Last Day of Sewing Camp

Where did we leave the sewing camp crew yesterday?

In the pool!
We really did get out & go home.
Eventually.
But we did not swim today.



We focused instead on finishing up a couple of yesterday's projects.
>>Swimming pool opened at noon yesterday.
Priorities!
I'm sure you understand.






Then the girls made full size pillowcases.

Got the drill yet?
Select & cut fabric to specific sizes.
Rachel had cats.

Iron.

Grace & Veronica had horses.





Iron some more.
Maybe do some pinning.

Sew.
Show off with flair the lovely creations ready to adorn girly bedrooms.

Ms Peggy thought a wall hanging incorporating some squares from fabric brought by each girl would make a nice memento. She & I put together this one for Ms. Linda & sent home with each girl a stack of 6 squares.

Sewing camp homework:

Make your wall hanging.

Other Sewing Camp memories:

Non-campers watching movies on Ms Peggy's portable DVD player.






Learning to use the sharp rotary cutters.







Ms. Linda of the Sew Diva Kids Camp & many encouraging words.
She SAID "no helicopters" to alleviate hovering.
But I know the TRUTH.
I think she enjoyed seeing the mom's working with their daughters as much as she liked teaching the girls. :-) This camp provided an opportunity for some mother-daughter bonding, and I'm not talking about the inter facing.



Brownies!
Courtesy of Christi
And let's not forget the marvelous fruity muffins baked fresh daily by George. Yum!


New friends to pal around with.








Sewing Camp: $40 plus materials, time, energy, effort and some frustration.

Spending time with friends, learning some new skills, discovering part of the Great Designer in yourself
- we are made in His Image after all:
Priceless

Sewing Camp Day 4

We kicked off our shoes and jumped right into today's sewing project: a cloth basket for the bedchamber.









Measuring & dissecting fabric into 9.5 X 13.5 pieces - 2 of each, the girls once again chose some coordinating colors and practiced their skillful use of the rotary cutters.


The boys, having discovered this blog, clamored for some equal time.


Boys happily jumped on the trampoline.







Meanwhile, the girls ironed inner facing cut 8.5 x 12.5, rough side toward the fabric so it won't stick to the iron onto the wrong side of one of their cloth sections. Ms. Linda explained that it would help stiffen the fabric so the baskets would stand up. No one wants a lazy, sleeping basket.




Boys enjoyed running around in the yard being chased by the miniature bull large dog who lives there & answers to the name of Duke. Macho name.

As the girls carefully sewed the short ends then refolded and pressed those sewn edges making stripes down the middle and sewed the open long sides.

Some boys were swinging

while some girls carefully measured then cut out two inch squares from each corner

then pulled those freshly cut edges into a straight line and sewed them flat to make bottom basket edges.

At this point the baskets were turned right-side-out through a hole left for that purpose with that wonderful hemostat. What would they do without it?

As one nameless young lady stuffed her excess cloth into her bag I heard Ms. Linda say, "Don't scrunch fabric! I love fabric."

See?

You ARE supposed to fold it to put it away.
Don't look in my bag...

Several of the moms prepared for the next day by cutting out pattern sections.

While the girls were cutting and pressing into shape tabs for the sides, chose two buttons to hand-sew on for decoration then

TADA!
The finished (or nearly so) products.

Don't they look great? I know you are wishing YOU had one for YOUR dresser.

Yes, I've made a big deal out of this shot because once again I have failed to secure a photo of everyone with their creations.
Why not?
Because everyone wanted to go SWIMMING!

We're planning to have more fun tomorrow.

Sewing Camp Day 3

Today's meeting began with show-n-tell.
After studying the AHG handbook, Ms. Linda proceeded to expound on some info necessary to secure sewing badges for the girls.

1. Get acquainted with the tools of the sewing trade. Identify and describe the use of various sewing items such as scissors, measuring tape, pinking shears, pins, needles, seam ripper, thimble, bobbins, buttons, felt, bias tape, piping...

2. Identify the following types of fabric: woven cotton, polyester knit, fleece, flannel, terrycloth, vinyl, upholstery...

She did a great job going down the list showing, explaining & quizzing the girls.
There was even a test complete with essay questions.
NOT!

Today's first project was making a notebook cover. Girls had to measure their notebooks to determine the proper size to cut their 2 pieces of outside fabric awa the "floppy doodles" that fit inside the covers to keep the cover on the book.


Securing the top, middle folded pieces & bottom pieces together presented a great opportunity to use basting stitches (item #4).







Rachel decided to pin hers since she's mastered basting.
You think someone would create a cleaning-your-room camp? :-)








Once pieces are placed precisely in proper positions you sew, sew, sew!


Then out come that handy hemostat.






Ms. Linda modeled the latest fashion, a cloth bookmark complete with contrasting fabric highlights and button decor, also known as Project Number Two.





Which requires more ironing of those complementary fabric 3 x 9 pieces, once you cut them to size.







Then a bit more ironing of the decorative stripes.
Yes, that's me in the photo. You can blame thank Traci. [grin]


More sew, sew, sewing. That's what the camp's all about, after all.





Oh.
And maybe some froggy "rippit" too.
But only when necessary.









Once the machine has zipped around inside the parameter, pinking shears are employed to provide that festive (and unraveling resistant) border.

Ms. Linda emphasized that the kids were designing their bookmarks, expressing their creativity.
Q. Did we bring our kids to sewing camp so that one day they will be Designing Women?
Just a thought.

A little bit of time was taken to delve into Traci's sewing basket to discuss the fine art of quilting. Gnarly!




The boys had a great time playing in the wet outdoors and inside with Lego's












before we faced the bumpy road home.

Girls finished their projects at different times & departed so I didn't get a group shot today.

Hopefully tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!

Sewing Camp Day 2

Ms. Linda blessed us at the start of the day by reading some scripture from Exodus about the tabernacle instructions given to Moses. She said that when studying this passage she was impressed that wise-hearted women whose hearts were touched were doing the sewing, not just any women with that talent/skill. It made me think about how, when we consecrate our gifts to the Lord, He will use us to accomplish His purposes. How blessed to be used to do the Lord's work, to be His hands!

Instructed to cut out eight 3 inch squares of coordinating fabric (at least two) to make a mini pillow pincushion, everyone got busy choosing and cutting. Rachel decided to use the horse fabric strips so had to do some "fussy cutting" to place horse heads inside those 3 inch blocks.
Ms. Linda used her fabric pen to draw a seam allowance line one- quarter of an inch from the edge along one side of each two block set, right sides of the fabric towards each other.



The girls got busy sewing.








Meanwhile, Jacob showed such interest in the proceedings that his mama instructed him in whipping out a tote bag like the girls made yesterday.







Stuff those pin cushions! Poke that fiber fill into those corners. Feed them until they are full and overflowing - then stuff in a little more.




Do you have a hemostat in your sewing box?
Me neither. Yet.
It was useful for pulling that huge needle through the poofy pillows to tie down tightly prior to adding the buttions.

It was after noon. Project number one was nearly completed - just gotta choose snazzy buttons to accent the pin cusions.

THEN Ms. Linda reminded everyone that they had a second project to sew today so cut out a piece of cloth 13.5 x 6 inches. They scurried to choose fabric to cut then followed their directions in sewing & ironing, folding & flipping and then, tada! a kleenix cover.

>>>If you don't know of what I speak, just click on the pic to enlarge. Oh, do it anyway so you can see how creative these young ladies are.