Upcoming workshops and Winter Break Sewing Camp
November and December
Sewing Workshops and Winter Break Sewing Camp
November and December
Sewing Workshops and Winter Break Sewing Camp
Is your sewing room starting to become a mess? Don't fret, these sewing room DIY organization ideas will solve that. Get ready to be amazed when you see this transformation.
Read MoreThere are many benefits to buying and downloading a digital, or PDF sewing pattern. Instant gratification is one, and also storage. If you buy a lot of patterns, you will have to put them somewhere! The ability to endlessly print instead of tracing off a pattern or even worse- mistakingly cutting out the wrong size on a tissue pattern that you will have to repurchase and start over, whereas with a digital pattern, you can just re-print specific pages. Like with so many things, the internet has provided a way for independent designers offer their patterns without having huge overhead and a financial backing from a large pattern company.
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You may have noticed that I updated my etsy shop. Besides PDF sewing patterns, I am offering a few handmade items. This past week I listed several clutch bags. They are fashioned in the classic zipper foldover style. Several months ago, a dear friend called and told me that she was moving to Washington, DC for a new job. And, would I like to buy her considerable inventory of high-end decorator fabric. (Well, of course I would! ) It took me a few trips back and forth to get it all home then a week or two to catalogue and organize it.
Months later, I am finally putting it to good use. These purses are just a sampling of the great fabrics that are in my collection. More styles and options to come.
I have been busy working on yet another sewing pattern. The Aster Foldover Clutch. Yes, the very same clutch that I am offering readymade. Next week, I hope to have an e-book, step-by-step sewing pattern ready for testing. The full pattern will be offered for sale as a PDF download in my etsy shop. Don't worry, the pattern is written as a teaching pattern with step-by-step colored pictures and text.
Would you be interested in being a pattern tester?
I was asked to make an Obi sash belt for Annabel Wrigley's debut fabric line, Maribel for Windham Fabrics. Pretty awesome, right?! I love how she styled it for the Lookbook. A pretty floral, Breton stripes, some faded denim? What's not to love!
Read MoreHand sewing. It was always the last thing I did. I put it off because it was just too slow and by the time I got to that point I was done with the project anyway and just wanted to finish. I was all about getting whatever I was working on done so that I could wear it and move on to the next thing.
Read MoreA couple of weeks ago while looking on Facebook, I saw an upcoming event with Spoonflower and the NCMA, North Carolina Museum of Art. I love Spoonflower and Raleigh isn't that far away. I haven't been away from my kids for a night in almost 6 years, so.... I bought the ticket. Yea!
Read MoreSew a Softie Day! Shopkin-ish edition.
Read MoreThis past winter in my weekly sewing classes, the kids wanted to make something Star Wars. (The classes take on a whole different attitude when they include boys!) It only took a few minutes to come up with the idea, but why not make a "lightsaber" that they can actually hit each other with and not get hurt. This is a super easy project, that kids love!
Read MoreSince writing my last post, I have been thinking a lot about the nature of creativity and children. What can we do as parents to foster it? By insisting that all of the paper scraps (origami) are picked up off the floor and thrown away, am I discouraging it?
Creative children become thoughtful, innovative, creative adults. That is the end goal, right? We want to lead our kids to explore, to achieve, to be curious. Among my children's friends, and many kids that take my sewing classes, I see loads of creativity. But I hear that they don't have time to make things outside of class. "We are just too busy!", I hear or, "we don't have any craft stuff!". While I'm not certain the lack of craft stuff is the real issue, but I think time is.
We all have the same amount of time in a given day. If you are like me, you feel stretched. My kids are limited to two activities at any given time, but still, we're busy. To foster creativity in our kids, they need unstructured time. With homework, lessons, sports, and friends, it's tough to do. I don't know about your house, but in mine, unstructured time frequently ends with my kids bickering. Often on weekends, unplugging just isn't enough. When I say its time to turn off the TV or iPad, they get restless and claim they are bored and that there is nothing to do. Sometimes we go on an outing, but other times, we stay home. On those days, instead of engaging in their bickering, I will start collecting things around the house and eventually ask for their help fetching some of the more "interesting" supplies. Pretty soon, I have their attention and the house is a wreck in their (our) creative endeavor.
Let's be honest, there are days when I don't want to start another project for my kids. I want them to take the initiative and start their own and leave me to mine. That doesn't always work out well. Kids need us to provide just enough time and space for them to unwind a bit and tap into their creativity. A bit of persistence, some supplies and just enough direction for them to confidently create. It often takes us to initiate the project. I'm not sure at what age the screen stops being the default activity.
As a kid, I spent a lot of time quietly drawing, sewing, knitting, reading and daydreaming. As the oldest of 10 children, we didn't have a lot of extra-curricular activities and weren't showered with attention. When I wanted to make something, I didn't have the internet to look up how to do it, I just figured it out. As for supplies, my grandmother sewed and gave me some things, but mostly I had to make do and use my imagination and be resourceful. That resourcefulness has served me well in life. I wonder if I am robbing my children of that. I often think as I am driving my kids to the hardware store, or art/craft supply store, do we really need something else?!?! Then I pause, and see their little faces and think that there are worse things to ask for than wood dowels, duct tape and PVC.
I wish you a creative weekend.