Pieced Messenger Bag

For the past two days, the ladies have been working on a pieced messenger bag.  They spent most of yesterday piecing together the fabrics for the bag and today they mostly spent putting the bag together.  I think it turned out amazing!  I am so proud of them.  They do not need too much instruction anymore, but since this was a new bag, they needed a little help here and there, but they picked up the concept quickly.

After they finished their bag, we sat around a little and talked about all that we have made so far, what is good about them and what we need to watch out for next time we're making something like that.  It was good.  While we were discussing all the things we have done and weather they were difficult or easy, the ladies asked if they were being tested, so I took the opportunity to inform them that I am actually going to give them a test on Saturday (the next day we meet).  We have two more days to meet, Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday I am going to bring in something new that they have not made yet and they'll have to make it without my help (at least I'm not going to tell them exactly how to make it).  They will have two days to complete it, but maybe they will get it finished in just one day and our last day will be a fun day to make our favorite thing or something.

So, I'm going to make something this weekend to bring in for their test.  Something fairly easy that they should be able to recreate on their own.  I still have no clue what I am going to make.  Any suggestions?

Wristlets and Bracelets

Today we finished up our wristlets we started on Wednesday.  They turned out nicely although a couple of the ladies had their liner in upside down so the pockets opened to the bottom.  They had to take it out and redo it, but hopefully it was a learning experience.

After we finished up the wristlets, I gave them the option of going ahead and starting on another wristlet (because I think they need to make another one to reinforce the new skills they learned), or make bracelets and make more wristlets tomorrow.  They opted to make the bracelets.  I thought these cloth fabric bracelets were so cute, but unfortunately their since of design and color coordination is not as great as could be desired.  I was excited to make bracelets because it is completely whatever the sewer wants it to be.  As wide or as narrow, whatever design you prefer.  So, of course, they cut out the size of their bracelet exactly the same size as the one I brought to show them.  One of the ladies freaked out and put as many pieces of fabric as possible on one bracelet, another lady just had one long strip of fabric, folded in half with interfacing inside as her bracelet.  My third girl, did a good job piecing together her fabric, and didn't use too many different kinds, but her color selection was horrible.  Oh well, at least they learned how to satin stitch and put in a button hole (a feat in and of itself; they have no concept of a practice button hole before you go stitching on your final product).  It was good for them to learn, and hopefully one day they will improve their design and color selection skills.

Patchwork Tote

When I came in today and told the ladies we were going to make patchwork totes, they were not excited about the idea.  When I told them that they could work together and just make one tote, they brightened up quite a bit.  By the end of the today's lesson, they were talking about bigger, messenger bags that they could make patchwork.  Today was the first day we worked with interfacing.  They also thought the interfacing made the bags much better, which I agree.  To quilt the patchwork onto the interfacing, we used a zig zag stitch.  They were excited to learn how to zig zag stitch, but they were completely scared of it.  They thought it was the most amazing, most difficult thing they have ever seen.  I think they were surprised to find it is really quite easy.  As they were working on the tote today, my heart just filled with pride at how far they have come in sewing.  They still need my help with problem solving, but they are beginning to figure out the smaller problems by themselves and need less and less assistance throughout the process.  While their patchwork is still not perfect, their bag today turned out so great and I would use it in a heartbeat :)

Drawstring Patchwork Bags

Today in sewing class we made these little drawstring patchwork bags.

 I thought they were really cute even though I'm not entirely sure what one would use them for; and it was a good second project for them to piece things together, actually doing patchwork this time.  The ladies seemed excited about it at first, but by the end of the class, I'm not sure they were as excited about it as they started out.  I think piecing all the patches together took more detail and time than they really wanted it to.  Yesterday while they made more tissue box covers, I cut out a bunch of the squares for them, so they didn't even have to deal with that today.  Tomorrow I had planned for us incorporate the patchwork with the totes we made before, to show them how you can patchwork anything if you don't have fabric big enough to make what you want (which will probably be the case for them since they are using recycled fabrics; aka old clothes).  At the mention of making a hand bag, they seemed exasperated thinking of all the work it would take to piece together that many squares.  Oh well...I'm the teacher and they do what I say :)  It'll be good for them too; what doesn't kill them will make them stronger :)

Tissue Box Covers

Today we made tissue box covers.  I thought it would be a good first step to learning to piece together fabrics.  Since the ladies will be using recycled (old and donated clothes most likely) fabric, the chances are, they will often not have pieces large enough to make things like bags.  I have been a little worried about my teaching style.  I don't really know how to teach sewing, as much as them just doing it and helping them along the way.  I learn best by doing, and apparently that's how I teach too.  I was a little worried that they would not learn that way, and need more instruction/lecture type teaching.  I could definitely not get away with that with my limited Arabic.  But I was pleased by the ladies sewing today.  I can definitely see improvement since our first project together.  They are definitely improving and learning.  At least I think they are improving, or it could have just been that I kept over emphasizing today how much they needed to sew straight in order for this to turn out right.  They did a great job and I am pleased with the results:

These are reversible tissue box covers.  When I brought my sample in for them to see, I have two totally different types of fabric on each side; one with spring colors and the other with fall.  The ladies did the exact same fabric on both sides of their covers.  A little disappointing since they need to be working on their creativity.  One lady wanted to do the whole thing in just one color, thankfully about halfway through cutting out her fabric, she decided to do two colors.  At least their colors do go nicely together today, so there is some improvement there too :)

Flowers

Today in class we finished up the totes that we started yesterday.  We had our first broken needle, which I got to replace for the first time in my life.  They thought it was the most brilliant idea to use a coin to help unscrew the screw keeping the needle in place.  I got the new needle in with no problems so that was a relief :)  After we finished up the totes, we made flowers.  They were pretty excited that there were different kinds of flowers to make.  They kept thinking we were just going to make one kind.  I wasn't picking up on everything they were saying to each other, but I heard lots of comments being thrown out about where you could put/use/wear the flowers.

Sewing Class Totes

For the past two days this week, we have been working on making tote bags.  The ladies are really grasping the concept of how fabrics fit together to make something, the problem is, so far, they are not too keen on doing all the little details that make something really look nice and put together, like ironing creases, measuring seams and sewing straight lines :)  I am struggling with how to reinforce the need for details with my limited Arabic.  I started out by trying to correct them when they started to skip a detailed step but they didn't really want to listen.  Now I have moved to letting them make the mistake by skipping something, then showing them how it doesn't look good and they have to redo it.  It seems so far that the second method is working out better.  It is difficult for me too though, because when I sew, I am more loose and see what happens kind of mentality, but they need a bit more structure than that right now.