Teenager sewing class ideas for a friend

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Yeah I saw that one, its super cute. There isn't much on there that I would actually be able to wear, I am certainly not 16 and I definitley couldn't wear that to work, or anywhere.......except maybe.......uh nevermind......

Anyways, yes it is a super site! I have been there for about 3 years and I am a "craftster goddess" because of all my posts. No wonder I don't have enough time to sew anymore LOL.

Michelle Giordano

Reply to
Doug&Michelle
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Reply to
Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to send

Hey, you know so much more about other things than I do, I'm getting a kick out of this. ;-)

Reply to
Pogonip

In the UK thet are ALL curtains! :)

Reply to
Kate Dicey

Why is that? Just out of curiosity.

Michelle Giordano

Reply to
Doug&Michelle

Yah, but you mentioned she wasn't up to fitting slacks with them. And I reckon if one of them came in and said she wanted to make a fully boned top your friend might balk a bit. I know I would.

If you are going to suggest the broomstick skirt (a grand notion), how about a poets shirt or a lacy cami type thing to go with after it is done?

NightMist

Reply to
NightMist

Why not? They all curtain doorways and windows and showers... :)

Reply to
Kate Dicey

The pattern for the IPOD case I mentioned last week is/was in the January

2006 Sew News. It only needs a scrap of fabric and a small piece of clear or colored vinyl and except for sewing the vinyl, it is all straight stitching. Emily
Reply to
CypSew

Your sewing class was better quality than mine - but then class quality dropped in the '80's.

In our first term of sewing the teacher (an old lady) had us sewing curves and lines and then practicing how to finish the ends of seams - I sewed mine in before I discovered the teacher wanted us to knot the threads. We then progressed onto making a tissue box cover.... snore! I'd had Grandma's machine about a year by then.

In our second term we made minature curtains - why? Who knows? I knocked mine off in no time at all and spent most of my class time threading machines for my class mates.... I'd made several pairs of *real* curtains by the time this project came around!

Sarah

Reply to
Sarah Dale

Variations on the pillowcase theme:

A PAIR OF SHOE BAGS, for packing your shoes in your suitcase without getting your other stuff dirty.

Almost any fabric will do; I used a piece of old cotton-duck curtain from which I had made other travel accessories. (Matching travel accessories made from a LOUD print are a great help in collecting your stuff when leaving a hotel room.) (And when you leave your pillow in a motel, wearing a shirt that matches the pillowcase is a convenience when you come back for it.) (I had a *lot* of that cotton duck.)

Cut two thread-straight rectangles 15" x 14", (38 cm x 36 cm), plus allowance for seams and hem.

Sew the 14" sides together in a very narrow mock-fell seam. If you have a selvage available, use that as a finish for the mock-fell; otherwise, zig-zag over the raw edge instead of topstitching.

Hem the mouth of the bag. Turning under an inch and zig-zagging over the raw edge will do.

Turn the bag inside out, flatten it with the seam running down the middle of one side, stitch across the raw end. Turn right side out. Insert one shoe in each bag.

(The students will, of course, have to adjust the dimensions for foot size and shoe style -- and the size and shape of the available scraps..)

FOLD-OVER PURSE

This is a simple bag closed by folding it in half; suitable only for very small bags such as coin purses.

To make: cut or tear a rectangle twice as long and wide as the desired finished size, plus allowance for seams and (if needed) finishing the mouth. Fold in half, sew two sides. Put stuff in, fold in half the other way.

I unvented this one morning when I was getting dressed and couldn't bear to put my spectacularly-shabby little zippered coin purse of stuff (nail clippers, half comb, sewing kit, etc.) into the pocket of my nice dress, so I hastily cut a rectangle from a scrap of the dress and sewed it on two sides, no mouth finish at all. Since the fabric is interlock, that purse is still going strong, alternating with one torn from muslin the morning it was too dirty to put into my pocket. (The muslin purse is two pieces torn to finished width and twice the working length to make fringe all around.) (Or, more likely, because I found two little scraps before finding one big one.)

A hem is too bulky for a tiny bag; if you can't leave the fabric raw, cut the side that will be the mouth with an overlocker. For an even flatter finish, draw two threads out of the fabric and zig-zag with one side of the zigs falling into the gap before cutting along the drawn threads. For a slightly fancier finish, draw a third thread a quarter inch from the first two, cut there, and ravel out a fringe.

Seam allowances inside the bag are a nuisance. I made the interlock bag by zig-zagging over the raw edges, which made a very narrow ridge inside the bag. Since the torn edges of muslin are semi-ornamental, I simply sewed two rectangles wrong sides together and left the seam allowances on the outside. Similar ideas: french seams begun with the right sides together so that they end up outside the bag; ornamental overlocking, binding.

VARIATIONS ON FOLD-OVER BAG

For a large bag, make one side less than twice the finished size, so that you have a flap. The fold-over makes this more secure than the standard envelope bag, and it can be made to look like an envelope bag. Since it won't be stuffed into a pocket, you'll need Velcro, ties, buttons, or something. The flap can be trimmed into a point to allow the use of only one tie, button, or whatever. Since fasteners will be attached to it, the flap must be hemmed, faced, or lined. The short side of the mouth will also benefit from some stiffening.

And writing this has made me realize that my wallet is this same exact pattern, except that it has a lot of seam-to-seam pockets added, the flap is folded up into a pocket, and the wallet is folded in thirds instead of halves. If I ever get around to writing up how to make this one, I'll try to sell the write-up to Threads.

My wallet was inspired by a Caradice wallet, but all the design features it retains are approximate size and shape and the idea of closing a pocket by folding it, so I'm safe on copyright grounds -- size and shape is determined by the standard checkbook, so I'd used

*that* long before buying the Caradice wallet. And folding in thirds, but mine has the flap folded inside and Caradice folded theirs outside. (This was a mistake that turned out to be a design feature.)

(And if one of you'ns writes it up first, that's fine -- my ideas are as uncopyrightable as Caradice's; it's the work of writing the pattern that you get paid for.)

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

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