CONFIDENCE

as my word for 2017.

And believe you me, I am breaking out of my comfort zone big time this afternoon. The high school student whom I helped with her senior sewing project has asked me to mentor her through making part, if not all, of her prom dress. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any serious garment sewing and my interest was piqued during our sew sessions for her senior project. Turning a client’s wedding dress into pillows for her daughters also helped refresh my memory on garment construction techniques and gave me the confidence booster that I needed to tackle this project.

Pattern review, cutting fabric, darts and concealed zipper installation are on the agenda for this afternoon. As is setting up a machine for her to take home to sew the straight seams of the skirt panels. We’ll meet again during the week for our first fitting.

DIY Applique Letters

January 12, 2017

Well, it seemed like a great idea to have the kids make monogram pillows for next our club project…

A win-win activity to incorporate some technology standards, make a project selected by the kids and meet one of my goals of clearing the clutter in the club storage area by:

(a) Reducing the donated fabric stash by strip piecing the back of the pillow (cutting strips with my Accuquilt GO!).

(b) Incorporating a technology component by having students create their own applique initials using Word and print them out already reversed. (My fave font for applique projects is Marker Felt – printed in outline at a size of 275 pts)

Club meets tomorrow, so I was being proactive by running through my lesson plan ahead of time using resources at school (not my personal MacBook Pro).

Hit a slight snag with creating the applique templates.

The school district limited the font choices in Word and I don’t have administrative rights to install additional fonts.

Phooey!

So what’s Plan B for a creative teacher with a zero budget for clubs?

Find a source of freebie printable alphabet letters!

(1) Lower case in a cutesy font (already reversed for fusible applique)

(2) Block letters already sized (need to be reversed)

(3) Italic style (need to be reversed)

To reverse the letters, you can turn the printout over and trace the shape directly on the paper-backed fusible web. Darken the original printout with a fine point Sharpie marker to make it easier to see the reversed letter through the paper layers. A lightbox or a sunny window will help speed the tracing process.

Top Tip: If you don’t have access to technology, you can borrow a set of punch-out letters from a teacher friend. All you have to do is turn the letter over before tracing. And yes, it pays to pick up a cutesy font pack in 3″, 4″, 5″ and 6″ sizes when you find a set – even in an ugly color – in the markdown bin at the teacher supply store!