Citrus Coasters

I found these Citrus Coasters on one of my favorite craft blogs, Purl Bee. Purl Bee is the blog for a sewing/knitting store in SoHo in Manhattan called Purl Soho that I visited last winter. The store is absolutely adorable and the blog always has really cute ideas for craft projects! As part of our annual family trip down to the Outer Banks we always do a craft night. This year I found these coasters and thought that they would be a fun summertime addition to everyone's coffee tables.. The actual process is relatively easy albeit a little time consuming if you decide to hand stitch everything like we did (you could probably assemble the coasters with fabric glue and it would be faster but it wouldn't have the charming detail of the stitching ). I think that the coasters turned out great, each one really has its own character which I love about handmade crafts!!

Pleated Skirt #2

Emily modeling her skirt!

After I had made my pleated skirt in my workshop my sister, Emily, decided that she wanted one too! We went to the fabric store and she picked out the fabric she wanted and then I got to sewing. It was nice to do the two skirts back to back because it let me review and practice all of the techniques that I had learned in my class. It was a lot easier the second time around to read the pattern and see how everything fit together. The zipper this time was much easier and came out a lot neater. I am really pleased overall with how this came out, I'm glad that I'll be able to borrow it from my sister!!

Pleated Skirt

I made this skirt at a sewing workshop I took at the Bernina store down in Chesapeake. The woman who taught the class was really great, she went to design school up in Boston. The class was about 5 hours long which was great because I was able to almost finish my skirt. The only thing I wasn't able to finish was the hem. In the class I learned how to make pleats, put in a zipper, and in general follow the pattern. I think I had the most fun making the pleats. Its a little tough to get them all lined up, but sewing them fun and it makes the skirt a lot more interesting than just having it be straight. By far the hardest part was putting in the zipper! It was pretty tricky because you have to get it perfectly lined up with the seam and then make sure that it doesn't get bunched up or anything. The zipper came out a little less than perfect, but its in the back so its not like you can really tell!