Wednesday December 23, 2009
I firmly believe that knowing how to sew, gives us the opportunity to help charitable causes and the tough economy has given us even more causes than usual. If you are a regular reader of this site, you know how much I admire the work 4H does to teach our youth valuable life skills.
As crazy as it may sound, I think I learn as much as I teach every time I volunteer to teach sewing.
In our county we do a monthly charity sewing night. The kids and the leaders can come to the office one night a month and we will teach them basic sewing machine operation and how to sew a simple project that we then sew and give to a local charity. Many times someone brings a machine that someone gave them and they have no idea how to operate it. We can usually get the machine running and the next month the member comes in wearing something they made or with something they made to show us.
One month I brought in my embroidery machine to show them how they work. At the end of the evening, one member timidly asked me if she could have the embroidered sample. I gave it to her without hesitating and I'm SO glad I did! The next month she came in with something to show me... an entire lap quilt that she made around the embroidery sample. Who could ask for more?
This month we did a gift sewing workshop to give the kids an opportunity to make gifts. We offered them simple projects that they could accomplish in one night and had a great turn out. The local agent had a wonderful surprise for all of the members who came to sew. It seems someone who loved 4H and crafts as much as I do, had passed on and her family had donated all of her fabric and craft items to the local 4H office. The kids had a wonderful time choosing fabric and craft items that they could use to create things and we have fabric for our charity sewing projects.
This week I discovered something I didn't know... you can offer financial contributions to 4H. You can also contact a local office to contribute time or sewing supplies and the National site has many ways you can offer them contributions.
Tuesday December 22, 2009
I believe that if one person asks me a question at least a dozen more have the same question but for some reason they are afraid to ask... given the Internet it's probably hundreds, maybe even thousands, instead of a dozen. I also believe there is NO dumb question! This week I received an email that had FANTASTIC questions so I decided to start an new viewer FAQ. Follow the questions to find ways to ask questions that may be added to the new FAQ or ask on the forum... all I ask is that you ask the questions! No one can answer if you don't ask!
Saturday December 19, 2009
I'm finally re-making my favorite coat. UPS lost the first one when it was being shipped back from a photo shoot for my second book. I had everything I needed except the zipper and the ribbing... I like adding knit cuffs to the sleeve which prevents snow from getting in the sleeve when I'm clearing snow off the car. Compliments of Wal-mart not carrying fabric and notions I set out on my 62 mile jaunt for a zipper and ribbing.
I went to the closest Joann's and found the zipper without a problem. Ribbing was another story. I even asked if they had the packaged cuffs and collars that used to be available, but I just got waved off to an obscure by-the-yard location. I did eventually find where I was waved off too. They had a decent weight knit ribbing in every color except the one I needed, black. They did have a lighter weight ribbed knit so I settled on it and bought a half yard of something I didn't really want... I wanted to have some on hand so I could make other coats when the whim hit.
As I headed for the checkout I found the perfect weight ribbing... in a ONE DOLLAR section! I don't know why I hadn't thought of this solution before! You know the bins of serger thread, dollar gloves and bargains? In that section, to match the gloves, they had ear warmers which are nothing more than a wide hair band. Removing one seam would give me ample material to make coat sleeve cuffs. So I bought 6 black ear warmers to have on hand... and the matching gloves so they will always match the cuffs on my coats.
A couple of days later I was in Target. They have a great bargain section as you walk in their doors. In that section I found simple kids hats and scarves... in a rainbow of colors and with very limited seams that would have to be removed to have the perfect color ribbing for any coat.
The moral of the story... fabric and the notions we want may be getting harder to find but there are solutions. I learned I have to re-think finding some supplies... and from now on when I need ribbing for coats or other items, I'll be stocking up on ear warmers, hats and scarves. They make a very economical solution! All the beautiful colors that Target had would be perfect for the ribbing on towel bibs.
Thursday December 17, 2009
When my kids were little, the anticipation of Christmas almost sent them over the edge. There is always so much going on and so much to do that they got caught up in the chaos. One of the things that I did to bring them back down to earth and so they could still think about Christmas was to play dress up. Halloween was still fresh in their minds so costumes are fun. One would be Santa and the rest would be elves. We had a stash of hats from the dollar store and I made these elf shoes in a variety of colors which made being the elf even more special than being Santa. If you try this to keep the kids entertained... beware... once the neighborhood kids see the elf shoes, you'll be making more elf shoes! Then again... a dollar store hat and a pair of elf shoes might be the perfect Christmas gift for the kids!
