Monday, May 4, 2015

Sweatshop Sewing

 The school year is nearly over--11.5 days to go and yes I am counting! If you want to laugh out loud about how this time of year feels for moms read this blog http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jen-hatmaker/worst-end-of-school-year-mom-ever_b_3378480.html and believe me having been a mom and a teacher this time of year is even worse for teachers!!!

For the last five years, I have sewn book covers for my fifth graders as promotion presents. I usually start them after Christmas and work on them a little bit at a time, but this year our department budget was cut and there was really not any money to buy the supplies to make them. I figured they would just not happen this year, but I have felt very guilty about it! I have the privilege to work with most of my students for three years and they are such nice kids, so I just dug into my stash and my own wallet to make them. I only decided to make them on Thursday. I ran around the fifth grade track meet trying to find all 30 of the fifth graders I work with to ask them their two favorite colors. The few kids that weren't there or I never found I e-mailed their moms asking for the color combinations.  This yellow one is for Siera.
 The turquoise and black is for Emmalee. I machine appliqued their initial on the cover. Here is a link to my tutorial for how to make them 
and they only take a quarter yard of fabric, a 9x12.5 inch piece of interfacing, a 12 inch length of ribbon, and a button.
I have thirty book covers that just need to be whip stitched closed and buttons added to the ribbons that are the book marks. I need to have 14 of them done by Thursday to give to one group of kids. It is the last time I get to see them due to a field trip. I guess I won't be finishing my Journey of a Quilter this week, but I am glad that I decided to whip them up even if I felt like I was working in a sweatshop!

11 comments:

  1. Good on you for making these

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  2. That is very nice of you, I am sure the students will love them!

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  3. Wow! that is an incredible gift for your students. Thanks for linking up to Building Blocks Tuesday.

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  4. These are wonderful. It is very generous of you. A lot of people do not realise how often we dig into our own pockets to pay for things at school.

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  5. I'm sure the book covers will be appreciated as reminders of your teaching and care. Fantastic

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  6. Oh my goodness you have won the teacher of the year award in my book! What a sweet thing to do !! : )

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  7. How wonderful of you to make these for your students. I hope they appreciate you. the book covers look lovely!

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  8. What a kind, thoughtful and marvelous gift for your students! How generous of you! Anyone who has sewn book covers (and my goodness, I have) knows how much work this is. You must really love those kids and I'm touched by your dedication.

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  9. Wow, you are an amazing teacher! Your students are so lucky to have you Tanya!

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  10. Tanya, you are phenomonally thoughtful! I remember the few things I got from a teacher or someone while I went to school, and they're special. I still have one. I'll bet you find these covers last your kids into college, and they'll be retro-cool by then.

    Thanks for linking up so faithfully to the Pet Projest Show at Pink Doxies.

    Julie

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