Easter Sewing

Everyone was getting ready for the Easter bunny during Sewing Club. I love this little bunny banner created by a kindergartener.
A purse made from the Kata Golda pattern. Such careful stitches from a kindergarten student!
Carefully decorating then sewing an egg. This work in progress was designed by a 4th grader.
A little egg man with little arms, legs, and a face stitched by a 2nd grader!

Kata Golda for Easter

No surprise that I was excited about Kata Golda's book - when have I seen something cuter? Even though it's not written for kids, many of the projects are super simple and can easily be adapted for little sewers.

The above projects - Little Girl's Purse and Finger Puppets - are perfect for Easter. I made the ears just a little bigger on the puppets, and they are super cute bunnies!

Phoebe made the one above. She chose to use markers to draw the face and then stuffed it and sewed up the bottom for a cuddle bunny. A cute button was added for the tail.

To make the projects more kid-doable for Sewing Club, I made patterns and then took step by step photos so that both non-readers and readers could follow the project. I also cut out a few steps - like making the inside of the ears.

Don't feel like making your own? Kata has the cutest stuff (including the bunny finger puppet, so I guess I'm not that clever) in her etsy shop and website.

Bunny Sock Hop

This quick no-sew sock bunny was a huge, huge hit during Sewing Club. As soon as we introduced it, the kids went wild for it.

We got the idea from Family Fun, but just stuffed it with polyfill instead of beans. While the bunnies are super soft, they do not stand well on their own. Perhaps a combo of beans and polyfill would work best. The younger kids had some trouble with putting on the rubber bands independently and tying ribbons. We helped with hotgluing on facial features and cotton tails.

If you're looking for a cute sewn sock bunny, I thought this pattern was cute.

Sewing=Math

Spied in the 2nd grade hallway.

"I had one hundred dolls with sewn-on eyes. Two eyes fell off the dolls."

Ocean Sewing

I had to share these ocean-themed stuffies made by Mrs. Shannon's kindergarten class. The kids drew the designs on paper, cut them out then traced the shape onto felt. They then sewed and stuffed their creations. Lastly, they embellished them with sparkly paint, fabric markers, beads, buttons, trims, etc. Most of the beads and trims were attached with hot glue.

They are floating from the ceiling of the classroom - it looks like a giant stuffed aquarium in there.

St. Patrick's Day Sewing

I love, love, love the giant shamrock barrette made in Sewing Club!


The wristlet above was an original creation made with an elastic band attached to a giant shamrock.

Pocket Full 'O Gold Coin Keepers were popular. Getting the leprechaun gold made it more fun!

Spring Sewing

A few new spring time sewing projects. New cotton pillow case for Frankie and a little clothespin bag made from a vintage feed sack.
**clothespin bag inspired by Maya*made.

3 Ways to Wear Green

Who wants to get pinched? Not me! That's why I always make sure to wear a little green on St. Patrick's Day. It can be hard for kids (and adults) with uniforms and whatnot, so here are 3 quick and easy ways to guarantee you won't get pinched! I love the springiness of clovers.

All you need is some green felt and a few notions that you probably already have on hand.

Draw It

I tried to make some shamrock patterns and stencils for kids, but they proved to be too difficult. Make your own 3-leaf clover by drawing 3 connecting hearts and add a little stem. I like to draw on the back of the felt so when you cut it out, it looks all clean and neat.

Pin It On

This sweet clover (yes, I realize it has 4 leaves!) was cut out of felt. Then, add a button to the middle of the clover and a pinback to the otherside. I used the same length of thread to sew on the button and pinback. No pinbacks? A safety pin works just as well. You could also hot glue the clover to the pin back.

Hang It

Nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like a Shamrock pennant. This quick as sodabread necklace is made by sewing a button to the middle of the clover and then through both ends of ribbon on the back. Use the same length of thread for both. A shorter ribbon makes a cute bracelet.

Clip It

A little something green in your hair is always nice. This shamrock barrette was made by gluing a piece of ribbon to the top of the barrette. Then, a clover was glued on top. Clip on and away you go! Note - be sure to think about which side of your head you want to wear the barrette before gluing on the clover - you don't want it to be upside down or tricky to put on.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's to not getting pinched!

Pocket Full of Gold

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I came up with a quick little Pocket Full of Gold coin keeper. We will be making them during Sewing Club on Monday, so I'll show you the kids' versions next week.

The steps below are written in kid language for easy sewing.

Materials needed: 1/2 felt square, stick on velcro (or button), needle and thread, chalk, pattern. My pattern is about 4 x 2 1/2 inches. I made mine into more of a pot of gold shape, but you could do something different.

Step 1: Trace pattern with chalk 2 times onto felt. Cut out felt. If you want to decorate your pocket, do that now. I sewed on a monster from some cute fabric I had.

Step 2: Sew around pocket. Start at one top corner and go all around. I used a whipstitch, but a running stitch is fine too. Don't make your stitches too big, or your gold might fall out!

Step 3: Add velcro to close it. Measure your piece to be a little smaller than than the top opening. Carefully stick velcro to inside of pocket. You might need adult help. No velcro? Add a button instead.

Step 4: Put in gold!

You could make your pocket into a little purse by adding some ribbon to either top side.

Here are my first attempts - I was going for a real pot 'o gold with a caldron shape and gold buttons for the "gold." While I don't hate them, I didn't love them. So I changed my plan to just be a simple coin keeper.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Everyday is a Seuss Day!

Yes, I know Dr. Seuss's birthday was last week, but I wanted to share the highlights from our "Theo's Thursday" celebration. Dr. Seuss (aka Theodore Geisel) is a kindergarten dream. His books are so accessible and just right for these little learners.

We, of course, ate green eggs to go along with Green Eggs and Ham. But since we are in the south, we made biscuits instead of ham. A big hit, I say!

Here are some of our other activities-

The Foot Book's Silly Sandals

How to: Keep your shoes on and trace each foot onto cardboard (good use of recycled cardboard). Cut out feet tracings. Decorate sandals if you desire (we used markers and dot painters). Tape a 2 inch wide cardstock strap to the underside of the sandal. Try on! You might have to adjust the straps.

There's a Wocket in My Pocket!

How to: Inspired by this, we decided to use library pockets and make popsicle stick wockets. Just put out a lot of different materials for the kids to create with. We pre-made the pockets with string for easy craft and go. There were no shortage of cute little wockets running around!

The Cat in the Hat hat

How to: Cut a wavy edge on a piece of red construction paper. Now, cut out white strips and glue them to the red paper. Next, staple the red and white paper to the center of a sentence strip or long piece of narrow paper. Measure around head and staple shut. Ta da! A Dr. Seuss hat!

Horton Hears a Who clover bookmark

How To: We really liked this activity, but didn't have green pencils, so we thought - bookmarks! Cut strips of green cardstock into 2 inch strips. Hot glue a big pompom for the clover and a little pompom for Whoville and you've got it. The kids also decorated the stems or wrote on them.

Hope you have your own Seuss fun!

Parachutes!

The Paratroopers Softie Tutorial at Chez Beeper Babe brings back so many memories!

When I was a kid, we called these "poopatroopers." They cost two for a dime, and when we were visiting our grandmother's apartment, provided hours of entertainment for me and my brother. We'd toss 'em off the third floor bannister, watch 'em waft gently to the floor, and race down to do it again. In hindsight, my grandma was probably thrilled to see us wear ourselves out...

Grab an old scarf, and start sewing. I see a paratrooper invasion in your future!

Stash it Sachet!

Do you remember having sachets in your sock drawer growing up, because I do. It seems that kids these days don't have them. They don't even know what sachets are! Who knew?!

We made these simple sachets during Sewing Club and everyone got very excited (although there was some giggling when we mentioned underwear drawers!). Lavender won them over.

You should make some with your kids too.

1. Trace an index card on a piece of muslin or other cotton fabric.
2. Cut fabric.
3. Fold fabric in half.
4. Start sewing at the bottom of one side and sew up 2 sides. Take your needle off the thread, but don't tie a knot. Now you have a little pocket.
5. Fill the pocket with 1 Tablespoon of lavender. It's not super full, but full enough. (see picture below) I also got some bath herbs and we made bath sachets the same way. Definitely use muslin for the bath.
6. Rethread your needle and sew up the hole. You made a sachet!
Stash it in your sock (or underwear) drawer and smell nice! Or, if you made a bath sachet, toss it in when the water is running for water fit for a princess.

Some kids got fancy with the decoration. The one above stole my heart.

Inspired by last year's Mother's Day gift, some made eye pillows by tracing 1 1/2 index cards 2 times. Sew up 3 sides then fill with 2 Tablespoons of lavender and some rice and beans (all we had on hand.)

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

"I see a Shack on Jack." What is on you?

Our There's a Wocket in My Pocket inspired activity. Such silly fun.