Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Zip Zip

One of the cool things about teaching is the way it inspires you to do new things. In my desire to present my students with projects that they'll really want to make, I'm motivated to try new designs and design new items. That was the case with this:
The group of kids I taught last week were so enthused about sewing that they finished the projects I had planned for them by Thursday. That left Friday with nothing to work on. So, Thursday afternoon, I engineered this little pouch. I needed to keep it simple and quick because I was teaching 10 year olds and they only had 2 or so hours to make the pouch.
Here's a sampling of what they made plus mine. Pretty talented girls, huh?
That's not the end of my story, though. The great thing about being inspired is that it often has legs of its own.
I made these on Sunday and added them to my shop last night. These were a little more involved than the one I made as a class sample. I quilted both the front and back and, on three out of the four pouches, I used my hand dyed stuff. But, the inspiration came from the same place and that, and the kids, makes teaching worth it. Oh yeah, getting paid doesn't suck either.

2 comments:

tricia said...

those are great! I totally know what you mean about teaching. I teach high school visual art and I am constantly inspired by my students! Your little workshop probably inspired them more than you know.

textile_fetish said...

Crazy! I made a pouch a lot like that one (same print I mean). http://www.textilefetish.com/IMG_8254.JPG See? I made it several weeks ago. I love your taste in prints :)