I’m so happy to be participating in Kid’s Clothes Week this season. I have been avoiding my sewing machine for months now. Chalk it up to a loss of sew-jo. Even if you love to sew, (or knit, or bake, or code, or run) you don’t have to love it every minute, right? You might even hate it sometimes.

I definitely did not hate making these pants. I used the Mini Hudson pattern by True Bias and I am so glad I did. The pattern is practically perfect: the directions are clear, the drawings are helpful, and WOOOHOO! there are notches. So many indie patterns forgo notches. Do they think they’re old fashioned? Well, I think they are incredibly helpful.  I say, “Bring back the notch!”

The fabric is a sweater print that I picked up a long while back for my cheetah loving boy (see this, this and this). He loved them immediately! But then I knew he would. They are soft, cozy, and cheetah. What more could you ask for?

My kids are going to have to wear uniforms this fall. If the clothes I make them are going to get worn, they have to be of the soft, stretchy variety for after school antics. I see many Mini Hudsons in my future. Do you have any other lounge-y patterns you like?

Just a quick note to say that The Creativity Club is postponed until next Monday. Kid’s Clothes Week is going on this week. It’s keeping me busy (and creative). Have you ever done KCW?

1. tumblingblocks 2. suikerwijzer.nl 3.boolahbaguette 4. brienne_moody 

There were a ton of submissions this month for the creativity club challenge: visible mending. I love a challenge that is both creative and useful. It seems you do too!

I picked a few I really loved. That cat with a backpack is killing me!! Do go see them all, though. They can be found under the hashtag  #thecreativityclub on instagram. If you’re not on instagram, you can see the tagged photos on the elsie marley facebook page (in the instagram app on the right).

1. stars 2. stripes 

Here are my submissions. These are both for my youngest, but the mending pile is large (and keeps growing) so everyone is getting patches soon. I just need their pants to hold out until I can cut them off and make shorts.

When I re-started The Creativity Club at the beginning of the year, I wanted to explore big ideas I thought artists should explore: form, inspiration, perception, light. I wanted to get to the ideas behind the making of things. But unfortunately I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. I am no art teacher. I know very little about the ideas behind art. The last art class I took was in high school for crying out loud.

My list of challenge ideas were at best difficult, but mostly just muddied and off putting. I needed to stop being so serious! Besides, for me it is through the making of things that the big ideas come about. The other way is too hard. So with that in mind, I threw that list away and started a new one. [this is the only thing I have on the list so far, so if you have any creativity club ideas please comment!]

THE CHALLENGE:

1. Mend something! Make the mending visible.

THE SMALL PRINT

This is pretty self explanatory, I think. There is some article of clothing in your house that has a hole in it. Fix it, but don’t hide the fixing. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. patch up your woolies 2. elbow patch 3. creative mending 4. visible mending as art form 5. sashiko tutorial 6. how to patch a hole with crochet

YOU HAVE ONE WEEK FOR THIS CHALLENGE

That means next Monday, March 23. Tag your work with #thecreativityclub so we can see it. This should be fun!

Welcome to the 2nd challenge of the year for The Creativity Club!

I think all creative processes start with copying. We copy people we admire, famous artists, not so famous artists, ourself. We copy things we think are beautiful, useful, delicious, helpful. We copy dinners and dresses and drawings and other things that start with D–and things that start with all the other letters too.