Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I'm a Teacher

I have sung the praises of my planning book, and it continues to make life easier for all of us.  I've been really digging this super organized Melissa chick.  So new and unexpected and effective!  I was out on my own the other day and someone asked me, "Are you a teacher?"  I was a little unsure how to answer.  I asked why and she said I just look like a teacher.  I am a teacher, since I home school.  I do lesson plans, grade papers, calculate scores, and encourage.  I also have discipline problems in my school, disruptive students, and my janitor leaves much to be desired, to say the least!

And I put off grading papers on Saturday to sew!  I made some skirts for my girls out of embroidered pinwale corduroy which are just too cute, if I do say so myself!  A longer one for Mini Me:


And this (For Baby Jane), of the remnant, to which I added violet gingham to make it long enough and ruffly!


This one only took me about an hour from start to finish, but I have to put in elastic still.  They were both just rectangles and ruffles, super easy to cut and just throw together.  No rice paper to pin, no markings to make, no zippers to wrestle with, and super cute!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Fall is the season for making clothes...

When it starts to get cooler, I come out of a summer hibernation... OK, I'm not really hibernating, but summer always makes me feel as though I'm going to die of exhaustion very, very soon. I think this is a thing... otherwise, why would there be a song called, "There Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues," or something.  Aaaanyway, moving rooms around to make a study for my older students to keep their schoolwork and sewing toddler free, I have been evaluating my fabric stash... which grows even faster than my yarn stash, because I'm always knitting, but sewing often takes a back seat, hence, giant, humongous fabric stash.  Actually I inherited some fabric from my husband's grandmother, who owned a fabric store at one time, was a home economics teacher, and was also a force of nature.  She made my wedding dress of beautiful shantung and Venetian lace and, I totally could have worn it inside out and it was perfectly fitted to me.  So, I've been sewing today, and last week, and I've been taking pictures, so here we go!



I think it's rather fetching!  My favorite blue, and a plaid skirt... I didn't match up the plaid at the side seams all that well, but I forgot to buy extra fabric so that I could do that, and I was cutting it awfully close to make my minimum skirt length.  Do you have an ideal skirt length?  Mine is at the narrowest part of my leg under my knee...  Anyway, I spent some extra time making this skirt nice inside, too.  I bound every exposed seam in bias tape and used a hem tape to maximize the length, though the pattern called for a narrow hem, this works beautifully, I think.