Sewing With Kids - Zipper Pouches

Front - notice how we used the extra piece of zipper for the tab on the pink polka dotted pouch?  Love. 

 This summer was altogether too fast and and the same time too slow.  We started out with tennis lessons at the park then our epic road trip to California for my brother's wedding, and then I madly prepared for the iQuilt class.  Once I was done filming there were only a few days to go shopping for school supplies before school started.  But there was still one more thing I wanted to fit in.  I wanted to sew something with the kids.

I have a love/hate relationship with sewing with my kids.  Sewing is something I do that is "my" time.  It is relaxing, fun and productive.  All of those positives disappear when I sew with my kids.  It is not relaxing and I really have to work on being patient.  But I guess it is productive.  We do make stuff that is cute and usable and I really do think it is important to teach them to sew, so I have a "Sewing With Kids" goal that I try to stick to.  One project per kid per year.  Yeah.  Not a big goal.  Baby steps.  But I wanted to work it in before school started.

The backs.

They added earbuds to the school supply list this year so I decided that making a small zipper pouch for the earbuds would be a good plan - plus they are so darn cute - and fast.  Some kids went for a bigger pencil/crayon sized pouch.  Even Becca (age 2) took a turn "sewing" (sitting on my lap as I sewed the pouch out of fabric she picked out).

The pouches were a fun, quick project that is very usable and super cute and the girls had a lot of fun making them.  Now I just need to get the 15 year old to sit down and make something before January 1st.....

Aleah English Paper Pieces!

Last Sunday my daughter Aleah (age 10) worked on her English paper piecing.  She is really good!  She glued the fabric around the 2" hexagons a few weeks ago and when she got started whip stitching them together this weekend she had this done in about an hour and a half.

I'm not usually a feet in picture type of person, but it gives you a sense of scale.

Her inspiration fabric was the blue veggie/dish fabric and we picked other fabric that coordinated with it from my scrap drawer.  I might try to convince her to make another one this size and we can make them into a potholder/trivet.  But she might decided to keep going.  I'll let you know what happens.  

Too Sweet For Words

This afternoon my girls' friend A___-across-the-street (yes, that's what we call her) came over with a present for my girls.  Three little rag quilts!  My girls were tickled pink to have their own special quilt made by their favorite A___-across-the-street and  I was beyond touched.  I think only a quilter really understands the effort goes into making a quilt.

So I decided to interview seven year-old A____-across-the-street about her quilts.  (Pictures and interview posted with permission from her mom.)  I love kid interviews.  :)

Me - Why did you decided to make these quilts?

A - My mom had the idea because she wanted to make quilts and she promised me we could make them.

Me - So you made them together?

A - We made them nights we had free when I wasn't doing stuff.

Me - How did you decide on the colors?

A - My mom bought some gingerbread men fabric because we are going to make some for Christmas presents and she thought it would be nice to make some for the neighbors too.

Me - What was the funnest part?

A - Clipping the edges.

Me - Did you get to use the sewing machine?

A - Yes.

Me - Is there anything else you want to tell me about the quilts?

A - No.

A quilter in the making!  (and a new quilting friend across the street?)  I can't wait to get the quilts in the wash and all frayed up and fuzzy.

Thank you!!

To Boston With Love

Last week I was finishing up making a few flags for the To Boston With Love project when my girls came home from school.  They all started rummaging through the fabric scraps and insisting that they wanted to make one too.  I took a deep breath, prayed for patience and let them help - after all, it isn't often my 12 year old wants to sew.  After explaining that we were making them to help cheer people up - like a get well or thinking of you card, they decided on what to put on their flags.  Aleah drew and cut out stars for her flag, Emily pieced her rainbow and Colleen glued on her butterfly.

They are so cheery!  If this is what 6 of them look like, can you imagine hundreds hanging together in Boston?!?  The mailing deadline is the 21st of May so there is still time to make one if you want.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.
PS And don't worry, I retied the flags with a 1 inch spacing after taking the picture.  :)

Sewing With Kids - Messenger Bags

My 6 year old LOVES to sew, but Emily, who is 11, isn't into it.  But I wanted to sew something with each of them this summer, so I gave her lots of options of things she could make.  She choose a messenger bag.  She even pestered me about it when we didn't get started on it right away.

 But procrastination turned out to be a good thing.  Our friends came to visit and Emily and her friend made matching messenger bags together.  They did really well.  They are both perfectionists, so even the smallest of mistakes were a concern, but I ended up making the big mistake - the only one that required a seam ripper.

Emily picked out the plaid corduroy at Hancock's and the girls picked out some bright green fabric I had on hand as lining.  We used this simple and straight forward tutorial.  The girls sewed and ironed everything except for the side seams (where 8 layers of shifting fabric proved difficult) and attaching the straps onto the bag (it was challenging for me with at least 12 layers of fabric to sew through).

After a few afternoons of work, they took their bags on a bike ride to the library.  The bags turned out so cute that I think I might have to make one for myself!  Good Job Girls!