Summer Sewing...

I've got a girl who decides she wants to do something and then is relentless until it happens. (Like mother, like daughter, right?!) So goes the story with sewing. She found out her older cousins were taking a sewing class several months back and claimed she wanted in on the fun. I thought it was a passing idea and pushed it off. And then it came up again, and again...and again. I knew at this point, until that girl spent time at a sewing machine she was not going to let it go! I pacified her interest for many months telling her it was the perfect Idaho summer activity. And you better believe once we got to idea she asked, "when do I get to start sewing?" There's no time like the present and we created a 5 project course to wet her appetite and build some skills!

Project 1
Hallie had never even sat in front of a sewing machine so we were starting with the basics of all basics - straight stitches. She practiced and practiced on scrap pieces of fabric until she turned out 4 scraps that looked like this.


Project 2
She proved she was ready for a new challenge. We moved on to a simple beaded necklace with directions from HowDoesShe.com



We ended up buying wooden beads instead of marbles (much lighter to wear around the neck) and she's ready to make one in every color to match her school outfits!

Project 3
Continuing with her only mastered skill - straight stitches - project 3 was a pillowcase. We went to Joanns and she picked out 1 yard of fabric. We used an existing pillowcase to make a pattern and she went to work again.



Who needs a pillowcase because I know someone for hire!!

Project 4
We threw a curved line in this project and it was a little difficult for her, a knit headband from HowDoesShe.com She had to learn to leave the needle in the fabric, lift the foot and rotate the fabric. Throw that on a stretchy knit and it was hard. So she went really slow, painfully slow, and kept going and it turned out better than I expected.



Project 5
The culminating project was her very own skirt to wear. This is what she had been dreaming up the whole time she talked about sewing, she wanted to make a skirt. There are a hundred different skirts you can sew and many of them have an elastic waistband (which would require more help and training on my part) so I was excited to find instructions for a knit skirt with a knit waistband. Head over to SimpleSimonAndCo.com to find the pattern and instructions.

It was seriously so easy and came together so well. Because we were working with a knit, I had Hallie sew the pieces together and then I serged the edges after to make sure it held well.

The sense of pride and accomplishment that washed over this girl when she first tried this skirt on was priceless.

You better believe I have one excited girl for her first day of school outfit!

After she completed her final project, I was seriously amazed. She did so well and kept wanting more. We made several trips to the fabric store for more supplies so she could keep sewing. I helped her cut everything out, but she was the one behind the machine. She's ready for more. She's planning Christmas presents and more outfits - I love it.