Camp CBG

This is Maddy's 3rd year attending summer camp at the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG). The last two summers she had either Marc or me with her, but this year she was able to fly solo. I am so grateful Maddy is comfortable being dropped off with strangers for 2 1/2 hours without a parent around. I'm so impressed by that. I suppose I was the same way, but the memories I have of day camps are older and always involved a friend from Girl Scouts.

This week she did Hidden Treasures and came home at the end of the week with a treasure box full of goodies. They studied maps, made beeswax candles, rode the tram everyday, took walks in the garden and had an overall wonderful time. Each time one of us picked her up she was hot and sweaty and wiped out.

Marc and I made good use of our time, we cleaned and organized (my sewing room is clean, so is the basement, new iPhones!!) and spent some nice time together. We don't often get time alone without an urgent need and/or lots of planning, so it was as much fun for us as it was for her. She has another week in late July. Yay, go camp!

I also have a little sewing project to tell you about. Maddy's camp t-shirt (above) was just a plain old boring t-shirt. I cut off the t-shirt bands (neck and sleeves) and sewed around them with elastic thread. This made a gathered effect that was totally adorable. I don't think you can see it in this shot, so I'll have to take another one close up. The shirt has to be too big, this one was a 6/8 and she wears a 5. It has the added bonus of making it fit better. He shirt from her 2 year-old camp was also a 6/8 (it was huge and the only size left that year) and the neck was stretched out, so I hacked that one too. The older girls (high school/college age) helping out were very impressed and asked a lot of questions about how I did it.

Here is the quick rundown:
wind a bobbin with elastic thread (use a finger for tension control, not the machine)
put the elastic thread bobbin in the machine
load plain old matching thread (or nice contrast thread) in the top thread holder
bring up the bobbin thread as usual
put the stitch length and width on the biggest setting
sew

try it with zig zag too

So fun. What else can I elasticize?

The idea came from one of my new favorite blogs to read, Noodlehead. Take 30 minutes and go look at her stuff, so great.