Sewing School

Sewing School 2 - Preorder Yours Now!

Yes, that's right, Sewing School 2: Lessons in Machine Sewing is coming out soon! Andria and I are on pins and needles waiting for it! Be the first cool kid on your block with a copy and preorder yours right now.

We can't wait to show you more soon!

Sewing Outside is Fun

It was such a nice day, we had to take our Mother's Day embroidery outside.

I love doing embroidery with kids this time of year. Read more about it here.

Our Moms loved it too! Had to show off this cute "I love you Mom" pillow written in Japanese!

Southern Vegetarian

I am so so excited for Justin, the wonderful Sewing School photographer, and his lovely wife Amy on the release of their new cookbook The Southern Vegetarian. After posting yummy vegetarian recipes for years at The Chubby Vegetarian, they turned their passion for cooking, mouth watering food photography, and eating into a cookbook. Even if you aren't a vegetarian, Justin's recipes are amazing!

While working on Sewing School 2, Justin and I would get together at our weekly photo shoots and discuss book writing, new recipes, Top Chef, and sewing between shots. It's exciting to see the finished product.

Congrats Justin and Amy!

Toddler Sewing Club: Sunglasses Case

Fun was had making cute sunglasses holders at Toddler Sewing Club! Sewing with 2's & 3's, I wanted to keep with my kid sewing philosophy: make something useful, and let kids add their own creativity to the project.

The pattern is the Eye-See-You Case from Sewing School. Using foam sheets, the glasses cases were prepped before the kids sewed. I cut out the pattern and punched holes around two of the cases at a time. This way, all the holes matched up. Next, I tied a lacing string around the top hole and added a plastic needle.

The kids loved sewing the cases. Everyone had a parent on hand to help out, but the kids really did a great job by themselves! Once the case was sewn, the lacing string was tied off and trimmed.

Fun was had decorating the cases with foamies and stickers. Those foam stickers require some fine motor skills to get the backing off! Of course, everyone got a chose a pair of star-shaped sunglasses to put into their case.

Your Little Friend in the Classroom

Welcome to the Little Friend Hotel where each room is custom designed to suit Your Little Friends' needs.

Mrs. Donald, a fellow kindergarten teacher noticed that her class was stuffed animal crazy. She decided to plan an entire unit where the kids would design, create, and expand upon their own stuffed animals. She chose the Your Little Friend doll from the Sewing School as the basis and the kids took off.

To get everyone started, she traced the doll pattern onto muslin and let the kids personalize their dolls with fabric markers (an idea borrowed from the Stuffie project). Next, the kids cut out the doll and traced the pattern onto felt and sewed and stuffed it.

After that, the kids took over creating special worlds for their dolls. The blocks disappeared and a hotel was created.

Little Stuffies, clothes, and accessories were stitched and crafted.

Those that didn't have a room at the hotel, found a little place to "camp" in the classroom.

The kids play with the dolls during the day and use them for various classroom activities. Before leaving for the day, the dolls are lovingly tucked in for the night in little beds.

A variety of reading and writing activities have revolved around the Little Friend dolls. One of my favorites is the "Who Am I?" sheet that each kid filled out for his or her doll.

It's exciting to see how a project from Sewing School can find its place in the classroom!

Toddler Sewing Club: Sunglasses Case

Toddler Sewing Club for kids ages 2 & 3

Friday, April 26, 9:00am

Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School

Memphis, TN

RSVP at enroll@gslschool.org

Join us for our final Toddler Sewing Club of the year. At this fun Mommy and me event, we'll be stitching up a cute sunglasses case complete with a pair of star-shaped shades!

Not able to make it in person? Don't worry - I'll give you the how-to after the club meeting.

Stuffed Animal Vet Clinic

For the last meeting of Sewing Club, we hosted a Stuffed Animal Vet Clinic for our school. This was a great service project for the kids and helped them to realize the power of sewing.

The Vet Clinic chapter in the Sewing School book will help you get started and shows how to repair injured animals. For our clinic, I photocopied the pages to help the young sewers repair lost eyes, attach broken limbs, and close holes in over-loved stuffies.

We collected injured stuffed animals for a few days. The owners put little tags on them with their name and teacher's name so that they could be safely returned.

Everyone worked very carefully on the stuffed animals. We paired them up so that the younger kids were working with older ones.

Some injuries were quite serious and took some extra help.

The little blue bird got a new leg!

Before returning an animal, they always got a big hug!

Since it was our last Sewing Club meeting, Mrs. Shannon made bone shaped cookies to decorate and eat while we repaired animals.

Everyone Got a Hoop

This week at Sewing Club everyone got their very own hoop to make a mini-tapestry, embroidery, or whatever they wanted. We used 9-inch hoops and covered most with solid fabric. I did leave a few empty, anticipating some kids who would want to turn their hoop into something different.

I made a quick example and showed them how to sew on a the hoop as well as applique onto it. "Applique" - a very cool word to use when you're 6!

Everyone got to work planning their hoops.

Several kids did embroidery.

This hoop became a little sleeping bag for a favorite stuffie!

Many kids used images from fabric to create their tapestries.

While everyone loved this project, it did take more time than our hour time frame allows. No worries, they can finish next week!

Camp Time!

We are so excited to announce another summer camp session!

Sewing School Camp

June 10-14, 8-12

Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School in Memphis, TN

for girls and boys entering 1st - 8th grade

If you live in Memphis, we hope that your child will be able to join us. Camp is a great place for boys and girls both new to sewing and those who have been sewing for awhile to come and learn new sewing skills, make fun projects, share creative ideas, and meet friends. While we have many project ideas, there is so much opportunity for campers to express themselves and make their own creations.

Sewing School Camp is where the Sewing School books started - many of the ideas from both books were inspired and tested at camp! Who knows what will be dreamed up next?!

For more information and to sign-up for camp, please visit the GSL Summerfest site today!

Sock Bunnies

Looking for a quick, last-minute Easter project? This is it! These sock bunnies come together in no-time and are so fun to make.

We used little girl toddler socks, but any sock will do. Cut down the top of the sock down where it goes around the ankle to make the ears. Now, stuff the sock and secure the top with 1/2 a pipe cleaner (or ribbon or twisty tie). Decorate your bunny with various craft materials, ribbons, markers, etc. and see what personality your bunny takes on!