Last Christmas, my Darling Daughter surprised me with a Caribbean Cruise. We went in October and, in spite of Superstorm Sandy, we had a wonderful cruise. My greedier self wondered how she would top last year's gift. Well, she did. She wants to learn to sew and asked for a sewing machine. The gift is just as much mine as hers. We spent the weekend before Christmas sewing together. What gift could be better than that?
As soon as she told me what she wanted, I ran to my trusted dealer to select a starter machine. I was shown two options in my price range:
Babylock Molly and
Singer Confidence Stylist. The two machines were exactly the same price. I chose the Singer because it had a few more bells and whistles and gave her more room to grow if she sticks with it.
So, on the Friday and Saturday before Christmas, I taught my daughter to sew.
First, she got familiar with using the machine, including good posture.
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| Before: Aching back after 20 minutes |
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| After: Ready to sew for hours |
Her first project was a pouch, and she was quite proud.
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| Look, Mom! I did it! |
Our next lesson was reading a pattern, layout and cutting.
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| Cutting out pattern pieces |
Finally, she made her first garment, a skirt,
KwikSew 3765 , which, when you compare construction techniques, was very similar to the pouch!
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| First garment! (Unhemmed) |
She was a very good student and her attention to detail borders on obsessive. I also bought her a book,
Sewing 101, a very good book for beginners with DVD included and I recommended she take a class at JoAnn. I wish she lived closer so I could work with her more. But, I had a great time teaching her and she seems willing to keep sewing.
