One of the perks of working for a school district is that we also get to be off for spring break. Just when the year is starting to speed up, we get a much needed break 🙂 How thoughtful.

While we work in different districts, my sister and I have the same spring break this year (yay!). Our mission was to get together a few days with the mission of sewing clothing.

Day 1

Katie has been wanting a Canny tunic for a while. The pattern is a quick sew (with only 2 pieces) so I offered for us to make it together. We kicked off our week by converting the Canny tunic to a dress!

My sister in the Canny as a dress.

Stay tuned – I’ll be blogging about how you can turn the Canny tunic into a dress on AddieK’s blog soon!

I gave my sister some recommendations for my favorite sites to order fabric from and let her pick which to order. She chose a burgundy and black chevron pont de roma knit fabric from Girl Charlee. It’s no surprise that my sister ordered chevron (she loves chevron) and it’s definitely no surprise that she ordered garnet and black (go Gamecocks!).

I have not worked with pont de roma before, but my-oh-my this fabric was so stinkin’ soft I just wanted to pet it! It has a beautiful, easy drape. It’s sturdy, but has a good stretch. For the deal she got on the fabric, I had low expectations, but wow – it was dreamy. Girl Charlee is my go-to for knit fabric – great quality and great prices.

And…later on that evening, I spoke on a “What are they doing now?” career panel hosted by USC’s Arnold School of Public Health. This was my second time speaking on the panel – the first time, the room was so full there were students standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the back. The program has really grown since I graduated! (And obviously the students are still just as curious as we were about what on Earth to do with your degree in public health.)

I love looking out at the wide-eyed, bushy-tailed students – they’re so full of motivation to save the world, but yet scared to death about what the future holds (and for these students, they obviously want to hear it holds a j-o-b). I was one of the first 10 or so students to enroll in the undergrad [public health] program at USC so I always feel like a dinosaur when I talk to current students. Nonetheless, I am so honored and so humbled to be asked to speak on such a panel 🙂

Day 2

I had been intermittently working on my second Noodlehead Envelope Clutch (remember my first?!) since the weekend. While my sister cut pieces for the Canny dress on Monday, I snagged a few minutes to add a few more stitches. I took my time to get all the details right. I even added 6 additional card pockets to the interior (opposite of the zipper & 3 card slots). I wanted it to be a functional wallet that I could throw inside my Noodlehead Super Tote (remember my Super Tote?!) during the work week and pull out as a grab-and-go bag for the weekend and running errands.

My finished Envelope Clutch!

I know, you’re probably going all heart-eyes over the fabric aren’t you?! I picked up this stunning print while in England over the holidays. I fell madly in love with Cath Kidston while we were there. On Christmas, Jeremy’s Aunt received a London Buses bag from her cousin and my mouth started watering. The print was so whimsical and as Jeremy’s Aunt started telling us all about Cath Kidston’s themed stores (where everything – from wallets to notebooks to luggage – is covered in these novelty patterns), I knew we had to visit the Newcastle location.

The store was such a delight. I wanted to move in and stay there forever, but my Hubs hates to shop (especially for fabric) so I beelined for the corner where they had the fabric stash and picked one to take home with me. While I really liked the oilcloth selection, I decided to go with one of the cotton prints (more of a canvas/home decor weight) because it was familiar and knew I could use it for multiple projects.

How perfect is that sweet little butterfly?!

For the interior and wrist strap (PS: this is my favorite wrist strap tutorial), I used a shimmery gold home decor fabric I had lying around. I wanted to make pink piping for the exterior of the bag, but decided to forgo because I became impatient (le sigh…must get that under control). The pink fabric used for the inside of the zipper pocket and for the card slots was from a pair of medical scrub pants. It matched the fabric perfectly!

I wish you could see how perfectly shimmery the interior is – these pictures don’t do it justice.

I can’t speak highly enough of Noodlehead patterns. Anna is pure genius. The details of the bags may take a bit longer than what you’re used to (if you’re used to sewing basic bags), but they are so worth it! In the end you’ll have a bag that you never get tired of because it is so stinkin’ functional (which is what has happened with my Super Tote which just underwent its first washing because I literally use it daily for work)!

I’ve been eyeballing Anna’s recently released Caravan Tote & Pouch. The bag has a lot of little details that are specifically handy for knitters. While I’m not a knitter, Jeremy’s grandmother is – and while we were in England she was working on knitting my third(!) sweater! To say I love her might be an understatement so obviously I’d like to make her a Caravan Tote.

Stay Tuned

Coming later this week, I’ll share with you the rest of the projects I’m working on! I’m hoping to stay on this super-productive-sewing-kick for the rest of the week! 😉