Saturday, August 7, 2010

Cherished moments

My oldest granddaughter (Miss T., the elder) has always shown an interest in sewing.  I usually take some kind of sewing project with me when we go to visit family, so the kidlets are used to seeing Oma with needle and thread in her hands.  From the time Miss T., the elder, was quite small, she would sit and patiently watch me sew and ask to help.  I try to find something for her to do - push the needle through the fabric, take out the pins, etc., etc.  About six months ago, she asked to make something by herself.  So, we decided a blanket for her baby would be a good first project.  What fun!

I brought lots of pieces of colorful fabric from my stash as well as my little Featherweight for our sewing adventure.  Talia picked out the fabric she wanted and then we proceeded to sew.  We had a wonderful afternoon together.  She's not tall enough to run the machine by herself, so we alternated between her using the foot pedal and me guiding the fabric and then switching roles.  She took to the process like a charm even though she had just turned four!  Sewing teachers would be proud of me .... I emphasized that we never, ever sew over pins and Talia was quite emphatic about shouting "Stop, Oma!" as we approached one.  Cute, cute, cute.

Of course, just having a baby blanket wasn't enough since there was more fabric to look through.  How about a pillow?  We agreed that her baby doll needed a pillow, and Talia picked out some great red fabric with chocolate bon-bons all over it.  We quickly made up a pillow and then placed an emergency call to Grandpa to find Oma's stuffing and bring it with him the next day.

Poor Grandpa.  He had hardly stopped the car when Talia was running out the front door asking, "Did you bring the stuffing, Grandpa?"

Of course, if you learn how to sew, you also have to learn to unsew!  Here we are a few months later learning how to unsew the "scratchy" underskirt of one of Miss T's favorite dresses.

These are cherished moments, indeed.  Brother Jack isn't quite so interested although he does like to take the pins and put them in the pincushion.  And Miss T., the younger, doesn't stop moving long enough to contemplate anything as sedantary as sewing!

We're off again this weekend to visit family.  This time, we'll be looking for fabric and a pattern to make Miss T., the elder, a sundress for the first day of preschool in September.  Betcha she'll want to do more sewing!

By the way, notice the hair style change on Talia between our sewing dates.  She had been asking for short hair.  Guess Mom wasn't fast enough in making a trip to the beauty salon!  So, Talia managed to climb up onto the bathroom cabinet and find her mother's hairtrimming scissors!  She loves it -- no tangles!  Mom's hoping it'll be long again by kindergarten!

2 comments:

  1. My kids are so lucky to have such a patient (and talented) Oma! Hopefully one day you and Miss T the elder can work together to sew her wedding dress and her fiance's tuxedo. Save me some buckolas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maybe she'll want to wear one of our dresses! Won't that be a kick ...

    ReplyDelete