stitch*craft too

My second session of sewing camp for girls began yesterday with a sweet and small group of excited sewers. I learned a great deal the first go around, and the first thing I wanted to establish was what to do while I was spending one on one with a child. I purchased gorgeous beginning samplers from my friend Rebecca Ringquist, to not only teach them different embroidery techniques, but to offer them a hand project while they were awaiting instruction or just needing a break. It was a huge hit! Aren't these color wheels a beautiful idea? Rebecca's amazing and so are her wide variety of samplers- check them out right here. Winding floss around clothespins to keep things tidy was a fun opening exercise as we all talked about the tangled collections most folks have.

The focus this week is on learning and improving machine skills, but there's nothing like having a little hand sewing project to travel with. We will be mixing it up all week to balance the need for quiet and peaceful control over stitches to the wild and exhilarating feeling of pressing a pedal and "driving" a project through the machine.

And shouldn't every little girl (and grown up too) have a sewing kerchief? This is a great first project to do at the beginning of every workshop. Just cut off the sleeve of a large t-shirt and slip it over your head. These functional no-sew accessories feel a bit like donning an apron before cooking... plus they keep those stray locks far out of the way.

I'll be sharing more from last week's earth*craft soon, but camp life has surely slowed my blogging down as I focus on each week's group of sweet girls.