Weekend Sewing

I made a pact to not do anything on Saturday except sew. I pointed out to Rob that I spent precious sewing time cooking him meals and he should feel very special!

I did leave the house once, but only after the first project of the day was completed. The Schlep Bag.

I co-lead a small group of youth girls and we do crafts once every couple of months. We had the idea to do a bag for the next craft that they can carry their Bibles and journals in. I set about looking for a fun and easy pattern, and I found a picture of the bag here. You can download the free pattern here, but another website said it has problems. I didn't use it anyway. I just figured it out and went for it. It's not perfect for books because the square bottom sags when you put heavy things in it. But it's still so cute. Maybe I'll put some cardboard in the bottom... just thought of that...

Next up, I'm on the third remake of that shirred dress I wore to the art contest and the theater. I ran out of elastic thread so no pictures of that. It is trying to be reborn as a shirt this time.

And speaking of shirts, I have a cute shirt that's too small, so I tried to recreate the pattern using the dressform and pattern ease. It's VERY similar to Corinnea's shirt. The front gathering is done with a little elastic, and I made the elastic too long. That's why there aren't pics of me in it. I need to fix it first! But I really like it otherwise.
Number four (three if you count completed projects) is the pencil skirt.

I saw a girl walking to the commissary the other day and I loved the flippy little ruffle at the bottom of her skirt. This fabric was bought for a shirt, (the shirt above actually) but the fabric was too heavy, even after washing. So I decided to make the skirt instead. I really like it! I didn't have a black zipper so I made the waistband out of a ribbed t-shirt. I made it a little big, but other than that I really like how it fits.

The last project of the evening was the Kimono Dress and Obi Sash from the book Weekend Sewing. I need the elastic thread for that too, so no pics yet. But that's five projects, four completed in one day!

Today we had our annual IBC church picnic in Bad Liebenzell. The rain held off and it stayed fairly nice. I was able to wear the skirt and be bear footed and only got chilly towards the end. I have lots of pictures to go through, but this was my favorite of the day!

If you can't tell, he's drying his socks.

Hope you all had lovely weekends too!

Hub Idol

Haven sang in her first talent show today. She sang "Break Away" by Kelly Clarkson. I thought that was cute since it was "Hub Idol" and Kelly Clarkson was an Idol winner! She did a GREAT job! Unfortunately my little camera battery died so I didn't get any video. I hope someone else from the evening will share a video with me. The group pic is of some of the kids she hangs out with. The girls on the far left and far right are her closest friends. The boy in the middle "IS" Michael Jackson. He won third place in the contest for a dance routine to Smooth Criminal which was very good! And a boy from our youth group won first place! It was a fun event!

Old Skirt - New Photo

*Photo by Corinnea*

I don't remember if I made this skirt before I was blogging, or if I just never posted about it, or if I did and completely forgot about it. But since Kara mentioned the Crafterhours Skirt Week challenge I decided this was my favorite and I should enter it. The panels are fitted around the hips and then they swing out full at the bottom. It's a Michael Miller fabric but I can't figure out what it's called. It's like tweed or something. Corinnea? The pattern is based on a skirt from H&M and a couple of years ago I made three or four skirts out of the same pattern. I really like it. The top is Amy Butler's Cabo Halter, still a favorite pattern.

Corinnea's on a Roll!!!

Check her out! She got featured on Crafter Hours too! Two in one day! She's on a roll!

----> Click Here <----

LOOK LOOK LOOK!

Corinnea was featured on Sew Mama Sew!!!!!!

----> Click here <-----

Yes, another school house tunic

The other fabrics teased her because she had been in the trunk so long. They said she must not be loved. The other fabrics came and went, but there she sat. Lonely. Sad. Until one day, she became a schoolhouse tunic! After Corinnea made her stripey one I knew that's what this fabric was destined for. It's Bleeker Street by Marcos Brothers and it's been in my trunk for a while now.

And here's the video I tried to upload yesterday. It's pretty cute. Worth sitting through, I think. Haven's choir singing "Smell in my Bedroom"

All work and no play

I taught a lot this week. Friday Block Printing, Saturday Digital Scrapbooking, and today was Mom and Tots ceramic painting. Today's class was at RB and after class Ethan and I walked across the street to the vineyards. I have lived here eight years and have never bothered to do that. The sun finally decided to join us in Germany, and the day was beautiful!

I had never seen baby grapes before! That was pretty interesting!

I have been sewing a lot lately and Ethan wanted in on the action. He picked these two new fabrics from the shop for his shirts. These are camp shirts, Simplicity pattern 3852. Both are Hoffman fabrics, left "A is for Alligator" and right "Beep Bots." I added knit cuffs to the sleeves to look like a t-shirt underneath - an idea from another shirt Ethan has.
Haven had her choir recital on Thursday night. They had some cute silly songs. I'm trying to upload a video, but having trouble. I'll try again tomorrow.