Sunday, February 14, 2010

Sew Much to Do

I taught my first sewing class on Saturday! Yes, someone asked ME to teach them to sew. Clearly, we will mostly be covering squares and rectangles. Actually, they asked me to teach their daughter, who is Sweetheart's age, to sew.

We started off with all the sewing stuff spread all over the table. They had to match the sticky note labels up with the items. They did pretty well. No one knew what a seam ripper was....or the pinking shears. Then we learned to tie a knot in thread. I am 39 and I just learned to do this neatly last month. The way my mom taught me I could NEVER make a good knot. Now I can. Here's the tutorial that taught me how.

And then we practiced the basic running stitch by sewing on some plastic canvas with yarn. A good way to start, I think. Here's a post that talks about starting little ones off sewing like that.

It was nice having a "class" that my girls could join too. It makes my teaching them to sew more purposeful.

Now. Speaking of sewing......my chair is FULL of fabric scraps donated by my mom to make skirts for the girls. I have to iron it and get busy. (I just got it out of the dryer) And I found some fabric on the clearance rack for a skirt for me.

AND.....our Sunday night Bible study requires some sewing too. I have the kids on Sunday nights and we just finished our third theme which was the armor of God. So now....what to do? One little boy suggested heroes of the Bible and I was off and running. So naturally, I have to make capes. Right?

But this all requires TIME. And it requires that I be ON TOP OF OTHER THINGS AROUND HERE. And THAT is the hard part. I always feel like I can't sit down to sew because I have _______ or __________ or even _____________ to do. But sewing IS something I do around here and I just have to make time for it.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you so much. This has nothing to do with your post today. I ran across a very old article where you showed you were having problems with organizing and storage of your school supplies. Thank you. I am in the midst of trying to organize our house and all the new supplies I have bought and other things I have pulled from other areas of the house. I feel like we are in a mess now...but I see light at the end of the tunnel. I have a plan. It helps so much to see that others struggle with the same issues. Thank you.

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  2. I've never seen a knot tied that way. I have always done a quick one hand knot, probably like your mom taught you cause my grandmother taught me. You can make it as big or as small as you like just like your tutorial link shows.

    I know what you mean about making time for sewing the things you need to (especially with summer coming)! : ) Hope you had a happy valentines day today !

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  3. hey brenda,
    thanks so much for your words on my post! it is so true that the just man walks in his integrity and his children are blessed after him! thank you for sharing a little of you and your husband's story too! i love to see how our God works!

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  4. I actually just sold my little sewing machine. Never got along with it (and not just due to lack of skill...which is a major problem for me). I figured after we move and settle in again, I'll take a sewing class somewhere and then I might actually USE a machine. Unfortunately my only previous opportunity for sewing training was about a month of basics in my high school home-ec class, which I missed because of mono. It's wonderful that you're training your daughters in something so useful!

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  5. Oh, thank you, thank you for sharing this tip. For some reason, I am no longer able to make a knot the way I used to when I was younger, and it is very, very frustrating. I think this will be a great solution.

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  6. YAY!! A sewing class success story!! Just wanted to pass along a link I found for a site where there's EVERY KIND OF EMBROIDERY STITCH you can imagine.

    http://stitchschool.blogspot.com/

    I don't embroider, but I'm thinking about starting!! Doesn't it look like fun?

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  7. I have bought material for the skirts and just have to finish washing them.. I was washing them seperately? Didnt want colors to bleed! I will hopefully drop them off on Tuesdays! So there is more to sew~!!

    we arent in a big hurry though!

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I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)