regali maestre 2012

Questo post è eccezionalmente bilingue perché è espressamente scritto per i genitori dei bimbi di 1a B, che insieme a me condividono questa avventura delle elementari...

This post is exceptionally written in both italian *and* english 'cause it's specifically intended for the parents of the kids in 1B: we've been sharing this first year of the primary school adventure... but I do post here for you all, so I wanted this note to be also for my standard audience :)
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Il pensierino per le maestre è sempre un discorso molto delicato: si ha regolarmente il dubbio che sia troppo o troppo poco e spesso le idee scarseggiano.

Teachers' gifts are always a very delicate issue: you regularly end up doubting it's too much or too little, and often you run out of options. 


Quest'anno (che per noi era il primo) era ancora peggio... ma ho sondato il terreno con gli altri genitori e alla fine ho optato per un pensierino handmade, che fosse un passe-partout: la classica borsina di tela, personalizzata, per portare in giro i quaderni dei puffi.


This year (the first for us) was even worse... but I tested the waters with the other parents and in the end I opted for a handmade gift, a passe-partout: the classic tote bag, personalized, to carry around the Smurfs' notepads.


Così ho preso una bella pezza di lino turchese, due pezze di cotone coordinato, un po' di inchiostro per stoffa, stencil, timbrini e una penna da stoffa e mi sono messa al lavoro. Mi ha dato una mano A., una mia collega che ha adottato l'idea per le "sue" maestre.

So I bought a smooth linen turquoise fabric, two yardage of coordinated cotton, fabric ink, stencil, stamps and a pen for fabric, and I went to work. A., a colleague and friend of mine, helped, since she adopted the idea for "her" teachers.

Il risultato sono state due borse di lino (per la maestra di matematica e per quella di italiano) e una borsa di cotone (per la maestra di inglese). In caso ve lo steste chiedendo, per la maestra di religione abbiamo donato 10 euro (come le altre classi) all'associazione benefica che lei ci ha indicato.

The outcome was two linen totes (one for the math teacher and one for the literature teacher) and a cotton tote (for the english teacher). In case you're wondering, for the religion teacher we contributed with 10 euros to the humanitarian association she indicated.


Purtroppo non ho foto della borsa della maestra di inglese (perché l'ho fatta in un secondo momento), ma qui ci sono le foto delle due borse di lino.

Sadly I don't have photos of the tote for the english teacher, since I made it in another moment, but here are the shots of the two linen totes.

literature tote: a creative shot by Smurfette#1

literature tote: the tote and the attached pouch.

literature tote: detail of the front with the stencil and the Smurfs' names

math tote: detail of the front

math tote: detail

both totes: labels with the school name, year and grade

Entrambe le borse contengono un astuccio coordinato con cerniera.

Both totes include a coordinated zippered pouch.


Il tutto è stato confezionato con una scatola di cartone ondulato (tipo bomboniera) quadrata e bassa, chiusa con un fiocco di rafia bianca.

Everything has been wrapped up in a nice cardboard box with a white raffia bow.

Ho cercato di trovare un momento oggi, durante la festa, in cui consegnare i pensierini finché tutti quanti erano ancora presenti, ma purtroppo le maestre erano impegnate con l'organizzazione della festa e non si sono liberate che alla fine, quando i genitori se ne erano già andati ed eravamo rimasti soltanto noi rappresentanti di classe.

Purtroppo la maestra di inglese non c'era perché se ne è andata presto, ma il pensierino verrà consegnato martedì prossimo, in classe, direttamente dai bambini.

Le maestre di italiano e matematica, invece, hanno molto apprezzato, erano molto contente e hanno ringraziato tutti quanti i genitori per il pensiero.  Che bello quando i regali vengono apprezzati, no?

The teachers really liked their presents, they were very happy and thanked us all for the thoughtful gifts. Isn't it wonderful when gifts hit home? :)

Con l'occasione, vi ringrazio tutti quanti per la partecipazione alla festa di oggi, che è riuscita benissimo!!

almost there (teachers' gifts)

Planets finally aligned, and we (A and me) spent two mornings (in a row!!) working on our teachers' gifts. Smurfette#2 was in kindergarden and Smurfette#2 got the chance to do homework and play with A's daughter (G). The perfect plan, really.

We started cutting pieces for the (5) totes. While I cut, A was stenciling around, and having a good time too.

A happily stenciling

Then, as we prepared the straps - and by the way, next time I'll buy the strap online... god! they took *forever* - the stenciled parts were drying, like a whole laundry load.

We then sewed the totes, so today we could complete them with the final decoration. This morning we also made the zippered pouches, all five of them. Believe me, I could make one even blinded by now...

See? A is turning inside out one of the freshly sewed pouches.

We got them all done!

And look what A did while I finished the pouches:

She wrote all the kids' and the teacher's names in spiral, then embroided all the beads, also in spiral. Amazing, isn't it?

We both like very much the contrast between the exterior fabric and the lining inside: we had the right intuition in our shopping session.

And we stamped a handmade statement on each tote.

The green totes are A's, the blue ones are mine. This afternoon I've decorated one of the totes.

I've written all the kids' names to the left, separated by a little flower with a bead in the center, and I've used little courier stamps to write the teacher's name on the stenciled heart.

In the label inside I've stamped the year reference and written down the class.

Behind the label there's the school name.

The tote and the pouch are a happy couple! I think that this is a perfect gift for a teacher. And handmade screams of care and thoughtful things.

The next shot was taken by Smurfette#1: should I think she likes it?

teacher tote - the prototype

I had to make sure the next teachers' gifts were suitable, so I made a prototype.

I made this tote without a pattern, just knowing that it has to be big enough to carry about 20 notebooks. 

Inside there's a little zippered pouch, attached to the tote with a key ring.

tote & pouch, attached 

The pouch is also lined with the same fabric as the interior of the tote. It's a striped soft cotton, but strong enough to support the exterior linen with the "hard work". It's also very easy to wash.

All in all, I'm happy with the idea, but I will make some adjustments in the next versions:

1) the outside pocket is a bit too much: try an inside pocket instead;

2) sew the label in the side seam, and keep it smaller;

3) increase the width of the straps: first off it's to difficult to take them inside out, and secondly one more inch will add to proportions.

I'm still debating if it's better to use Smurfette#2's tote pattern... Maybe I'll make another try, in green, so that I can decide on real things.

fabric shopping fun

Last thursday I went fabric shopping. But this time I actually had a project in mind, *and* I wasn't alone... Actually, said project is a shared one: we are talking about teachers' gifts. Yeah, I know, isn't it a bit early for that? Well, no. We have to make 4.

With a dear friend of mine (A), who's also a colleague, we thought about something simple but classy, a teacher tote for bringing about homework to correct, projects for the kids, and so on.

A has a 7 years old daughter, and my Smurfette#1 is 6, so both are in primary school. The girls have two "main" teachers each (one is for humanistic, one is for math), so we thought about a simple tote with a little coordinated pouch, made in four versions.

We took our Smurfettes with us (big mistake, if you ask me, you just can't focus on anything with three overexcited girls, two of them laughing and running around...) and went to the local fabric shop.

We did find the right fabric: linen, in bright blue and green, for the exterior of the tote, and a cute white fabric with green and pink fruits and another white with colored stripes, for the lining. This shopping session was so satisfying!!!

And you? what are you planning for teachers' gifts this year?

teacher's gift - complete

Now we're ready to give Smurfette#1's teacher her gift.
Besides the tote itself, we included the following:

tote and its content

• two little books of crafting with kids (a teacher should never get short of those);
• summer bracelets in different colors (this teacher really likes this style);
• a paper flower (made by Smurfette#1), 'cause (and I quote) "teachers should always have flowers";
• a string bracelet (again by Smurfette#1): you may have noticed the small beads in green, white and red... Smurfette#1 really likes this Italy's (150th) birthday thing and never fails to celebrate... (she scolded us because we didn't have a flag to show off on the balcony - like half of Italy, I might add: she painted the flag on paper and she attached it with tape on the door...)

I'm also going to include a special note for the teacher as a "thank you so much" for everything she's done for my daughter in these three years. Hope she'll like her gift!

teacher's gift - tote bag

Remember the teacher's gift I was working on? Well, actually I made this tote bag in half a day.

The tutorial is from jcarolinecreative and it's a very easy and quick step by step. This is my first bag and I think it came out pretty well. Next time I sew one, I'll keep in mind some notes I took on this project to get an improved version. I hopefully will be a little bit more precise in sewing the whole thing.

I now have a distinct idea of what's going in the bag and complete the teacher's gift. I'll show you everything when I have all the items ready.

teacher's gift

Smurfette#1 is going to primary school next september, so I thought it would be nice to give her kindergarden teacher a goodbye gift.

After browsing for some ideas, I came across a tote bag tutorial that really really begged me to be sewed. I gave up and so I'm currently working on it.

I don't really have much to show you for now, but I hope to very soon.

What I do need now is to think of something to put in the bag once is finished. Any idea someone?