My new sewing buddy!

Several weeks ago, one of the young ladies that I had the pleasure to teach at church mentioned that she was interested in sewing. Naturally, that sparked a conversation and I discovered that she has taken several sewing classes and in fact, her parents were planning to purchase her a sewing machine. Very little makes me happier than encouraging the next generation of sewist, so I invited her over to sew with me. We've been meeting together every weekend we can, and it has been so much fun!

The first time we got together, we made her a skirt! It's a basic dirndl skirt gathered into 2 inch wide elastic. Super simple, but fun to sew. Anna did all of the seaming and hemming, and I did the patternwork (such as it was) and the gathering.

After we made her skirt, she brought over her sewing machine, and we figured out all of its bells and whistles, then I taught her basic machine maintenance - cleaning and oiling. After we got her machine spic and span, she cleaned up mine for me. Janome hasn't been that spotless in years!

This last time we got together, Anna wanted to make a fleece hat. I found this tutorial and we went to town. She cut out the fleece she chose.

And she did all the sewing herself.

How cute is her new hat!! It only took us thirty minutes, so there was also plenty of time to pick out some fabric and a pattern for a tee shirt. We even got the pattern traced, then we spent some time talking about different fibers and how they are different from different fabrics. We compared silk jersey to cotton jersey, and silk organza to silk crepe. It was really fun showing her how the same fiber or the same weave can result in such different fabrics. My giant stash was definitely beneficial here!
I'm really having a ton of fun hanging out with Anna and sharing my passion with her. I'm so glad her parents are willing to share her with me. She's awesome!!