A Tailor in the Making ...

 

Mimi isn't too good with power tools of the carpentry type -- saws, routers, all that -- but she can find her way around a sewing machine and other implements found in a sewing room. So when Wyatt spent a couple of days with me and wanted to MAKE SOMETHING, it made sense to teach him to use the tools I'm familiar with. Turns out, that was a good idea!

 

 

He learned how to use a hot iron, a rotary cutter and ruler, sharp pins, needles and, of course, the best of all -- a sewing machine.

 

 

"It's a lot like driving, Mimi," he said, of guiding the fabric. That's a skill he's already mastered, I guess....

 

 

Pinning through three layers was harder than sewing through three layers.

 

 

On the afternoon of Day 1, he sewed his mama a pot holder made like a miniature quilt: a four-patch top, insul-bright lining and backing, and binding around the edge. I forgot to take a picture of the finished item!  :(  Bad Mimi.

 

That pot holder was fun, but on Day 2, he wanted more of a challenge. We talked about making a pillowcase or a wall hanging, but he decided to make his little sister a quilt that she could use for her dolls. He chose the fabrics himself (mostly pink because that's her favorite color), placed the squares in the order that was pleasing to his eye (after MUCH rearranging, which I said was the really fun part) and began to sew.

 

 

Wasn't it just yesterday that the back of this sweet neck was covered in curls?

 

 

He's so grown-up now, five years later, and is talking about how he can become a part-time tailor when he's in high school and sell things he makes to earn money for college so he can learn to be a farmer like his dad and his poppy.

 

 

 

My eight-year-old grandson figured out how to install the walking foot on my new sewing machine, something I gave up on a month ago. He'll be sewing circles around me in no time.

 

He's asking his dad to bring him over this afternoon so we can make a second pot holder, this one for his Mawmaw.

 

And we're in the market for fabric featuring Legos, to make something for one of his friends, and either baseballs or wild turkeys to make something for another of his friends. He hasn't even mentioned making something for himself.

 

I do love this little boy.