April Sewing Challenge Projects

Okay, so remember this fabric? The center fabric with the flip-flops was our challenge fabric for this month's sewing contest at our local quilt shop. We had to use that - only one fat quarter - and make whatever we wanted. My 18 year old daughter and I both participated. She was less than thrilled.
I ended up using almost all of the piece to the left of the picture that changes from dark purple to yellow. My daughter used the red and one little piece of the purple I had left over. Neither of us thought the zig-zag stripes did anything good for the challenge piece, so we didn't use that one.

I started by cutting my fabric into strips and then sewing them back together to extend my little amount of challenge fabric.

She cut hers into circles of varying diameter, then fringed each one.

She sewed the stack of circles together to make a fabric flower. She's really into gerbera daisies, so that was the shape she was going for.

Didn't her project come out cute? She came up with the idea on her own, and executed it without any help or advice from me.

I think it's adorable! In the end, she LOVED her project, and plans to make more of them. Just think. She didn't want to do this project to begin with, and now it has inspired her to keep creating. I love that!

This is how mine turned out. It was supposed to be a dress for a 12 month old, but I think it will have a long-range life. I'm pretty sure the almost-three-year-old girl I watch could wear this as a shirt with some leggings or jeans. The ties on the shoulder are how the dress opens and closes - rather than a zipper or buttons. It's a little stiff right now, so we couldn't get a cute bow tied. I'm going to get it damp and fluff it in the dryer to see if that will help loosen the fabric a bit. Looks like I need to iron it too. Then I'll deliver them to the quilt store later today.

Both projects turned out cuter than I expected, given the hideous fabric we had to start with. Whether we win or not, we will still each get a $5 gift certificate to the quilt store. The winner gets a $25 certificate. In the beginning, I was hoping my daughter would give me hers (as she really does not like to sew all that well). But now, she's excited to get to pick out more fabrics for headbands. How great is that?