, but this woman fought her way free - to the point that the zipper had not only broken, but it had torn the fabric along the seam.

The cotton is just too fine to sustain a mend in a tear of that magnitude, so what did I do?  I took it up to the cashier, pointed out the damage, got a dollar knocked off and came home with plans to cut it up.

If it would have looked cute on me, it'll look even cuter on a little girl - this is going to be either a size 1 or 2, depending on how much fabric there is when I lay out my pattern pieces.  The skirt was fully lined in pink cotton, so I can either line or face the dress with that, and you know I'm going to use those beautiful fabric ties as ornament somewhere.

This won't take long - most of the work has been done already, and I'm feeling inspired.  I should have something to show off - and list - in a few days.

More chicken, please

I thought the chicken dress was done.  I finished it.  I photographed it.  I listed it and showed it around on Facebook and here.

But it's been bothering me.  Something kept telling me it wasn't finished.

Now it's done.

What did it need?

It needed more chicken.

Chicken ruffle courtesy one of my aunt's house dresses - don't try to picture a whole house dress in chicken print, you'll just hurt yourself.

Something to Cluck About

I have a small show coming up on Saturday, so of course I should be working flat out to get ready for it, right?

Nope, not yet.  For a couple of days, I worked on Christmas stockings, just to feel like I was getting that under control, and today, when I should have been finishing a few other half-completed items, I started a new baby dress.

This one is going to be a size 3, in a soft denim, with a red and white polka dot chicken on it.

I have a fondness for chickens - I have one in my back yard (there were 2, but Bonnie doesn't seem to be a flock animal) - and I just like them as a motif, fresh eggs completely aside.

This little bird was cut more or less freehand from the polka dot fabric, then stuck down to the previously cut dress front with Wonder Under.  I've had that stuff for so long I'm actually surprised it still works.  Then I zigzagged the edges, for security and interest, and now that I've stopped for the night, I'm debating the rest.

The inside facings will be in the red and white polka dots, and I'm still trying to decide about the neckline trim - white rickrack or red.  Probably red, since I'm on a kick here, but I want to add some embroidery to the rickrack to mimic something I saw online.  Can't find the photo for that, so I'll just have to show you.

Or find the photo and show you.

More chicken to come.  But no eggs.  Sorry.

Clothes for Tiny People

It's funny.  I don't have kids, will never have kids, and I don't have that many friends with little ones, but I love making clothes for tiny people.

Maybe it's just a carryover from my childhood of constant Barbie couture?

The other great thing about kids' clothes - when they're small enough, they can't express opinions and you get to dress them any way you want.  And in my opinion, that means with basically every color in the crayon box.

These toddler dresses, which are all up in the shop right now, are proof of my love of color, and my inability (at least most of the time) to only use one fabric at once.

The only dress that escaped multi-fabric is the green geometric floral, which has rickrack the width of baby fingers, so I didn't think it required anything extra.  I love jumbo rickrack, and I got this from my great-aunt's notion stash.  There's still more of it, so expect to see it again.

I think my personal favorite of these is the third dress.  I love orange, and after a long and dreary winter, those bright citrus colors make me happy.

If there'd been enough fabric, I'd have something similar to that dress in my size, but alas, that's not going to happen.

The citrus stripe fabric was a thrift store find, a plus size sundress that has since become three toddler pieces.  The solid orange was originally a man's shirt.  The red floral was from a fat quarter pack brought back from a co-worker's trip to Hawaii.

The first dress above was constructed from corduroy remnants that I picked up at a flea market.  The buttons were from a 1980s jacket.

The blue and yellow floral below was from a skirt of mine that I'd long since outgrown - both size and age-wise.  The cutesy-country look doesn't suit someone well into her 40s.  At least not me.  It looks much better this way.

The green geometric floral, I have to admit, is made from the remnants of my favorite winter pajamas.  It's a cuddly but fairly lightweight flannel.

Where someone else sees throwaway clothes or scrap fabric, I see something else entirely.  It's both a blessing and a curse - you should see the bags and boxes in my workroom, all awaiting their turn at transformation.