September Fun

     Just a quick post today.  The after school classes are going well.  Finally heard from my missing Monday girl's mom.  It turns out she now has another commitment that day.  I offered the spot to another girl but she has guitar lessons that day.  I now have one opening in my classes.

     The kids are all working hard on their projects.  Unfortunately Julia didn't come yesterday, she didn't have the proper fabric for her project.  I'm not sure she will have enough time before the fashion show to get the top made now.

      My husband and I did our first century bike ride.   It was actually 104 miles.  The day was cool but sunny with just a bit of a breeze.  We did the first 57 miles at a fairly steady clip without any rest stops.  The last part we took advantage of the rest stops enjoying home baked goodies, fruit and refilling the water bottles.

     We were however quite disappointed with the food at the end.  Just some old bagels with either peanut butter or cream cheese and some fruit.  Oh well.  Next up is all the training for our half-iron duathlon in Miami.

First Week of After School Classes

Bella and her coin purse

     The first week of after school sewing got off to a rough start like I wrote last week.  However Wednesday and Thursday went much better.  All the children showed up.

     On Mondays I have Nonie, Kate, Christine and Elise.  Kate and Christine are sisters.  Christine has been with me for over a year and Kate took beginning sewing over the summer.  Nonie took beginning sewing the previous summer and now joined us for after school sewing.  It turns out Nonie and Kate know each other from school so that is fun for them.  Elise has not shown up and I have emailed and called.  If she doesn't show again I will open her spot for another child.

     On Tuesdays I have Julia, Hayley, Najiyah and Greta.  Julia has been with me for a couple of years now.  She loves to sew with unusual fabrics and keeps me on my toes trying to help her.  Hayley and Greta have been with me for a little over a year while Najiyah just started yesterday.  She took Izzy's spot when Izzy had to drop out because of a scheduling conflict.  Najiyah had some sewing experience over the summer so she is quickly picking up the machine here.  She will be ready to start on her sewing bag next week.

Greta and her coin purse

     Wednesday I have Lindsey, Natalie, Ellen and Cara.  Lindsey and Natalie are new to sewing and are just getting used to using a sewing machine.  Ellen and Cara, who are good friends, have been with me for a little over a year.  Ellen is working on a blouse for herself after sewing a knit top at the end of last year for her sister.  It was a quite complicated top but she did a great job.  Now another sister wants her to make one for her.

     Thursday I have Nick, Bella, Aviva and Maddie.  Nick took lessons over the summer and is working on a top, Bella finished her coin purse from summer camp.  Aviva took lessons with her mom over a year ago so she is just getting back into sewing.  Her mom wanted her to make another sewing bag for practice before starting on some garments.  Maddie is friends with Aviva and Bella and is just starting to sew.

     Four days of classes makes for a very full week but I love sharing my love of sewing with the kids.  They bring so much enthusiasm to class.

After School Classes Starting Back Up

Julia and her layered skirt

    My after school classes started back up on Monday.  It has been a bit of a rough start.  I have four classes and all are full, at least I thought they were.

     First I get an email from Julia's mom that she won't be able to come on her scheduled day, Tuesday, because of a track meet.  She asked if she could drop in another day.  I had to tell her that was impossible since all my days are full.  A few hours later I get a phone call from one of my other mms that one of her daughters is sick and won't be able to make it that afternoon, Monday.

     I shot off a quick email to Julia's mom to tell her I now have an opening and Julia is welcome to come.  That worked out well and Julia finally finished her layered skirt that she had been working on for most of the spring.  She was really happy to have finished it.

     One of my new girls did not show up Monday and I have not heard from her mom at all.  I'm hoping that things are okay.

     On Tuesday I got an email from another mom that her daughter was sick and not going to be able to make it to class.  At the appointed time Greta shows up and starts to work on the project she didn't finish during summer camp.  We keep waiting for Izzy to show up but she never does.

     I send off another email inquiry regarding a missing student and then decide to send a reminder email to the rest of my students.  I'm sure with the start of school and the crazy hot weather we are having that the emails I sent out a week ago were lost in the shuffle.  Hoping to have my full sets of students the next two days.

     My husband and I are gearing up for our century bike ride in 11 days.  This past Sunday we did 90 miles with a break for a chocolate shake at around 50 miles.  I'm hoping the weather will cooperate for our 100 miler.

Sewing Disaster (Kind of)

     We had a challenge from our ASG (American Sewing Guild) neighborhood group to take a denim shirt and remake it.  I had provided the shirts, items I bought that I was going to embroider and sell.  We each paid $5 for a shirt with the money being used to buy fabric for our charity sewing projects.

     I saw this blouse remake on Pinterest.  The site is from Freshly Given.  I thought it was so neat looking and would make a fun summer top.

      Here is the denim shirt I started with.  I really liked the 'velvet' trim.

     The first thing I did was remove the sleeves.  Then I fitted the shirt at the side seams.  This was a bit of trial and error since I didn't have anyone to help pin it on me.  After a couple of tries I got the side seams fitting well.

    Next was the challenge of shaping the back and front cutouts.  I started by cutting away a bit at a time so I wouldn't go too deep in.  Finally I got what I thought was a pleasing shape front and back but then came the next challenge.

     The front was gaping too much at the arm hole.  With the pocket in place it was hard to do much more shaping.  I sewed a few tucks in and that helped the gape but I didn't like the look.  I waited a few days to see if I could come up with something better but nothing seemed to work.  By now I had cut off so much that there wasn't enough fabric left to make a blouse.  Plan B to the rescue.

     I pulled this pattern out from my stash.  I have made several of theses and really like them.  Of course I didn't have enough fusible fleece to make a full size one so I adjusted my measurements.

    I used the right and wrong sides of the fabric in the alternating strips and the 'velvet' from the cuff for the center strip.  A zipper and rickrack from my stash were all I needed to complete this cute bag.

     Certainly nothing like the blouse I had envisioned but perhaps another day and another blouse.