Laie Elementary Fall Break Play 2014: Night at the PCC

I finally, FINALLY am getting around to posting the pictures of the elementary school fall break play Night at the PCC. THEA 141 students made a great contribution to this play, designing costumes, making patterns for some of the costumes and constructing others. Great job team! My students put in about 30 hours of work between the 5 of them. I put in about 12 hours of prep and planning and then 10 more hours during play week. I had numerous parents put in hours there at the school and a few who took projects home to work on. I am so grateful for all their help. They really made things special. We ended up spending $107 to costume 115 kids. Enjoy the pics!

Tiki warriors

Rapanui heads. Cardboard helmets designed by Christina Smith and Mandy Veech.

Food dancing to "Be Our Guest". Pineapple, Banana, roasted pig, poi, and coconut drink. Inspiration for these costumes found by Taimi Kennerly, Eseta Clanton, Christina Smith, Nhil Banda, and Mandy Veech.

Oyster Shells dancing and singing to "Pearly Shells".

Security Guards dancing to "Happy"

Koi fish. hat inspiration from THEA 141 class.

Bobblehead hula girls dancing to Price Tag.

Quick bag

I said I was back from vacation but that only lasted a week. This past week I was gone again. Three days camping with the fam, home for 5 hours, and then off on a 3 day stay in Waikiki to celebrate our 20th anniversary. It was a great week.

During the 5 hours home on Wednesday I discovered two things. 1- my favorite big bag had a big tear in it and 2- I didn't want to take my purse because it is looking pretty worn. No one wants to carry a worn out purse and torn bag into the Waikiki Marriott Resort and Spa! So I quickly threw together this cute and easy bag:

My husband thought I was crazy when he walked in and found me cutting into fabric 30 minutes before departure time but I assured him I would be ready on time. 

And I was! This bag has 4 pieces that are attached with only 8 seams. The handles and upper part of the bag have a facing that only requires a few clips. The fabric was given to me so I'm not sure of the content but I think it is cotton with a little spandex. It feels nice and sturdy and stretches a tad to accommodate all my vacation must haves. No purse required. 

You may be wondering, as did my hubby, why I didn't start the bag earlier in the day? Because I was sewing an anniversary gift for Dave. A new board bag. He loves it!

When I'm Not Sewing

When I'm not sewing I'm thinking about sewing. Or, teaching about sewing. Or, like today, I'm reading about sewing. Here are some links to some of the sewing blogs I love to follow.

Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing
Tilly and the Buttons
Whipstitch
Coletterie
Burda Style
Gorgeous Fabrics
The Selfish Seamstress
Frocktalk
Costumer's Guide
Tyranny of Style 

Costumes: Laie Elementary Fall Play 2013 "Once Upon a Crime"

 The past couple years I have been heading up the costume crew for the Laie Elementary School Fall Play. This play is put together in the course of ONE week with close to one hundred elementary school students. My job is to get each of those kids in a costume for no more than $100. That's total! So for less than $1 per costume we do a lot of pulling from kids closets, borrowing from the community, reusing from years past and frantically building only what we absolutely must. Here is a small sampling of some of the costumes from this year's play.

The woodsmen. Their costumes were pulled completely from their own closets and then they built their props out of cardboard.

Our 1980's era Material Girls/Dancing Princesses used flower tutu's from last year's production, and bright clothes from home. We had to make a few new skirts and headpieces/wristbands.

Red Riding Hoods Cape, Snow White's outfit, and Hansel's costume were all made brand new for this production. Was so glad we found a large muu'muu for the Big Bad Wolf.

Our detectives were so excited to get these fancy felt moustaches to go with their all black from home outfits.

How do you turn a kid into a pig for cheap? Dress him in Khaki and pink and give him some ears and a snout. So grateful to the moms who put this gear together.

More princesses. This time with their favorite fancy dress from home and a few beautiful flowers on their heads.

My costume crew had a fun time putting together these fun masks for our wolves. I found the templates online and they whipped them up in no time.

The Fall Play is so much fun for the kids and parents and community to participate in every year. It is always a whirlwind in a week to get it together but so worth the efforts. I am so grateful for all the volunteers who come in and help with the production, coordination, and organization of this project.

Out of the Studio This Week

This week I am roughing it on the shores of Maleakahana with 25 Young Women. For this week only I am trading in my scissors and needles for pocket knives and dutch ovens. Rest assured I will be back next week.

Before heading to girls camp check out these cute T-shirts I had the girls stencil paint:

Our stencils were contact paper from which our logo had been reverse-cut out of. The girls had to carefully peel away the paper and place their contact paper stencil on their shirt and then paint over the top of it.

Several coats of paint had to be put on. Between layers they used the blow dryer to speed up the drying process.

When the paint was completely dry we carefully peeled away the contact paper to reveal our finished product! Simple and fun; the girls loved them.

Handmade Gifts: More Love Monsters

Sometimes it is fun to do something a little different. Most of my sewing work is on clothing. Sometimes I do Home Dec work and occasionally I do sports equipment (hammocks, stuff sacks, etc.). Every once in a while I have the opportunity to make something totally different like these Love Monsters. 

My daughters got me on a Love Monster kick a few years ago when we started making them as gifts for friends. These little monsters were also made as gifts and were inspired by a similar monster my husband saw on a business trip in Korea.

These guys  sit up at a mere 6 inches tall and are made of polar fleece. There were a lot of little parts and details like the embroidery, stitching around the eyes and the tiny ears but they did go together relatively quickly. The most detailed and time consuming part was stitching and turning the teeny tiny arms and legs. The best part of these little guys though was the happy reception they received when gifted. They are dearly loved in their new homes.

Check out the first Love Monsters we made