Celebrating 2 Years!

It is amazing to think that Frolic in Fabric has been operating for two years.  What started as a few school holiday workshops is now up to 6 six regular weekly classes  - not to mention short term workshops and the ever growing school holiday program! A few highlights to mention would be my amazing class of six super keen and enthusiastic 9-11 year olds who today finished off  their lovely cushions.  They had a blast learning how to cover buttons, sew buttonholes, tucks and chenille cutting - which makes the cushion oh so soft and cuddly.
This Saturday sees the completion of the third ladies beginners sewing course we have run this year. They have been a great success and always a pleasure to share my love of sewing with others.

 

 Mondays are a special day i share with two classes of teenage girls. One a class of home schooled girls and my after school 4pm class. We have been enjoying to make a tote bag, pyjama pants, button up top, skirt and we are now about to make a gorgeous dress for summer!! They are amazingly talented and lots of fun to teach.

 

And lastly (i could keep going..) we held a special sewing event to make some pants for a dear little girl called Alexis. Alexis has special needs and desperately needed some new chenille pants to crawl around in. So many thanks to those talented ladies who gave up their Saturday afternoon to drop in and help make the 5 pairs of pants!!

 There is so much more to share but not enough hours in the night!! When Alexis was shown her pants she said in sign language "more" with a big cheeky grin on her face.  She definately loved all the applique and cuteness...and we love her too!

x

Leanne and her camera.

Yesterday I was visited by a good friend of mine Leanne Leach. Little did I know that she was going to bring her camera.

I just wanted to share with you these fabulous photos she took in between chatting,having a well earned cuppa and eating chocolate cake.

This is one of my 4 baby sewing machines ..yes i am a bit of a collector of vintage sewing machines, old wooden spools of thread ..and well anything related to sewing for that matter.




Some of the little goodies in the studio shop.





Till next time and more chocolate cake!
Elizabeth x

Little Hands!

I was really taken back in the school holidays by the "little ones", as I watched 4 and 5 year olds learning how to sew. They amazed me how enthusiastically and diligently they stitched and decorated their dolls. Of course a little help was needed threading the needle and untangling a few tangles....

A little bit on concentration is required...

One of the best parts of the class was choosing a button (or two) for the dolls hair and of course giving their new little doll a name.

After lots of giggles and lots of stuffing the dolls were ready to take home and just be loved.

How amazing are our kids!!

Elizabeth x

Christmas Wrapped Up!

This year in a attend to be very organised for Christmas I decided to set up a wrapping station!! A special place to store all my Christmas goodies - tags, paper, sticky tape, ribbons, string, letter stamps etc. It has also made it really easy for the kids to wrap up their presents too.

One Christmas tip: You can never have too many ribbons!!

Happy wrapping.

Elizabeth x

WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY'S!

As you already know i just love my Wednesday's - and today was certainly no exception. Not only did I have my hour session with Lucia in the afternoon , I also ran a bag workshop with Marieka!

Lucia had fun decorating a singlet to match her skirt she made last week. She learnt how to self cover a button and sew it on, sew AROUND corners of the flower she designed and sew on the doily - with lots of pinning first.

and VOILA here you have it !

After a nice hot cuppa, caramal slice, banana chocolate loaf (courtesy of Marieka), chocolate BROWNIES and a little chit chat we thought we had better get started on our project - a SHOULDER BAG!

It was lots of fun choosing the fabrics and then designing the pockets and bag layout. And just in time to pick up the littlies from preschool the bag was all ready and looking FABULOUS.
Thank you Marieka and Lucia for making my Wednesday even more wonderful!

Elizabeth x

LUCIA'S FIRST SKIRT

Surely it was Wednesday only yesterday!! Well better late then never. Here is the lovely skirt that Lucia made last Wednesday and proudly wore home to show everyone what she had made.

The next day I was able to assist our neighbour who needed some advise in binding her quilt for her Yr9 textiles class.

What a gorgeous quilt. Now she can head home and snuggle up in front of the TV and hand stitch the last part of the binding!

Elizabeth x

Sewing with Lucia!

Wednesdays has to be my most favourite day. It is my day to be in the studio and be creative! It is also the day i have a one on one lesson with Lucia in the afternoon. Lucia first attended a Learn to Sew workshop at the studio during the school holidays. She now comes every Wednesday for an hour of FUN and INTENSIVE sewing. I have been blown away by her enthusiam to sew...and her amazing talent.

Every week there is something new to learn and make. Today she learnt about seam allowances, pinning, selvedge edges, freyed edges and the importance of overlocking (or in her case zig -zag).

Today our project was a 6 panel skirt - so lots of practice doing a 1cm seam allowance and lots of zig zag.

Pinning the seams together with lots of concentration and care.

Of course Jessica sneaks in every now and then. She is sewing up felt puppets for her school class. My how time flies when you are having fun..it can't be 5.30pm. This is definately a two week project so be sure to follow on next Wednesday and we will hopefully have the skirt ready to wear home! Job well done Lucia.
Elizabeth x