sometimes it's thanksgiving & a few days before, we hold a sewing workshop. maybe a mama comes over, having been at the e.r. the night before, & gets my whole family totally sick. sometimes. and so, sometimes everyone gets better, 'cept me & the wee, & we send them all off for a holiday at grandma's. and we spend a blissful/brutal 2 1/2 days clearing out rooms, puddling around, & making stuff, in between episodes of sick stuff. sometimes. and we all live happily ever after.
this post is dedicated to my sweetheart, who i am so very grateful for.
These projects can be done by any 10 year-old who knows their way around a sewing machine, in under an hour, for FREE. Yup. Free. You just have to have some elastic thread on hand, & be willing to cut up your clothes. If not, you can pick up sweaters, tweed pants & pretty dresses at any thrift store for under $5 each. The fairy skirt doesn't require a machine.
Autumn Fairy Skirt Tutorial
Gather:
1 dress or shirt in Fall colors, fabric shears, elastic thread, embroidery needle, safety pin
Do:
1.) Cut off the bottom 12"-15" of a dress or shirt. Linen, cotton, jersey, double gauze. It all works here.
2.) Take that tube & flip it's hem upside-down, so that it's on top. Notice that you'll use the hem as a "casing" for elastic thread.
3.) Cut out a bunch of free-form oak leaves in different sizes, making sure to leave at least 1" of hem-casing at the top of each leaf.
4.) Double thread the elastic through an embroidery needle. Knot the ends around a safety pin to prevent the elastic from slipping through. Thread together your oak leaves, squishing them together as you go. For a larger child or more interesting skirt, use different fabrics. The one above uses a woven-cotton dress, it's lining, & 2 leaves from a thin corduroy dress.
5.) Fit to child by wrapping the strung leaves around waist. Make sure there's both enough leaves to get that ruched top & enough "give" to pull off & on. Remove safety pin & knot elastic ends closed. Trim of extra elastic & pull knot through casing to hide. Don't wash!
Tweeds + Stripes Scarf
Gather:
1 wool or cotton sweater (felting not required), 1 pair tweed pants, fabric shears, sewing machine
Do:
1.) Cut out a 7"-wide tube from the body of sweater. Set aside bottom ribbing & rest of sweater for another project. Cut across the width of tube on one side, so that it becomes a long strip.
2.) Cut out a 7"-wide, leg-long strip from the pants.
3.) Lay out tweed strip, right-side up. Lay sweater strip over it, right-side down. Trim both to match lengths.
4.) Starting at one end, sew together around outside, using a straight-stitch & 1/4" seam allowance. Sweater may stretch a bit, so just sew other end where the two fabrics meet & trim afterwards. Leave starting end open. Turn right-side-out.
5.) Tuck in end. Stitch around edge of entire scarf. It will look cleaner if you sew with the tweed-side up. There you go...Cozy!
my lil' friend enzo flossing his winter gear
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