Tiny Fabric Trays

My sewing girls just finished another beginner's masterpiece!  While searching for easy sewing projects, I found tidy trays. They looked cute, quick, and easy, so I thought I'd give them a try.  The best part is that I could use materials I had in my art room! 
I precut the squares and batting I needed for the amount of girls I expected at the meeting in a variety of fabrics I had on hand.

 

I explained the directions, and showed them the sample I had made.  They caught on quickly and finished in 2 meetings.  They are becoming proficient at threading the machine, and developing patience, both important qualities for beginner seamstresses!
They were very proud of their accomplishments and ready and eager for some pillow stitching next week.

"Sew" Cute Pumpkins!

 

I'm always looking for easy sewing projects for my sewing club girls.  Thirty minutes is hardly enough time to start and finish any project after school sewing project.  Since not every girl comes every week, I like to find things that are easy, fast....and seasonal.  Yay fall!

 

 

I found this pattern for easy no sew pumpkins, and figured that it wouldn't take the students too long.  I sent out an email asking anyone coming to our weekly meeting to bring an old long sleeved shirt. The pumpkin in the pattern was made from a section of the shirt sleeve.

                                         

Teaching teenage girls for so many years prompted me to think about plan B just in case they came to the meeting unprepared.  I gathered the necessary materials for my pumpkin from my classroom closet, which some former students fondly referred to as Narnia (they even painted a sign above my closet door which says "Entrance to Narnia").  It's just amazing how much stuff is in my huge walk-in art closet!

                                

 

For my sample, I took 2 pieces of fabric and cut  approximately the same shape as the sleeve section which was used in the pattern. I stitched the two long sides together and proceeded with the rest of the directions, and my sample came out just fine.  So, now I was prepared in case I had a group of girls who did not bring in the requested long sleeved shirts.

 

When the girls arrived to the meeting, they seemed shocked to find they needed a shirt, proving they don't read their emails. Only one girl brought a shirt!  She shared a sleeve with her friend.  So that left 7 girls who needed pumpkin materials.

 

I was way ahead of them.  I pulled out some fabric and explained the directions to them. I made a quick template which they used to trace around on their selected fabric.  They quickly stitched up the sides of their selected fabric pieces, and continued with the remainder of the directions.  They got as far as the twine tendrils in one meeting which completely surprised me.  All that was left to do was to cut out leaves and glue them on.

                                 

 

To facilitate things, I Mod- Podged a large piece of burlap for the leaves the day before the next meeting, let it dry, and made a few leaf templates. The girls traced around the templates, cut out and hot glued the burlap leaves to their pumpkins.

I love the way their pumpkins turned out!  The best part of the project, is that it is cute, and easy. The project became low sew instead of no sew, but it was easy, nonetheless, and completed in nearly 30 minutes (plus 15 minutes of the next meeting for the leaves).  "Sew" cute!

 

Pin Cushion Jars

A new school year has started and that means the beginning of Sewing Club.  I had my first meeting and had about 17 girls sign up.
I like to start off  the year by having the girls create a pincushion because I think it makes perfect sense.  Not only is it something useful for each meeting, but it also it an easy 1st project, which the students can feel confident about making.  Even though we make a pin cushion every year and I have some of the same girls in the club all of their 4 years, I do a different one each year.  You can never have enough cute pin cushions!
This year, I had the girls make canning jar pin cushions.  I have actually made a few of these myself.  There is no sewing involved and they are very cute, and very easy.  The girls can keep their needles, buttons, and thread in the jar as well. 

A baby favor pin cushion jar I made

 

 

The girls were very excited to begin their first project!  I had a stack of fabric, some scissors, hot glue guns, fiberfill, ribbon and cardstock handy.  I used this tutorial as a guide and created my own pincushion jar prior to the meeting.  I used a large jar and filled mine with colorful spools of thread.  The girls followed my directions step by step, and within 30 minutes, we had a beautiful array of canning jar pincushions!  I took photos of each one.  Some of the girls proudly took their pincushions home to show their moms, but most left them behind, ready to use for their next project.



 



My Sewing Club pin cushion jars.  My sample is the larger one.

Student pin cushion jar

Student pin cushion jars

Lesson Plans and Progress

August is almost gone.  That means a few more days of doing as I please, and enjoying quiet days with my two dogs who rest up all day in anticipation of when my husband walks through the door after work. Then they come alive!  He just can't understand why they are so quiet all day long with me.  I have trained them well!

My quiet "dog days" will soon become filled with the chatter of energetic teenage girls ready to collect and store whatever nuggets of artistic wisdom I can pass along to them.  So in preparation for  that first day of school, I have begun planning my curriculum.   I have added and subtracted projects with courses I have already taught, and created the curriculum for 2 new courses.

I've been teaching art for many years.  With the introduction of technology, things have definitely gotten easier for teachers, especially in the area of finding ideas for lesson plans.  When I began teaching, I had to think about what projects I would come up with, wonder if they would work, how they would look and if they would be fun for the students.  I would visit the library, modify projects I had done in college and just experiment.   Enter technology!  Have an idea? Just type it in on your computer, and you will get a huge assortment of projects, complete with the lesson plans and student examples. You can even read comments from those who may have tried the ideas already.  But, even though I myself have relied on the internet for ideas, I still love some of my tried and true projects that I have updated over the years.

I remember when I first started teaching, I began my drawing classes off with the element of line.  I had the students go up to the blackboard, which in itself is sort of an archaic teacher's aid, and draw a word using lines that they felt best represented the word.  I would give them the words, of course, to steer them in a more creative direction.  That project led to learning block lettering and then using the block letters in a one word poster.  In recent years, I have updated that poster project to be a tribute to Peter Max, but containing their name and things that pertain to them in and amongst the pop art flowers and bright colors  Funny, but now I have reinvented my love of lettering in teaching graphic art and design.  Years ago, I felt it was a good thing for the students to learn lettering because they would need it when they made all those posters for their classes.  Now they convey that same poster information digitally. so the need to know how to create hand drawn letters for that purpose seems unnecessary. 


Peter Max inspired poster/portfolio cover

I will be teaching a mixed media course this year in addition to my graphic courses, and although I love teaching art via the computer, I miss the days of teaching drawing and painting.  So when I had the opportunity to teach a mixed media class this year, I was very excited.  I sat down to create my curriculum, the first thing I did was search ideas online.  Then I went to all the lesson plans I had seen and saved on Pinterest, opened a notebook and made some thumbnails and notes.  I started sequencing the projects and adjusting techniques and materials to suit my needs.

I think it is vital that I test out any projects ahead of time to discover the potential pitfalls and difficulties the students may encounter.  I have seen my roster and I have taught or have seen the previous year's work of most of the students in the class, so I know what they are capable of.

When I thought about all the projects that I had selected for this class, I realized that there really wasn't a lot of me in the course, just some projects that used my favorite materials and techniques that I had found on the internet.

So early one morning, as I lay awake at 3 AM, I started thinking about some of the projects I had done using various materials in courses that I have dropped from the curriculum or absorbed into other courses.  I taught a decorative arts class, a design class, and an art history class at one time or another and had some successful projects in some of those courses that I can resurrect and use.  I felt comfortable knowing the success and skill factor of some of those projects, and I thought that they would lend the "me factor" that I had been searching for to the course.



Student example of an altered book with a children's book theme from a past drawing class

 I will insert an altered book project.  I had done this project with my drawing classes several years ago, and although it was time consuming and a little messy, the students enjoyed doing it.  I will also add a copper foil embossing project which I had the students attach to a piece of black mat board and extend the design using colored pencils.  I remembered that one after I saw something similar online.  I will also do a polymer clay project which I had done with my design class using an tin container, creating a trinket box.  With that project, I had done a picture transfer using rubbing alcohol.  I will do this again with a few adjustments.  I am a big fan of line and texture, black and white.  I find myself gravitating to this type of drawing activity, however, I know I have to shake things up a bit and do more collage and 3D work.  I am doing a combination yarn painting and fiber fusion project, batik, and printing on fabric.



Polymer clay over a tin box with a copy transferred to the clay using rubbing alcohol

I will do a stencil project, and a 3D cardboard sculpture of fantasy sunglasses (larger than actual sunglasses of course) with an image painted in the lenses.

One of  my favorite finds was a combination collage and ink drawing.  Here is a sample version I did on a notebook page.  It was so much fun to do and I know the girls will love doing it.

My "Line Lady" example on notebook paper


Teaching is all about growing, learning, and adapting.  I have done a lot of that over the years in the classroom, but I think it has kept me creative, and made me continually strive to be a better teacher.  For today, though, I will sit on the couch with  my two snoring dogs and my lesson plans and enjoy my last days of solitude.

Goodbye, Summer Crafting!

I have been doing a lot of much needed cleaning this summer.  Now that the days of summer vacation are swiftly coming to an end, I have to start thinking less about organizing closets and more about organizing lesson plans.
I still have a week or so to straighten things up.  I am now in the process of desperately trying to organize and turn my daughter's old room into a craft/storage room.  She is married and hasn't lived at home since she graduated from college, but I always find it hard to throw away remnants of her life at home.  I have to get rid of things in increments.  The more time that passes, though, the easier it is to throw things away.  She has told me to just throw it all away, but it's not that easy for me.  Everything I find is a memory.  I came across the soda can lamp she made in middle school.  I'm sure everyone has something like that squirreled away in their closet that their child made in shop class with the little brass name plate with their name and date on it.  I took a photo of it and sent it to her asking if she wanted it.  I knew she would immediately text me back telling me to please pitch it!  I snickered, waiting for her response, and, as expected, she said just that. Later when I spoke to her on the phone, she asked if I thought she would want it for her living room table. 
But, someday when she is a mom, she will cherish those crazy little memories that will bring to mind  happy childhood days.

I digress. Back to my cleaning story.  So I replaced her old things with my sewing and painting supplies.  I now have room in the closet for my craft supplies and Artfire shop inventory.
As I was organizing my craft and sewing materials, I came across things that I had forgotten I had socked away.  I discovered fabrics, craft supplies and patterns.  Sometimes I pick things up that strike my fancy at a thrift shop or rummage sale and forget about them.  It's always fun to find things that I had long forgotten about. 
I was on a doll making kick a few years ago and I found a couple of patterns I never used for some rag dolls.  I have to be in the mood to make dolls, and I felt that feeling coming on.
 

After I finished putting my craft room together as best I could (there just is never enough room, though), I sat down at my sewing machine and stitched up a doll from one of the patterns I found.  I am faced with the realization that my summer crafting days are numbered, and soon my creative days will be limited to the weekends once school starts. Looking over the amount of things I made over the summer, I am happy to say that it was a truly productive time.  One more doll for old times' sake.  Goodbye, summer!

Yarn Painting

One of my favorite projects from last year's  Fibers and Fabrics class was yarn painting fashion design.  I know that sounds like a strange combination, but let me explain.

Last year, I taught a one semester class entitled Photoshop Fashion which basically consisted of learning the different parts of garments, categories of clothing, fashion terms and designers, and designing various garments using Adobe Photoshop.  The following semester, the same girls were enrolled in a course called Fibers and Fabrics.  In this class, they created projects using mostly fabrics and yarns.  Since they had all just had a semester of dress designing on Photoshop, designing their clothing on fashion figure templates, I took it a step further and taught them how to draw their own fashion figures.  All of these girls had previously taken my graphics classes, and although most of them were pretty good using the computer, none of them had actually taken a drawing course, but they were a creative group, so I had high hopes for them.  They did not disappoint.

After drawing a simple fashion figure on a 12" x16" piece of drawing paper, they sketched out their garment design on their fashion figures and then transferred their drawings onto poster board using graphite paper ( if you don't have graphite paper, the tried and true method of covering the back of the drawing with a thick layer of pencil and then flipping it over with the scribbled side down onto the poster board and tracing over with pencil works just as well).

I showed them some examples of yarn painting which I did in my art history class several years ago.  We were going to adapt that technique and use it to create yarn fashions.

The girls were skeptical at first of this seemingly daunting task that lay ahead of them, but as they began, they realized that it was easier than it looked. 

They could use any type of yarn from my yarn box.   I stressed creating different patterns and colors with the yarn which would make the final outcome much more interesting.  The only trick to doing this project is keeping  the yarn from sticking to your fingers as you glue it down.  (I suggest a toothpick to push the yarn down instead of your fingers.)

If I did this project again, I would have the students do some sort of a minimal background using watercolor or scrapbook paper.  I was pleased with the results, though.  They were all so different depending on their choice of yarn, color, technique and design. Unfortunately, the photos are not that good, but you can get an idea of what they came up with.

 

 

Crocheting Comeback

My grandmother was an amazing woman.  She lived with my mom, dad, sister, brother and me, and was my like my second mother while my mom worked.  She was great at everything, it seemed, especially cooking and baking. Her specialties were delicious cakes and strudels.  Gram, as we called her, loved shopping, going out to lunch and spoiling her three grandchildren.  She had quite a sense of humor and loved to watch her soap operas which she fondly called her "stories".

She taught me many things as I was growing up, and one of them was how to crochet.  She used fine crochet thread and created beautiful doilies.  Gram used the doilies on the arms and backs of our chairs to help protect them from daily wear and tear.  She also put the doilies under lamps in the living room and floral centerpieces on the dining room table.  I always had an affinity for these doilies and still do today, using them as table runners, and under vases of flowers.  I love these crocheted masterpieces not only because I love all things Victorian, antique and lacy, but especially because they just make me think of home, and Gram.

I noticed that crocheting with crochet thread has made a comeback and crafters are adding crocheted edging to tea towels and pillowcases among other things.  Although I usually crochet with heavy acrylic yarn, I haven't crocheted with the finer thread since Gram taught me way back when. 

The youngest of my grand nieces will turn a year old in September, and since hand making my gifts is something I love to do, I planned out her gift, that I knew would include crocheted edging.

 

 

 

 

I bought a little lime green t-shirt and added crocheted edging along the bottom of the shirt, then painted a jumping bunny and added some hand made crocheted flowers. I made a glove bunny with a crocheted flower collar.   I bought a little canvas bag and painted my niece's initial on the front of the bag, adding, of course, some more crocheted flowers with button centers.

Although  I like trying new techniques, I love rediscovering old ones. When the old techniques stir up some happy memories in the process, well, that's icing on the cake!

 

 

Petals and Pillows

Wedding season is upon us.  Ah, to be a summer bride....beautiful sunny days, flowers in bloom, photos on the lawn.  The planning takes months, searching for the perfect bridal gown, bridesmaids' gowns, flowers, venue, centerpieces and favors. 
I recently attended the wedding of my nephew in Newburyport, Massachusetts.  A beautiful wedding, unfortunately in the middle of a heat wave, but that didn't deter anyone from enjoying the lovely weekend's festivities. 
It amazes me, that of all the weddings I have attended in my lifetime, not one of them was exactly the same. Even though many of  the wedding ceremonies and receptions had similar traditional elements, each wedding was a personal reflection of that couple.
My daughter got married almost three years ago, but whenever I hear their recessional song or the song they danced their first dance to, I am reminded with joyful tears of that beautiful time in both her life and mine.  I made the bouquets for her and the bridal party, the boutonnieres, the centerpieces, the cake topper and other decorations.  She made her own invitations, save the dates, and assorted signs and props for the photo booth.  For her, it was a piece of cake, since she is a graphic designer, and since I am an art teacher and crafter, I was overjoyed at the thought of helping her create her dream wedding.
I was inspired by that whole experience and with a little prompting from my daughter, I opened my artfire shop.  I wrote an earlier post about all the things I made for her wedding, but this time I want to highlight the accessories for the little ones who are possibly the only ones who could steal the show from the bride and groom on their wedding day.  That would be the flower girls and ring bearers.
Although my daughter didn't have any little ones in her wedding, I do have quite a few things in my shop for the flower girl and ring bearers. I'd like to share a few of them.

 

 

 

 

Midsummer Daydreams



It's July.  Is your glass half full, or half empty (of ice cold lemonade that is)?    To a teacher, that's an interesting question. You might be of the mindset that the summer is still in full swing, another month and a half or so of fun in the sun, and lazy summer days by the pool with a good book (not a text book, of course).  Or, you could look at that question from the opposite viewpoint, that the summer is half over and the new school year looms large in the not too distant future.

 

I, personally, sit on the fence.  I love the summer for its creative freedom, but I also love being a teacher with the promise of a new year coming up, new students, new projects, a whole new beginning.  So either way, I enjoy the place I'm in, whatever month it is.  Yes, and when I was a student, I actually enjoyed doing homework and did it as soon as I got home from school.  Some things never change I guess.

 

Since I am enjoying the glass half full of my creative freedom, I have done lots of projects so far, and finished a few that didn't have time for during the school year. 

 



I like to try a few new things over the summer and combine some old techniques or materials.  Like most crafters, I sometimes find myself wandering aimlessly through the craft store in search of materials that speak to me, often finding, after I have purchased them, either that idea didn't exactly work, or through trial and error, I came up with a better solution.  So, those materials get pushed to the back of the drawer until I rediscover them at a later time.




My puppy, yo yo quilt

 

 

In my latest baby quilt, I wanted to add something special that would give it a little spark, in addition to my hand painted puppy squares.  I always like to include some hand painted squares for a personal touch.  At first I was going to use lace as an accent for  the quilt, but couldn't get enough of the exact type I needed. I thought about using embroidery, but didn't exactly know how I would incorporate that, and then I thought about using yo yos, those lovely little puffs of gathered fabric that I wrote my first blog post about, that I made a vest and purse out of in my high school years, that I taught my sewing club girls how to make into flowers by adding buttons in the center.  How could I have almost overlooked that wonderful technique?  So that was it, my quilt accent.  I searched for ways to attach them to a quilt and found one using a blanket stitch with embroidery floss.   That looked very pretty, so I thought I'd give it a try.

 

Yo Yos made by my students

 

 

I made lots of yo yos in white and coordinating colors.  I love making yo yos!  They are very therapeutic and I highly recommend making them!  I played around with the placement of the yo yos once they were all done, and decided to stitch them to the corners of each square.

My next venture is to add crocheted edging to the baby quilt I am currently working on.

 

 

Paint Can Baby Shower Centerpiece

 

I also created a baby shower centerpiece for my artfire shop that I had sketched out a couple of years ago when I was creating some baby shower centerpieces for someone having twins.  I kept that idea in the back of my head until I stumbled upon a paper mache paint can last week and just knew I had produce my idea and here is the result!

But, I haven't forgotten about the half empty portion of the glass setting on my work table.  I have already started filling it with lesson plans and lots of project ideas for my students in September.  Being on the fence, sometimes, is a very a good thing! Refills, anyone?

 

 

For the Birds!

Now that I am home for the summer, I can safely pack away my lesson plan book for a few months in exchange for a sewing machine and some paintbrushes.  It's time to focus on my artfire shop and begin creating again.
I have been on summer vacation for a few weeks now and am slowly getting into a routine.  The easiest part is not having to set the alarm for 5:10 AM! I certainly have been enjoying a couple of extra hours of sleep.  Once I've showered, eaten breakfast, and tended to my furry "sons", I am ready to tackle a few not so creative, but necessary, tasks like cleaning out drawers, closets, doing laundry and pulling weeds.  I have made a deal with myself, that if I do at least one or two of those chores in the morning, I can create in the afternoon.
I began making a few variations of the topiary centerpieces which I already have in my shop. Some just needed photos taken.  I have several other ideas rattling around in my head.  The best ones sometimes pop into my brain around 3 AM when I always seem to wake up, or just before I get up in the morning.  My husband likes to wave his hand in front of my face as I stare blankly at the wall.  Little does he know what is really going on in my head!
 I have been on a bird kick this year.  Of course, owsl are still my favorite, but I have been using other types of birds for samples of things for school this year.  I bought some felt and looked at some ideas online and got to work making some birds.
Lo and behold, not too far into my feathered productions, someone I know emailed me with a request to create a personalized hand painted rocking chair.  So, I dropped everything and whipped one up.
It's great to have the time to be able to work straight through on a project and get it done in a couple of afternoons!
Now back to my birds.  Today I created this little number and put it up in my shop.  It really evolved slowly, first with the birds.  I looked at them a couple of days and added the feathers, then I stared at the birds with the feathers a few days, then I added a stand.  I painted the stand, added the embellishments and the handmade felt and fabric flowers and voila, a centerpiece for my artfire shop!

Pillows to DYE for!

Although I have been teaching art a long time, I never get tired of it.  In fact, this year, I developed 2 new courses which both reflect my long time interests...fashion drawing and sewing.  The first semester, the girls created fashion designs using Adobe Photoshop and the second semester, they worked exclusively with fibers and fabrics, sewing, dyeing and printing their own fabric.

I am totally in love with the things they have produced and just had to share their latest project.
The sides with the flowers are the fronts and I have shown some of the back sides of the pillows too.






This student used her hand dyed and block printed fabric for the pillow front.
She hand dyed the ruffled corner pieces.



 







 

The girls who took this course didn't know how to thread a need or sew a few short months ago, but now some of them told me that they were able to sew a hem, a button,

 and fix a hole in a sweater.  Our school does not offer home economics, so I, thought this course would not only allow them to be creative, but it would provide them with some practical skills as well .  One girl said she is going to continue to do some dyeing over the summer.  Maybe a few more of them will continue to sew.  Some of the students definitely stepped out of their comfort zone in this class, but they are more confident student designers and seamstresses.

Beautifully brilliant tie-dyed pillow front!

 

This student used her batik fabric for the back of the pillow and
made another piece of batiked fabric to match the front.  She added a hand dyed
yellow flower for the front of the pillow.

I love the look of the flower this student created from her tie-dyed fabric