Sewing with Children!

Teaching all week has kept us very busy. Audrey and I just love teaching these young girls to sew.If you are a parent or seamstress looking for ideas for your young children, keep up with us on this blog for some proven ideas that have worked. Share our successes....and the ones that failed too!

 The past few weeks have been spent at All Saints Day School in Carmel Valley with girls from the Summer Fun in the Sun Camp Program. For more information on their Summer Program go to Summer Camp

This past week we had nine girls in our "Sew Much Fun" class. I learned that the more sewing machines is not the better choice very quickly. With just two machines, I could sit here in the middle between two girls on machines and keep an eye on both of them easily. When we had more machines, I had to run back and forth and we had so many jam ups, broken parts and frustration that one machine (after having had the belt broken) and another after having the lever broken ( which I did manage to repair on my own and I am proud of that btw) were both retired for the rest of the week.

 While I am helping one student, this little cutie was hamming it up for a photo op. I let the students take turn getting pictures of each other. This one below is probably my favorite goofy picture of the week. Notice they are wearing their awesome hats made from up-cycled t-shirts.

 Playground time is important. I don't mind having yard duty because I get to interact with the girls out of the classroom for a big and learn more about them. I love how fast they make friends each week. I also noticed that my class always seems to stick together at recess.

                                                       Little Monkeys!

Decorating and sewing on our denim (and one t-shirt) garments was extremely fun with this exhuberant group. We had a combo of jeans, shorts, skirts and one overall skirt. This was the most interesting one because it was an overall skirt that was too small for the child so it involved a bigger challenge. She was not very excited about it because in her mind, this was a baby outfit that she grew out of in pre-school so why would she want to wear it again.

As you can see, our darling little seamstress is holding up her old daycare uniform and it is inches too small. But we checked and it would fit around her still as a skirt. So first thing we did was to cut off the bib part. I took the "skirt" portion home and serged it off around the top for her. She folded it down and we added elastic at the back for a better fit. The side buttons were still useful so those were left. She worked hard at the painting part, both front and back.

                                    The serged back waistband with elastic is shown here.

 My cute student put two hand stitched appliques on front along with some gems, a flower applique that was purchased at the store, charms, decorative paint and glitter gel.  For added interest,  a Hello Kitty Charm by the pocket. After the patches were hand sewn on the back behind the star and leaf, I helped the students sew the inverted appliques on top of their patches and cut out only the top portion.

Another cute charm is attached on the back pocket and she painted around each pocket with glitter gel paints. It turned out really cute. We also added a ribbon belt, which can be seen in the first photo in the blog on the far right. Her grandparents came to the Show and Tell Program and really loved her creation.

Other wonderful denim creations from our students this past few weeks:

 Great concentration while working, it helps to wear her new beanie hat that she made in class.

                                 These shorts were so cute! I would wear them myself.

The best part of a week at camp is making new friends!

Audrey and I will be back at camp next week for another class of "Sew Much Fun" with an American Girl Doll Theme. If you are interested, check out the camp at http://www.asds.org/summer

Upcycled Goodwill Finds with Miss Kitty

We LOVE Goodwill in Marina, California. Today's blog with my long time friend and fellow seamstress, Miss Kitty shows two skirts created from her latest discoveries at the store in Marina. First item of business was to figure out how to cut down these huge Adult sized garments to fit her tiny frame. Miss Kitty was quick to get the measuring tape and help out.

Sewing with my young students is always a joy because of their enthusiasm. Kitty was not lacking any today. I think she was as happy to see me as I was to see her.
Project 1:


A wonderful green Ombre dyed skirt was a perfect item to re-make smaller for her. It started as a size Large for Adults. As you can see, it is a bit too wide for her. But she loved the twirly ruffles and faded colors from light to dark on the gauze fabric. We almost could have made two skirts for her with it. We cut off the elastic waistband and set it aside for some other use.

 The top was now open and Miss Kitty decided that she wanted the full fluffy skirt so it was easy to serge the two layers together at the top. Next, she folded it down all around the waistline about an inch and sewed it up to form a nice casing at the waist.

 Kitty inserted a piece of half inch elastic in her waist size, which is a huge 19"!!!! And after pulling it through the skirt waistband, she checked to make sure the skirt fit. It was awesome on her and the length was wonderful. An added bonus is she can wear this cute skirt for years.

 We found some pink ribbon roses and perfect sage green satin ribbon for a bow at the waist. Her cut off elastic waistband became a cute headband with a matching bow and rose.

 

A nice photo taken my Kitty's mom at her home. She put this together with a cute pink jacket to match the roses!!

One skirt done in just over an hour, we jogged down the road for a bit of fast food junk for lunch. Audrey joined us and Kitty's mother will never know that she ate half the hamburger but all of the ice cream!! Ha, ha...the joy of borrowing a child for an afternoon is to spoil them a bit. Miss Kitty is a very unspoiled child naturally and it is so much fun to steal her away. We are hoping her mom forgets and we will bleach her hair blonde, name her something new and keep her forever. This is one fun girl to have around.

Alas, we informed her mom that we were starting skirt number two and that she would be allowed to retrieve her daughter later. So happy she likes to share her darling girl with us. I do miss having some younger kids around at times. (This would be when my house is full of teenagers or worse, young men in their mid-twenties playing video games while talking about some of the strangest subjects relating to anime, D&D and more video games...seriously they are no longer cute at that age)

Project 2:  "Pastry" dress

I call this thing a "Pastry Dress". Some poor misguided girl wore this very short and poufy thing to a prom or other dress up event and probably did not realized how badly she needed a longer dress. I shudder at the thought of how it looked with some too high heels, a ton of bling jewelry and gobs of hairspray. Where was the mother when this item was purchased??

 AGGHHHH, don't get me started on mother's and what they allow their daughters to wear these days. If I see another toddler in a t-shirt sporting some Rock Star Icon, I might rip it off the child and offer to make something else for her or him for no charge just to see the kids wear actual kids clothes and not little mini sized adult clothes.

This was a real Mini Dress. It was only 25" from top to bottom! I am sorry but I find it shocking that any young woman was let out of the house in this creation. If only she would have come to me and let me create her a flattering and more modest ensemble, she would not have let it ever leave her closet.

Anyway...moving on with the "Pastry Dress". As you can see in the picture, it has a very puffy layered skirt in a zebra print. This type of skirt reminds me of a frosted pastry. The top had a pink sequined strapless band that was fully lined with a big thick and kind of gross bra structure but amazingly, not any boning to hold it up. There is also a very cute black bow and sash in the middle. Kitty was hoping this could become a fun skirt for her to wear for dressing up. She was right!

The back of the dress had a nice zipper and since it was so darn short, it was not far off being a skirt for Kitty with the exception that it was 9" too wide for her waist. There was also a lovely long sash in back as well as the adorable front waist treatment with a big bow.

We unstitched the large bow and pinned it safely out of the way while we created a smaller waistband for her adorableness to wear comfortably. 

 

The hideous pink top thing had to be cut off and I was pretty glad to see it go. Sorry, I am not a "pink" person. But I do love the musician by the same name. 

After cutting off the bodice, but retaining the installed zipper and the cute front band that was black, we took the waist in with large angled darts on four of the seams. I marked the seams with a removable purple marker. Kitty was easily able to follow these lines to sew the darts. It was a bit tricky with the thickness of the seams that were still in tact but the Viking machine is pretty tough and made it through. Kitty never had to pick out a single seam today. (But I did)

 We cut out a black waistband lining from some black cotton batiste. Kitty sewed this along the top and it was hand-stitched inside to form a nice lined waistband. The original zipper was only cut a few inches when removing the pink top. The black side tie sash was re-attached now and the front bow was unpinned and also re-attached.

The fit was amazing, Kitty looked just like a little striped cupcake in it! Just kidding,....I did not want to eat her. Just hug her a few times. It was a delight to have her over today.

In just about an hour each, both Goodwill finds were created into fun, useful and up-cycled skirts. This is Altered Couture at it's best when my young student is able to have so much fun with such nice results.Miss Kitty is just precious in this skirt.

Next time you are shopping at Thrift stores, remember that just because it is too large, don't overlook anything. Just finding some great fabrics and figure out something fun to do with them later so they can have a new life in your closet.

All American Girls learn to Sew DIY Crazy Pillows

Are you looking for a great first sewing project for your kids this summer? Try making DIY Crazy Pillows. Super fun, not too difficult and lots of room for some creativity. You need very few supplies and most will be around your house if you sew very often or craft. Its also a great chance to Up-cycle something.

What you will need for supplies:
Fabric (this can be new or something you would like to cut up and Up-cycle like an old shirt or skirt)
Fiberfill stuffing or old pantyhose, socks,etc...for stuffing
Assorted trims, laces, buttons, ribbon for decorating the top
Thread and a sewing machine



This project has worked very successfully with my private students as well as in classroom situations.  These instructions show two of my private students working on the pillows as well as students from All Saint's School's Summer Camp in our "Sew Much Fun" Week 3 Class. If you are interested in taking "Sew Much Fun" with an American Girl Theme in Week 4 or 5, or any of the other wonderful classes, check out Fun in the Sun Day camp here:http://www.asds.org/summer



Step 1:
Cut out two squares of fabric in any size desired. In these photos we used 16" squares.

Step 2:
Pin on your trims to the top square and set aside the other square for the backing. You can see this young girl has only the TOP of her pillow and the BACK is up on the right side. If you accidentally sew both sides together at the same time with the trim, you won't be able to stuff up your pillow! This happens with new seamstresses so be sure to check on them before they use the machines.

Step 3: Hand work: Its great practice to hand stitch the trims in place BEFORE using the sewing machine. You can see both the pink pillow and purple pillow laying out with the trims ready to go. Some students will come up with some pretty "Crazy" pillow designs. Just let them go for it and enjoy the process and creativity. As much as you might want to tell them they have too much trim or it is not linear , just let them do their thing. It is so much more meaningful for them and their parents to know the child made these choices. Later, they may look back with fondness or be totally horrified at their style at the age of 9 or 10 but it's still all theirs!

 After the hand stitching is done, Step 4 is sewing on all the trims by machine. The sequined type appliques will need to be hand done completely as the sequins will cause all kinds of havoc with your students and the machines.

Here one of my students in summer camp works on her pillow top. I love the concentration on her face and those tiny cute hands working away like a pro on the machine.

 Step 5:
Sew the back of the pillow to the top with the right sides facing each other. Be sure to leave an opening for turning your pillow and stuffing it. This is the time to work on pivoting at the corners. After the entire pillow is sewing all the way around, trim the corners and turn inside out.

 Turning the pillow inside out to get the right side showing is just as easy as turning your t-shirt right side out before getting dressed. Here in this photo, one of the students is turning her pillow and pushing the corners out to make sure her square is nicely shaped.

Fantastic Finished Projects are the end result of the Crazy Pillows. Each one is different and unique.

                   Making new friends at camp is such a great part of our week. These two little sweethearts      model for the camera with their new pillows in hand, and matching pink shirts.

                                        Seriously concentrating on stuffing that pillow nice and full!

This cool pillow is not stuffed yet, but check out the yo-yo flower and button detail on her all black and white creation. Notice another of the yo-yo flowers on her self-made headband too! So pretty.

                   My wonderful private students show off their finished pillows for the camera. I never have any trouble getting these two to mug it up for a photo.

Audrey (in the hat on the back row, far right) , my daughter and fellow instructor and the students in our Week 3 "Sew Much Fun" class at All Saints Day Schools Awesome Summer camp, Link to Sew Much Fun in Week 4 or 5 at Summer Camp,
If you are a girl who loves sewing, join us for another program next week!

New Sewing Students start week 3 off with a BANG!!

Audrey and I  were so excited to teach another week at All Saints in Carmel Valley.

 On Friday, we had three students signed up for our class..."Sew Much Fun" and a bit sad at the low number but we thought "hey, this is fun so who cares". Well good thing we were feeling flexible because over the weekend the numbers creeped up and we had a whopping NINE girls in our first class today. Between the ages of 6 to 12 with varying skill levels, each one of them excited to be there and ready to create.

 First project was the yo-yo flowers. One student was back from the first class so she helped the others learn to do the stitching correctly and zipped ahead to make the first headband as a wonderful example and inspiration to the other girls.

Working on threading the needles is a job that requires great concentration. I was so proud of Audrey for taking charge of teaching this project today. The girls really like her and listen to her so nicely. Her confidence in teaching has grown so much in a week's time.

 Audrey worked on the machines with one of the students, helping her understand how to use the presser foot lever correctly. The darling girl kept forgetting to put it down before starting to sew and got all kinds of wonkey results on her first few tries. Luckily she could laugh about it. Notice her darling Yo-yo flower headband that she made herself.

 Plenty of time for making friends or in this case, bringing a friend to class. Even while taking their "test" today on the Sewing machine parts, they were all giggles.

Yes, in this photo, one student is cut off! I am sorry! But I did say "two rows" because my camera does not have a wide angle lens!! I will do better next time. The girls are wearing their hair creations and hopefully taking home the notes to their parents today. Everyone that brings it back will get a surprise from our Etsy shop. Hopefully that motivates them. Last time, one student took her note home on the first day!

Crazy pillows are next up on the agenda along with the plushies from socks.

Anyone interested in attending in the future, we will be adding a class next week focusing on "American Girl Doll Sewing" with a Picnic theme. We hope to get a few takers once again. We love it at All Saint's!

Summer Fun in the Sun Day Camp!! Audrey and I have had so much fun teaching at All Saint's School in Carmel Valley, California.The campus is amazing and the staff is so welcoming but best of all are the adorable students. Each and every girl is just a bundle of energy, fun and enthusiasm for sewing. This was Audrey's first real job, work permit and all so she has been really happy about the opportunity to teach.

Our class is called "Sew Much Fun" and we are focused on Eco-Friendly and Up-Cycled projects. Reuse is the the theme and each project was made from the left over scraps from a previous project or an old clothing item that needed an update. 

The girls are pictured here in their t-shirt hats. We created them from up-cycled t-shirts. Every girl chose to add some type of animal ears to her hat. This student brought in a shirt with a girls face on the front. It made up into a really cute hat with eyes.

 I could not resist a picture of this cute little face, as it was the first time she had held still in several days. This little pixie is such a tiny girl that I had to have her sit on my lap to sew on a machine because she could not reach the petals. Notice her flower bracelet on her wrist. This is a Yo-Yo flower that she made herself. The girls really enjoyed making the flowers and adding them to purses, bracelets, hair clips and headbands. This was an open project that could be worked on at any time.

 Three of the girls working on their own with the Yo-Yo flowers. They were all very motivated to continue to learn all week. The flowers taught them to do a basic running stitch, gathering and also sewing on a button. At ages 6-9, they were a very young group but did amazing work on all their projects.

 Another sweet face, and happy camper. She is also wearing her creation in her hair. This little seamstress was very methodical and careful with each stitch. I think I could hire her!

 Working on the machines could be a scary prospect but when teach, Audrey and I approach it like driving a car. You hit the gas petal to make the machine go and control it with a wheel. Drive straight, follow the rules and you wont' have an "accident" and need that seam ripper. And PLEASE don't drop the pins on the floor!

 We start out with paper to practice and move to felt shapes on the first day. It was readily apparent that each of these girls was more than ready to move on to bigger projects after just 3 hours of class.

 A bunny ear hat from a plain white T!

 Audrey is a great teacher and she never realized it until this past week. Here she patiently teaches a student to put her pattern pieces onto the fabric to cut out her project. I was so proud of her skills with the young girls. She was so responsible and mature.

 I told the girls to cut their length of thread the size of their arm to waist, here a student concentrates hard to get a long enough thread for her needle.
A little time for socializing at the machines made me smile to myself so I had to snap a picture. I loved how the girls made friends quickly even though they were from four different schools.

 The students small hands working the sewing machines always amazes me. I know I was sewing by age 8 but I never saw myself so it seems like these girls are just so small. Its such a great age to expose them to this wonderful creative art because they will be able to use these skills the rest of their life. I have adults ask me all the time to do the simplest tasks such as a hem or sewing on some buttons. They pay me to so something that is a Life skill in my opinion as much as learning to swim or cook.

                                        The "Face" hat made for some fun in class.

 I really loved how these two cousins worked with each other in class. One of them had already had some sewing experience and she was so sweet about helping her younger cousin master the pivots and curves.

 Here our darling little cousins model their hats with cute floppy puppy dog ears, completely made from up-cycled shirts. What a great way to learn a new skill, get a fun beanie had and be Eco Friendly all at the same time.

Our week continues to be full of fun with more new projects coming up later. Audrey and I can't wait for each day and are already collecting ideas for classes next summer. American Girl doll creations is the top request so far. Anyone have any other great ideas?