Learning to Sew

I have a new 10 year old best friend. She lives with her grandmother and her two sisters. Her mother was murdered last year...the day after Mother's Day. Missy Z. is very smart and very caring...but she's also still hurting and trying to figure out who she is in her new family situation. She's been sitting with my husband and I at church and I've slowly gotten to know her and her sisters better. (Her grandmother came to our griefshare group when her husband died....then returned after her daughter was killed.)


I miss my girls being at church since they're grown up - so I enjoy having Missy Z. and her sisters sit with us. Last week I thought she was listening to the sermon - however at the end she announced the Pastor said "um" 38 times. Guess she was listening! :>}



I promised her I would teach her to sew and we would do a girls weekend. Peter's hunting plans changed - but I told her we were still on, so I picked up up early on Friday, (she had early release from school) which gave us all afternoon to begin. For her first project we decided on a pillow. She "shopped" my fabric stash and found some purple chenille and green and purple tye dye. Since it was all straight sewing it didn't take us too long. By 3:30 we had completed our first project and decided to head to Dallas to the 2 story JoAnn's. (My favorite place to shop!) Here is Missy Z with her first pillow project! She was happy.

She had a great time at the fabric store...you know how it is...so many choices so little time (money). We picked our pattern first and then she roamed the store looking for that "perfect" fabric. She knew she'd know it when she saw it!She finally decided on a purple flannel and a pink flowered seersucker. It's been in the 80's last week, but cold again today, so she sewed the purple flannel first. She wanted to wear them to bed right away!
Once we arrived home (after dinner in Dallas) she got right to cutting and sewing. We sewed a couple of hours...and she finished her first pair of pajama pants.

She was VERY pleased with herself.

We treated ourselves to ice cream - then to bed.

This morning she woke up pretty early...ready to get going again. We settled on waffles for breakfast - then back upstairs to sewing. We were both glad we had already cut out the second pair of pajama pants, so she could begin sewing as soon as she got upstairs. This pair seemed to fly...she was finished in no time. Again she was very happy with her newly gained knowledge.
We still had 3 hours before her grandmother arrived to pick Missy Z. up for a birthday party. She shopped through my fabrics again - and was still drawn to all the tye dyed pieces. She and I did a little brain storming - and she settled on a three tiered skirt in three different tye dyed colors. She serged all the edges and I helped her with the gathers. She serged the tiers together, we finished with slipping in the elastic...then she tried it on.

By the time she left at noon - she was a happy girl. I promised she could come back and we'd work on whatever else she could dream up. She's going to think about what she wants to make next...and come back for some more sewing time.

It was time well spent...one little girl who needs love. Don't we all?