Back to School is Almost Here!

Can you believe the beginning of school is right around the corner?!  Luckily, we don't start back until the end of August but we know some of you will be gearing up for that first day of school in a couple of weeks.  My oldest will beginning kindergarten this year!  While I can't believe that she is old enough to go to school, I am super excited for her to start her new adventure.  I know she will love it and enjoy almost every minute of it.  Being that it's our first official year of school, we headed to the store this week to buy all of her school supplies.  It was really fun helping her pick out all of her notebooks and fun looking pencils.  Of course, there are a few things we still have left to buy but we have a few more weeks to fit that in.

How are you and your family doing with all of the back to school madness?  Do you have everything done and shopped for?  School clothes all ready?  Or what about that back to school gift for their teacher?  While we can't go shopping for your kiddos, we can help ease the burden of last minute gifts for their teachers.  They work so hard year round for our kids that a little gift goes along way.  We have all kinds of things in the shop for your teachers.  Handmade zipper bags or even custom made pencil bags are a hit!

 Some teachers have sinks in their classrooms so why not a few hanging towels?

Or a super cute apron for your favorite art teacher!

We even have fun baby items for those expecting teacher mommies to be!

Whatever the occasion may be for your new/favorite teacher, always be sure to get them something useful that they can use over and over and over again (and be sure to buy it from us....hahah....j/k...but seriously....we do ship).

Thank you all for supporting our little shop.  We love watching it grow and we love more than anything, being able to fill a need for others.
~Shellie

P.S. And as always, be sure to follow us on Instagram @thegaragingmavens or Facbook.com/thegaragingmavens for the most up to date selection and pricing!  We love to do custom orders as well so send us a message!

Zippers and I, Back Together Again

So zippers and I broke up for about a week.  It would have been longer but a sweet customer of ours wanted a custom order pencil case.  I begrudgingly said I would make it.  I didn't like the idea that we would have to make up.  They had been so mean to me. Mocking me at every turn, but we had a good long chat and decided to make it work.

For the pencil case I wanted to use laminate fabric, which has become my new obsession!  Who wants a bag lined with normal fabric that gets gross and dirty!   Never making a bag before I used this tutorial to get me started.  However, I somehow didn't follow the directions all that well and my bag turned out like this:

This wouldn't be so bad if it were supposed to be the size of a make up bag and the zipper was actually going the correct way.  Don't get me wrong, it's super cute but not what it needed to be.  Let's call it a happy accident and now it's in the shop.  :)

So here goes round two.  I found a new tutorial that helped build upon my knowledge of the original zipper bags and the first boxie tutorial I used.  I now know what I should and shouldn't do.  How I can make it my own and the best way for me to not only sew with zippers but to sew boxy pouches.

Here you can see the true difference in size.   Oopsies.  :)  I am grateful that I was made to have this opportunity to learn and grow and become one with zippers again.

Zipper or No Zipper

So I have a TON of zippers! I'm not sure where all of them came from but somehow they all made their way to my house.  I have sewn a zipper into a costume a few years ago but let's just say it didn't go that well.  So in prepping for the shop I thought that my first sewing project should be cute zipper bags! Right! 

So fun and easy! 

Wrong! Oh. My. Gosh! I swear they hated me! I even did a practice bag and it turned out great, but the ones to follow all laughed in my face.

I did three different sizes and planned to make them all in a triangular shape. I carefully picked out fabric and the different colored zippers to match.  This part is always so fun to me!  Plus I am a fabric hoarder so I didn't even have to buy any fabric!  

 I used this tutorial from Noodle Head to help me out. I even learned what a zipper foot looks like and how to use it. The one thing that the tutorial doesn't tell you is don't get too close to the zipper when sewing. When you finish the bag and do the finishing stitch around the top you quickly learn that if your original stitch is too close to the zipper it's really hard to sew it in such a way that the fabric won't get caught in the zipper.  Oopsies.  I can't even tell you how many times I had to rip a seen out and start over (or how many times a bag was flung across the room).  Or I forgot to sew in a label or I finished a bag and realized one of the teeth on the zipper broke so now I can't sell it! Ahh!

However, after all was said and done they turned out pretty cute...and flat because in the midst of frustration I forgot to make the bottoms square.  The medium and large bags have pockets inside which I am quite happy with.  I am sad to say that I officially broke up with zippers and have refused to look at them since. 

DIY - Lamp: A Right Bright Deal - Updated

I purchased this amazing lamp and lamp shade for $3!  What a steal of a deal, right!?!

I knew I couldn't pass this up so I bought it not knowing what I might use it for.  My sister, closest in age to myself, is redoing her room and I knew exactly what needed to be added to her decor!  With a few scraps of fabric left over from making curtains, I added some pizzaz to the lamp shade.

First, lay the lamp shade on the fabric and cut out around it leaving about 1/4" allowance.

 Next lay the fabric onto the lamp shade.  To make it easier, I did sides 1 and 3 first.  You will see why later.

 And then, using hot glue, glue the fabric to the top and bottom of the lamp shade.

 Pull the corners tight and glue into place.

 Then lightly glue the sides down.  No need to use a lot of glue, just enough to tack it down.  There is no need to hide the unfinished sides because sign 2 and 4 will hide them.

Now take sides 2 and 4 and tack down the top and bottom.   Do not glue the entire top and bottom.  First you want to fold under the extra allowance on the side, tack it in the middle and then glue the rest from top to bottom.  You will be gluing onto the unfinished sides of 1 and 3.  Once you have done that on both side, then finish glueing the top and bottom.  Don't forget about the corners.  This will make the edges look finished.

 And viola!  A finished lamp shade!

With the base, I picked a bright pink spray paint, that I already happened to have, to match the theme of her room.  Make sure and cover up all of the areas that you do not want to be painted.

Then go to town and spray away!  If you have a lamp that requires a finial, spray the finial to match the base color to tie it all in.

And there you have it!  A new lamp for $4!