Teaching "Sweatshirt Jacket Pizzazz" and "Purse Accessory Set" Classes at Austin's Sewing Center in September

I'm scheduled to teach "Sweatshirt Jacket Pizzazz" on the 6th, and "Purse Accessory Set" on the 8th.

SWEATSHIRT JACKET PIZZAZZ

 This is a project where I took a pullover sweatshirt and turned it into a jacket, with lots of embellishments, such as yo-yo flowers and rick-rack stem on the bouquet, a wide band at the bottom for added length, pockets from two different fabrics and rick-rack trim along with yo-yos and buttons, and lots of bias binding and trim along the front and sleeve edges and around the neck.  The yo-yos were more fun to make than I expected them to be.  I made some of them the "old-fashioned" way, and some with the new yo-yo makers from three different sizes.  The corsage group was made with the large oval yo-yo maker.

 This close-up shows the bias trim along the neck edge, with yo-yo embellishment and decorative stitching using rayon thread.  The large yo-yo is stitched on in an off-set direction so it looks off-center.  The button sewn onto the top of it makes it rather cute, I think.

PURSE ACCESSORY SET

 This three-piece set consists of a tissue holder, a quilted cosmetic/catch-all bag and a purse organizer.  The organizer contains numerous pockets that are stitched in sizes that can accommodate necessary items that we carry in our purses.  When it's desirable to change purses, one can just lift the organizer out of one purse as a unit and place it in the next purse - all without having to place each item individually from one purse to the other.  How easy is that! 


(See my post, titled "Purse Accessories and Organizer" for more photos of this project.)

Purse Accessories and Organizer

Last Thursday was my June meeting of Sew What! community sewing group.  Our lesson was on how to make a purse organizer, which completes the second part of the purse accessories set.

 

This photo shows the purse organizer filled with essential items that we all need to carry around with us.  Mine holds my wallet, a pen, a pencil, a sunglasses case made from the same fabric, and is part of the purse accessories set, my cell phone, and a tissue holder made from the same fabric as part of the coordinating set. 

The purse accessories set includes a quilted cosmetic bag, as well.  It could fit into a pocket, if you should choose to make a pocket to fit it, or just use it as a separate accessory.

The purse organizer is made with a very stiff interfacing and two layers of fabric.  Pockets are stitched according to the size of the items you want to store inside your purse.  When the purse organizer is filled, it can be rolled up to fit almost any size purse.  You can then lift it out and place it in another purse and not have to change each individual item when you want to change purses.

This is the purse organizer I made for my Mother's birthday.  She really loves it!  She had been looking for something that would hold her essentials that she could move from purse to purse as a unit.  When I found this idea, I knew it would make the perfect gift for her.  I made her a cosmetic bag with two sections in it to keep items separate, a sunglasses case and a tissue holder.  She loves showing it off to her friends.

This is the two-sectioned cosmetic bag.  My Mom puts her pill bottle on one side and her lipstick, etc. on the other side.  She likes the way the sections keeps everything separated so she can find them easier.

Here, one of my students is stitching in the pockets on her purse organizer.  She had already made her tissue holder and cosmetic bag.  She used the same fabric on both sides of her organizer, which simplified the decision on which side to use as the lining side.  Smart!

Our Sew What! class included a lesson on how to crochet, taught by my expert Mother!  One of the students brought her granddaughter so she could learn to crochet.  My Mother has made hundreds of white snowflakes, over the years, for Christmas gifts and for my Christmas tree.  She loves to crochet!

      I think she was really getting the "hang" of it!

                                                             During the last thirty minutes of our class time, almost everyone was crocheting up a storm!  I'm looking forward to seeing some finished projects next month.