Sewing: School Bus Applique for Bernina "We All Sew"

It's that time of year! And we're pretty excited. The summer went by too fast, as usual, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying the back-to-school season. I love the prep and the anticipation of a new classroom, a new teacher, new friends, new box of crayons. It's all good.

Oh, and new school clothes! How could I forget that? It may be more fun for me than my girls, but that's OK. I've been hunting down some bargains but I've also been sewing and this striped Bateau Neck Dress is my idea of the perfect first-day-of-school dress.

Easy to put on, comfortable, cheery stripes. And a school bus applique. What more could a girl want? (Well, maybe perfectly matched stripes on the side seams but I've had to let that go....) I designed this school bus applique for the Bernina USA blog, We All Sew. They have the free applique template and my step-by-step tutorial on their blog. 

I am hoping some of you have a little boy or girl with an equal love of school buses. This would be great on a plain purchased t-shirt or any basic shirt or dress pattern. Enjoy the back-to-school rush!

Sewing: Sailboat Applique T-Shirt (Template)

We have been having an "electronic-free" Summer so far. Well, I guess it's obvious that some of us are still plugged in. I should say the girls are "free" this summer. Free of TV and computer and iPod and phones except for family and friend movie times. And it's going amazingly well! The first few days were hard, especially for the littlest...

But after that it's gone as I hoped. They fill their time with being kids. Just as it should be. 

They are amazing at entertaining themselves, inventing games and running around outside. Especially with some structured activities mixed in. We're doing a lot of swimming, some dance and a few half-day camps. Fridays are field trip days.

I didn't do much summer camping as a child. I would have done more and I still love the idea of it. Friends of ours take their whole family to a "sleep away camp" for a week at the end of the summer and I think it sounds dreamy.

I would say we've found a good balance this summer between fun obligations and free time, but it still seems to be going by so quickly and I haven't tackled much on my list. I guess it's a good thing I didn't even write down the list. I

To make myself feel better about the lack of creative output (which really shouldn't be a high priority anyway, but I do love it...) I decided to whip up something quick and easy to show for myself. So I appliqued some t-shirts for the girls with a simple sailboat design. Check!

A different sailboat for each girl. It was fun, and a bit tricky to come up with the right combinations of prints. (And I was again reminded of what a great job is done by Mini Boden!) I used all knits and was happy to find I had enough scraps.

I used double-stitching this time and I like the look. I was thinking about using some embroidery floss and hand-stitching because I love that big color contrast but who was I kidding? It was a late night as it was. Maybe next applique idea...

If you are looking for a quick project for your girl (or boy!) I've got a template you can download and a few how-tos after the jump.