Busy!

March and April were busy months for me. I signed on to be the lead costumer for the Mackinac Island Community Theater's production of Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It was a ton of work but it was all worth it when the sets, the costumes, the performers, and the music came together on opening night. It really was a treat to be part of this show!

Mrs. Fix-It

My husband sometimes teases me about keeping a sewing machine in my classroom at school. It's been there since 2017 so I can make the bumpers for the high school robotics team, but every now and then it comes in handy for other jobs. 

This week I had a student rip his coat while playing at recess - we're talking a huge, ten-inch long tear right down the front of his jacket. With his permission, I was able to patch it with some ribbon we had leftover from a sewing project we did earlier this year.

To me it was far from perfect, but when my student saw his coat hanging in his locker, he smiled and said, "You can't even see where you fixed it! Thank you!" 

It was a little thing to me - took all of about 20 minutes of my planning time, but it seemed to mean the world to him. Over the years I've learned, sometimes it's those little things we do as teachers that mean the most to our students.

2025 Student Sewn Ornaments

Somehow, in the craziness of the week before break, I didn't share a picture of the Christmas trees my students made. Sadly, I didn't get a single picture of a finished ornament! Luckily, this one is close enough to finished for you to see what the kids created. 

Each day we sewed, I taught the fifth and sixth graders what to do in the morning. Then, after they completed that step on their ornaments, my students coached the third and fourth graders in the afternoon. It worked beautifully; my kids were such great teachers! Their comments amused me to no end. I heard: "Mrs. Burt, so-n-so just wouldn't listen to me. I tried to explain, but he wouldn't stop talking," and "So-n-so wouldn't pay attention to me - even after I asked him three times!" I even had one student come to the realization that now she understands how her mother feels when she doesn't follow directions. Hopefully, those were valuable life lessons that will stick with them, even if the sewing skills do not. Either way, in this highly digital world, I loved watching them create something with their own two hands to give to someone they care about.

The pattern for the ornament came from the Country Stitches quilt shop in Lansing, Michigan. It was originally a pattern for a much longer wall hanging, but I shortened it into an ornament. I had hoped to share a link for the pattern, but I couldn't find it on their website. The fabric was leftover fabric I had in my stash.

Happy Stitchers

Another thing we do in my classroom during the month of December is we sew. Most of this group has been sewing with me for a few years now, so they are quite adept! I'm not sure I could do a project like this, by myself, with a classroom of 30 kids, but since I only have nine it's quite doable. 

I'll be sure to share their ornaments once they're finished.

I Can't Resist

Let me tell you, I really appreciate being able to sew. I'm dressing up as Princess Leia for Comic Con this year. I made sure my dress had pockets, but I knew I couldn't make them big enough to carry everything I would need for a day out (glasses, phone, drink, wallet and, of course, snacks.) Even though a bag isn't part of Leia's official costume, I wanted one. Canvas and strap from Amazon, an inexpensive graphic from Etsy.com, a free Star Wars font, and an hour or two was all it took to create a bag fit for a princess.

Homemade Rebel Fleet Trooper

This year when my friend, Keith, and I head to the Grand Rapids Comic Con, he didn't want to go as Boba Fett again. He wanted to be a Rebel Fleet Trooper instead, so I got sewing. Purchasing a vest on Etsy was going to run over $300, and I knew I could do it cheaper. I've got to say - I am pretty proud of that vest. Almost every pocket on that thing, was self-drafted! I started with pictures of a vest and using - gasp - math, figured out how big they should be on the real shirt. (See kids - understanding ratios and proportions is a useful, albeit nerdy, life skill!)

Just to be safe, my first version of each pocket was made with scrap fabric. That way I could alter the pattern and not waste my actual fabric. The vest started out as two black BDU shirts. The sleeves of shirt one as well as the sleeves and back of the second shirt became the pockets. (A BDU shirt is a military style shirt, readily and cheaply available at surplus places.) I also added the placket to the front of the blue shirt to cover up the buttons. Apparently there are no buttons in the Star Wars universe...

Keith lives an hour away, so getting together to try things on can be a challenge. Fingers crossed that everything fits! If you happen to be here because you are looking to make your own Star Wars Fleet Trooper vest, shoot me a message and I will happily share my pocket patterns with you.

Creepy

My son raided my sewing room the other day to create...

whatever this is. I know it has something to do with the Dungeons & Dragons game he is playing with his friends, though a tiny part of me still hopes it isn't a Voodoo doll of me.

My Boss

A certain someone, who shall remain nameless, doesn't think tonight is a good night for me to be sewing mitten linings. I have been instructed to give her copious amounts of attention instead. Normal mitten might resume tomorrow, if she allows it, but we'll have to wait and see...

Merry Christmas

This year my students sewed snowmen to give to their parents for Christmas. I promised them I wouldn't share this picture until today so I wouldn't ruin their surprise. Hopefully, the presents have all been unwrapped and it is now safe for me to share.

I hope you are impressed with their snowmen. Each of those kids hand-sewed every stitch of their project. My favorite part is the carrot button noses. I was so excited to find those on Amazon!

(Six of my eight fifth and sixth graders are in the picture above.)

Finish it February: Table Runner

I finally managed to finish  this Easter table runner, and in the nick of time, too. I say finally because I bought this fabric in 2008 at the same time I bought the fabric for this and this. It was one of those things I just never seemed to get around to, you know. There were always other projects calling for my attention, so the fabric just sat. And sat...

I actually packed up a couple of boxes of fabric to donate to the thrift shop when I was cleaning out the basement. I decided that since I hadn't gotten to any of those projects (in a very long time) it was time to bless someone else with the fabric. My hope is someone else can put it to use, because it wasn't doing anyone any good collecting dust in my basement.

Good thing I finished it this year, as 2024 may be the last year I will have a kid at home for an Easter dinner!

Finish it February: Princess Leia's Accessories

A friend and I have been working on costumes for  a Comic Con we plan to attend this spring / summer. I'm going to dress up as Princess Leia in her Rebel uniform from Return of the Jedi. My friend has a resin 3D printer, so he's been making the "hard" bits while I've been working on some of the "soft" bits. He printed Leia's blaster (NOT a real gun pictured below) but I needed to make her holster. Not something I ever imagined myself sewing, truth be told. Luckily I had the little one on the right to use for reference since I couldn't find a free holster pattern anywhere on line.

I also made a strap for her coms unit, 

and a pouch for her belt. It's significantly larger than the screen accurate version; I made this one big enough to hold my phone and a small wallet. If I was looking to join the Rebel Legion the inaccurate size would be an issue, but since this is just for fun it won't be a problem. The Rebel Legion folks take Star Wars costuming very seriously!

 

I'm not sure which Comic Con we'll make it to, but getting everything together has been a lot fun.  

Just Another Day

What happens when a student's

zipper no longer works? 

Mrs. Burt fixes it during recess of course.

Just one of the many benefits of keeping

a sewing machine at school.

Handmade Holidays

Now that it's Christmas I can safely share the ornaments my students made this year. Each of them hand sewed 20 yoyos, which they then stitched together to create a wreath. I try to have the kids hand sew something every year to then give to an adult they care about. I hope the parents appreciate them - my students worked hard!

I actually have seven fifth and sixth graders this year, but two of them were absent the day we took this picture.

Memories

My dad's blue jeans and a few of his button down shirts have been transformed into a blanket. Nothing fancy, more utilitarian - just like him. 

I miss him. Not every moment or every day, but regularly. Part of me wants to set a place for him at the table on Thanksgiving. But I worry; will that honor him or just remind us all of his absence? And what's right for me, might not be what's best for my mom. Sigh. It's hard to know what to do. 

 

Halloween 2021

Here are our family costumes for 2021. These three high schoolers trick-or-treated for the win, bringing home close to 30 pounds of candy (about 13.5 Kg.) Weighing the candy when they get home is a tradition in our house. S was up from 2020's eight pounds with 11 pounds (about 5 kg) this year, while K was up a tad with nine pounds (about 4 kg.) K came home about an hour before S so it makes sense their total was lower. 

My son wanted to be Lady Dimitrescu, a character from one of the Resident Evil video games. (Don't worry - he's not upset; he's trying to look like a cannibalistic murdering aristocrat who may or may not be a vampire.)

While S was going for a very specific look, my youngest decided to create their look using a mask they made in art class paired with a cape I stitched up to go with a lion mask. The cape has since spent a lot of time at school. Apparently bringing blankets to class isn't allowed in the school dress code, but since a cape is technically an article of clothing, it's allowed. K was thrilled to discover this "loophole."

Gratitude: January 22nd

 

(Happy kids in homemade jammies - 2016.)

Today I am full of appreciation for my ability to sew; it's something I enjoy, I'm good at it, and it brings me joy. I've been doing it for a long time - I made my first dress in about 1990, unless you count the Barbie dresses I made when I was a little kid. (I remember making them out of old socks.) Recently, I've been branching out into more challenging projects - even attempting to make underwear. (Which isn't really that hard.)

Probably the thing I've sewn that I am most proud of, is the Pikachu jeans I made for my son in 2015. They were my first pair of jeans and my first fly.

 

And I just love the detail I put on the pocket. 

Hopefully, with the semester ending today, this weekend I'll get some time to myself up in my sewing room. What are you going to do to keep busy this weekend? Whatever it is, I hope it brings you joy.

Masks for School

We are going back to school in person in September and the high school students and all staff will be required to wear masks while in the building. I decided I needed some fun masks for school, because, you know, I need some fun ones.  Daleks, Harry Potter, NASA and chickens all make me smile. And, this way I will have enough masks to get through an entire week at school without having to do laundry.

Helping

As adorable as Minnie is, she is not the least bit helpful when I'm trying to make mittens.

I think she loves the fact that we are all here during the day. No more waiting until we get home to get snuggles.

More Masks

Keeping busy is helping me deal with Michigan's shelter in place order. I can't imagine not having a hobby right now.

Let me tell you, the binding attachment my mom got me last year has been getting a lot of use this spring! It has made sewing on the ties go so much faster. The only down side - it doesn't like thick home dec. fabric. 

These masks will soon head to one of the hotels downtown and the Mackinac Island Airport.

Homemade

Like many people, I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude about being home. And, I'm trying to keep busy. So, today was a perfect day to try my hand at sewing something new - undies. (Not something I'd normally be willing to spend precious time on.) They were so surprisingly easy to make. And, they use so little fabric that they are the prefect project for using up scraps. (That fabric was left over from shorts I made my daughter about four or five years ago.) I'll have to dig through my scrap pile because these Primrose Panties are really comfortable. Now that I know how they fit, I can adjust the pattern to get exactly the rise and leg opening height I want. I definitely see more of these in my future.