Thursday, January 31, 2008

Distractions needed.

Or maybe it's venting. I don't know. But let me tell you, today was probably one of the hardest days I will ever face as a parent. So I need a distraction. Here I go.

Today I was finishing cutting out my jacket lining and interfacing. While I was doing it, I thought of a girl that wants to take sewing lessons from me. Then there's her friend that's interested in sewing too. I talked to her mom, a friend of mine, and were going to set a date soon for some lessons. She took sewing lessons before and was less than enthused. She started off with zeal, but her instructor gave her patterns and fabric from the 1960's to work with. The instructor changed her necklines and pant waist to reflect, um, how shall I say this...prim and proper fashions of yore. Her zest for sewing quickly vanished.

I'd like to resurrect that. However, I need to start near scratch to see what she knows thus far. I was thinking about a pillowcase in some fancy cotton fabric she likes. This way I can make sure she knows how to cut a woven fabric on grain, tacking and finishing seams, has the right sides together thing down pat, etc. From there I thought we'd move to an apron. Maybe for herself or for her mother. I hope to throw in some embroidery with my embroidery machine. It's always fun to embellish. Then remeasure her and move on to some clothing patterns that *she* has picked out. With fabric *she* has chosen.

About a year ago I gave her some Lizzy McGuire patterns that my daughters never used. I encouraged her to look at some Hillary Duff ones and some other teen cutie patterns in the books. Pick out a few and see what styles would be appropriate for a novice sewer. We'll can pick out a style she likes together in a sewing level that is appropriate for her.

It is exciting to think about passing on this passion for sewing to a new generation. The things they will do! They have so much information at their fingertips as well as support for things they do not understand, nor know.

Yes, this is nice to think about. And a nice momentary distraction from incredibly disappointing day.

2 comments:

Robin said...

Sorry to hear that yesterday was a tough day! The Built by Wendy and New Look patterns might also appeal to the younger sewers. It seems that sewing is really experiencing a revival among the 18-22 age group!

Karen said...

I hope you managed to distract yourself from your bad day. Sewing is great for taking you out of your head for a while, and hopefully by the time you got back to your "real" life, things seemed better.

Points to you for helping someone else catch the sew bug.