so, i don't know if anyone from Lawrence (or surrounding areas) checks this board, but I work at the Michaels in Lawrence and me a a few other employees are trying to make our store classroom a little less. . .  well. . . OLD.   Right now we teach a bunch of different standard classes including knitting and crocheting,  one stroke painting, wilton cake decorating and jewelery making.  We want our classroom to teach a new generation of craftsters which means we need to come up with hipper crafts.  I was wondering if any of you out there have any suggestions on what to teach or if there is anything you would like to learn how to do.  It can include anything that our store sells.  Right now the first class we would really like to start is a Stitch and Bitch class based on the projects in the book (which we sell).  I would also like to do some sort of resin casting/jewelry making class.  If you have any suggestions, you can post them here OR you can call the store at 785-841-9100 and ask for Marley - she is the classroom coordinator and is really cool and open for new ideas (and if you are REALLY lucky new instructors!)   

thanks so much for any help!!!

So, I am making my own bathing suit for the first time and bought fabric online.  Long story short, there was a mix up and now I have 5 yards of black nylon lycra.  I could either make bathing suits to last me  from now until eternity OR I need to figure out what else to use the fabric for.  If anyone has any ideas that would be WONDERFUL!  I posted this on the clothing discussion board, but if you have any ideas for other things, that would be fine too.  thanks!!

so, i always am having trouble finding clothes i like (that i can afford) so i decided i was going to learn to draft my own patterns - that way its fashion and a hobby. anyway, here is the first of many!!

 

and of course my favorite part, the button:



it wraps all the way around and buttons in the front
i think i am going to take in the waist just slightly so it is more defined, but it is SUPER comfy and will be a great cover-up for the pool this summer!

oh yeah, then i had some left over fabric so i made these:
   
the string on my pants is just a normal artistic touch to my attire.  :)


oh yeah, and if anybody wants a really good drafting book the one i used is how to make sewing patterns by donald h. mccunn    it rocks!!!

here my frida costume!  i made everything in this costume including the necklaces.  you can't really see it in the picture, but i have on a tiered skirt under the apron.  also i am donning a unibrow and (not really visible in the pictures) a small teenage boy mustache.  not in the picture is a shawl that i wore around to keep warm.   My husband next to me is zombie trotsky and carried around a small pamphlet like Communist manifesto which he read from constantly.  I made the pick-axe which is in his head and i also poured an entire bottle of fake blood on his head which throughout the night was dripping down his face.  hope everyone likes them!!!!!!
thanks for looking!

hi.  my husband and i are doing a couple's costume this year where i am Frida Kahlo and he is Trotsky's ghost.  My costume is easy, but we are having a problem figuring out how to make the pick-axe and how to make it stay on his head without having a visible headband sort of thing (maybe painting the headband white like his hair?). do any of you have any ideas how to go about this?   Luckily they think they just found the actual axe that was used.  Here is a picture:   

thanks!

so i got a new sewing machine and decided to use this wonderful tut http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=93022.0 to turn a 50 cent thrift store find into a cute puffy sleeved shirt.
i love it and it only took me about and hour!!  i gotta have more.

hi.  I don't know if this is allowed, but the other day I bought the mccalls pattern 4769.  I cut out all the pieces and then my husband accidentally threw away the directions.  I was wondering if any of you happened to have those directions that you could throw my way?!?
thanks so much!

hey everybody.  I have been around craftster for awhile but this is my first post.  because i have been sewing a ton lately I used this site http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00002_p2.asp and made myself a dress form.  I figured because it was going to sit out in my living room I would have to make it more pleasing to look at than just duct tape.  So, I painted it with acrylic paints and covered it with a layer of decoupage.  It worked surprisingly well and I only spent $15 on it!!

here are some pictures:






thanks for looking.