my own little "revolution"

There's a wonderful little blog I like to read called Plays with Needles.  Susan Elliot is one ubertalented lady armed with loads of creativity.  I saw this project she did with her neices called Pants Pants Revolution.  I was smitten.  I planned and I plotted, and saved some of Sissy's jeans that got too short for her.

So just before school started I got Sissy together with her BFF (who brought her own pair of too short jeans)- and we had our little "Pants Pants Revolution."  The girls had a ball picking out the fabrics and decorating their jeans with fabric markers.  I love that sissy's BFF drew a "wardrobe", as in the wardrobe from the Narnia books.

I followed Susan's tutorial by taking out the seam to make sewing on the fabric appliques easier.  I have to say with well washed jeans that was the easiest part.  I had fun using my machines different stitches (it is still pretty new to me) to sew on the different pieces the girls picked out.  One thing I would do different is cut out a bunch of pieces beforehand, as that took up a lot of time and I wasn't able to finish in the daylight hours.  (Note to self- don't start a project such as this when the next day starts before 5:30 am for a tour.)  I think I got maybe two hours sleep?

 I had SOOO much fun.  I am going to make my own eventually- maybe with some nicer fabrics.  The girls' pants have that 70s bellbottom vibe going, they love it!

Thank you Susan for the inspiration!

The big mess, AKA loads of fun!

laying the pieces out...

Butterflies cut from recycled fabric.

end result- taken with my iPhone very late into the night

Sewing with Sissy

Yesterday I made up a project for my daughter to do.  I bought a bunch of felt a while back from Fabric.com (she picked out the colors.)  I let her pick what she wanted to sew.  She decided to make a purse.  I had her cut out shapes to sew on the front of the purse.  I should have thought of using felt before.  It is 'sew' easy for her to use!  She had a ball decorating and sewing her new purse.  We even got out the Bedazzler (it's cheesy but the girls love it.)
I machine sewed the purse together when she was done.  It is the first "purse" or bag I have ever made.  I am now wondering why I haven't done so before?  It was so much fun.  Of course the felt is super duper easy- so using heavier fabrics would be more challenging for sure.  I had to remind Sister that the purse will not hold up well and not to put too heavy of objects in it.  She was so proud!  Of course she had to take it to school today.  Hopefully it made it through the school day. :-)

I love that she enjoyed the project.  I told her we could make pin cushions next.  I think for her birthday coming up in May I could get her her own sewing kit or basket.  They have some really cute sewing kits here she would love.  A basket would be good too- something to put scraps in that she can sew on.  I remember when I was a little girl I always begged my grandma for her scraps.  I started hoarding fabric at a young age. ;-)

Like I said- sewing the purse made me want to try making one for myself.  It reminded me of these cute purses sold by Persnickety Designs in Bellingham, WA.  They had the cutest bags!  I am not sure if they are still in business or not- I think maybe they closed their shop and starting selling on Etsy.  Here is an example of one of their bags.  They are made of a kind of vinyl/leather like material.  I am sure if I did some research I could find out what that stuff is called.  I wonder how hard it is to sew on?