Denim Do-Over Camp

All finished

     For four days the girls came and created these fun holders and corsages from a pair of their old jeans.  The first day they carefully cut apart their jeans and started tracing out the squares needed.

Hard at work

     

     They then ironed them onto the Peltex base and the fun really started.  They played with the decorative stitches on my new machines and used a bunch of decorative threads.  They embellished with lace, buttons and pompom trim.

Loren

     Then one of the girls wanted to try some appliqué and soon all the girls were appliquéing their initials on their holder.

Arabella

     After doing the embellishment, they then fused squares of their denim to the inside of the box.

Veronia

     Then some stitching around the base and it was time to sew the sides together.  It wasn't easy as there was a lot of thickness to deal with but they all managed to do it.

Allison

     Then we made their 'corsages'.  Some more cutting, sewing and then layering them all together.  Attached a button or two on top and added a pin back.  So much fun watching them just play and create.

     These are my samples that I had made so the girls could visualize what they were going to make.  I got the idea for the holder here and the corsage here

     Next up is my Travel Time camp next week.  Can't wait to see what the girls come up with.

Beginning Sewing July 2016

Hard at work

      Had another three day beginning mini-camp.  This time the girls made shorts.  Ava and Cora were new to me sewing students while Sienna was returning so she could be with her friend.

Ava and her sewing bag

   

     While Cora and Ava were learning the basics of the sewing machine and making their drawstring bags, Sienna made the back slit denim skirt.

Cora and her sewing bag

     Cora and Ave had both done a little sewing so they quickly finished their practice sewing and moved onto the bags.

Sienna and her skirt

     On day two, the girls had all finished their first project and started on their shorts.  

Ava and her shorts

     On the third day, Cora and Ava had finished their shorts with still over an hour left of camp.  We went up to my sewing room where they chose fabrics to sew pillowcases for KonKerr Cancer.  They were able to finish them before they left!  Sienna finished her shorts and then finished up a pillowcase that had been started in my previous Beginning Sewing camp.

Cora and her shorts

    It was a lot of fun seeing the girls quickly pick up on the lessons I was teaching.

Sienna and her shorts

     I'm looking forward to my next camp, Travel Time that starts August 1st.  There was supposed to be another beginning camp next week but at the last minute two people dropped out and I had to cancel.

Look what we did in just three days

     Have a wonderful summer.

Tree of Life Wallhanging

Paper pattern

     A client contacted me wanting a wallhanging made for an upcoming auction.  Her students had made flowers yo-yos from fabric and buttons.  She needed a tree to put them on.

Brown trunk and branches ready to cut

 

     The art teacher at the school drew the pattern for the wallhanging on brown craft paper.  I then traced the pieces onto the paper back side of a fusible web.  I numbered the branches and leaves so I could put them all back in the same positions.

Checking to see that I have all the pieces

     I then fused the web to the wrong side of the fabric and carefully cut out all the pieces.  I then used the paper pattern to make sure I had all the pieces before ironing them to the background.

Brown pieces all fused in place

     Because of the method I used the final tree was going to be a reverse image of the pattern.  I embroidered the dying and then ironed the brown pieces in place.  Then I ironed on fusible batting and the backing.

Stitching down the brown

     Next I stitched all around the brown.  Then it was time for the leaves.

Ready to cut the leaves

     I used four different green fat quarters for the leaves and when ironing the pieces on I tried to choose some interesting shading on the leaves.

Completed wallhanging waiting for the flowers

     After ironing on the leaves I stitched around each of them.  I also added three flower stems to represent the three teachers of these children.  Then I trimmed the wallhanging square and applied binding and added a hanging sleeve.  The teacher then was going to place the flowers with the children.