teaching sewing confidence, tip by tip

Sunday 11 January 2015

Sweet Dreams - A Collection Of Students' Pillowcases


Just before Christmas I taught a Sunday afternoon pillowcase class at The City Quilter in Manhattan.  A number of registered students didn't show for class presumably last minute Christmas events came along as is the way at that time of year but it didn't stop the four of us having a great crafty afternoon.

My first student is Eileen, she'd agreed to come along to accompany Angela who you'll meet in a moment.


Eileen made me giggle as she was eager to get to the bit where you pin and here she is finally getting her wish!


She's hiding behind her first pillowcase... 


...for someone who was only here to keep her friend company Eileen really caught the pillowcase bug quickly moving on to make her second.


And next Eileen's friend Angela - she was on a mission to make six Christmas pillowcases for her grandchildren


but having made two...


...she made the mistake of leaving the classroom, getting caught up in fabric shopping then making this third pillowcase for one of her granddaughters.


 Finally meet Sylvia, she brought half yard cuts from this gorgeous fabric collection - the name escapes me as I'm writing this, I think it's Australian, I'm using it myself for my travel hexies.  The half yard cuts wouldn't work for the usual pillowcase measurements but as Sylvia wasn't concerned about the final size of the pillowcases we went with what she had and I really love how the wider cuff looks.


We sewed the right side of the pillowcase to create super neat French seams.


 I'm loving these brights.


 And on to her second pillowcase...


...it only took about 40 minutes!!!


Amazing work - six of the day's seven pillowcases, alongside my three class samples.


We really had a great afternoon and I hope they drop by another of my classes very soon.

A student from my No Bind Baby Quilt class came along to my December Late Night Sewing class to make a second No Bind Baby quilt as a Christmas gift for her daughter.  The quilt was completed, start to finish, in less than four hours and isn't it gorgeous?


I sneaked into that pic too!  Here again is the matching quilt she made for her other daughter in my quilt class when I take the technique.  I really hope both of her daughters loved their quilts on Christmas morning.


And another first over Christmas - my middle son, Joe, came to stay with his partner Katie.  He wanted to learn to sew so he worked through my Quilted Cushion With Hidden Zip class notes, it's a modified version of the tute here on my blog.  He'd never even used a sewing machine before but four hours later he'd learnt to use a machine, sew, quilt and insert a zip. 

 Here's what he made...


...isn't it amazing?!!!  Katie's a big Oz fan and she was super pleased with her cushion.

I love sharing my sewing passion with others, it's such a thrill to pass on skills and knowledge and to see others taking that and developing their creativity.  It's a privilege to work with wonderful students and I'd like to thank everyone who has taken my classes in 2014.


If you'd like to take a class with me full details of current, upcoming and past classes are available here on my blog - just clicking the button below.




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9 comments:

  1. Great work by your students and your son!

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  2. Looks like such fun! I would love to be in one of your classes.

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  3. Great prints used for the pillowcases. One of these days I will have to time a NYC visit to coincide with one of your classes!

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  4. Can you believe I stilll haven't ever made a pillowcase!!! Thinking after seeing all these...I need to have some fun and make one...or two...or three! SMILES V:)

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  5. Do you have a tutorial for the pillowcases, or the baby blanket?

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    1. Hi, I'm afraid I don't have free tutes for classes I teach as it wouldn't be fair to those students who are paying me to teach them. A couple of tutes on the blog are modified versions of what I teach in class but, unfortunately, these don't include the two you've asked about. All of my free tutes are detailed here on the blog, I hope something here is useful for you and thanks for dropping by - Chris :D

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  6. Love those pillow cases. And that pillow! So cute!

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  7. Your beautiful pillowcases have brought wonderful memories to me. My Grandmother used to give us homemade pillowcases every year. Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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  8. Wow!! I love your sons first sewing project! I would love my son to sew with me now, he used to when he was little but now he's too cool to sew with his Mother. Our quilt guild makes pillowcases as a charity project, the DAV uses them as gift wrap for their christmas party they hold for children, they love getting a surprise bonus gift pillowcase from Santa. Special pillowcases are always a hit!!

    Thanx for sharing,
    Nini~

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I love to hear from everyone, thank you for taking the time to read my blog and share your thoughts. Please leave a message to let me know you visited, it's a great way to get to know you all better too :)

Chris Dodsley


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