NeedleWorkMonday - Learning to Sew with Mom ~

It’s so good to see you again here for #NeedleWorkMonday!! It’s the holiday that gave me a reason to love Monday’s!! 😄

I hope you weren’t thinking I was the “mom” from the title of my post. My mom is the teacher!!! She is currently teaching my daughter and I how to sew.

Here’s a brief:

I had a seamstress mom that offered to teach me how to sew at a very young age. I wasn’t interested in learning (didn’t understand what a valuable tool my mom was trying to give me). She tried teaching me in my early adulthood years but I gave up and quit.
With no hope in sewing I tried crocheting, fell in love and became addicted.
Through crocheting I started becoming interested in learning other needle crafts as well.
Being apart of the #NeedleWorkMonday community inspired me to give sewing another try.
I started sewing with my daughter and helped her make a friend a pillow. I made my daughter a skirt with a matching crochet pocket for her shirt and it was a lot of fun but...

I have decided I want to learn not only the basics but the ends and outs of sewing. Instead of my daughter and I learning from videos we are learning one on one, up close and personal with my mom. She has set her sewing room up for us like a real class. She will also be teaching a few others as well.

She had these letters waiting for us on each of our sewing machines (yes I’ll get to that soon, she has 5 of them) along with our own folders to keep notes and tests in (yes she plays no games lol). She wants it to feel comfortable but also as if we are really in a professional class. She wants us to work hard and be serious about learning these sewing skills.

I don’t plan on quitting class this time around. I have an 8 year old little girl looking up to me and depending on me to succeed. My daughter is so thrilled that her mommy is being brave and dauntless, facing the dark needle side that used to haunt her years ago. Okay you get the point...I’m nervous! My mom will not let me cut corners or cheat...she’s gonna be on me! 😬

It was hard to get a shot of the whole room but here you can see the work table that my mom uses to demonstrate on. We will also use it when we need to cut, measure, trace patterns etc.

The Machines

My mom has used the same machines for a very long time. The first top left is her oldest machine...we call it heavy metal. It’s the real deal and it’s her favorite one yet. The bottom left is the newest one out of the collection.

You’re probably wondering why I have one highlighted in the middle? Well that one is special. It only belongs to my mom temporarily. It was given to me by a family friend after his mother passed. He wanted someone to have it that was into sewing and crafts. He knew I wasn’t an expert in sewing but I assured him one day I planned to be.

So now you know the other reason this class has to happen. This sewing machine is special to him because it belonged to his late mother. It has a serger, something my mother has wanted for a long time...none of her machines have one. I told her to babysit mine for awhile until I was ready to graduate to it. I currently use a basic Singer machine which will become my daughter’s once I am ready to take mine home. She is teaching me how to use my own machine...SWEET!! 🤗☺️

The first night she went over the functions of our machines and reviewed how to wind the bobbin with my daughter. I did catch on to some things ~~accidentally~~ watching my mother sew when I was younger. I can always remember how to do these basic maneuvers.

She tested us on our straight line sewing and had my daughter practice holding her material as she sewed. She explained the reason she went from

THIS...

to THIS...

was because she wasn’t stretching and smoothing the material enough along the way.

I am sooooo proud of my daughter. Remember we started her out with this little machine...

The bigger ones were intimidating to her because of the needle. Look at her now! She is doing so well learning on the big machines. Just a heads up those little beginner ones are not the best to learn on. It did stop working for us and we only used it a few times.

My daughter wants to sew her own Barbie clothing. Once she is ready that will be her first project. She will use the material in the above picture which are leftovers from the skirt I made her and the pillow she made her friend.

I must say I’m glad my daughter did not follow in my footsteps when it came to sewing.
She is being given the opportunity of a lifetime to learn an invaluable skill that she can use forever. I’m so proud of her for taking this initiative to learn how to sew and I’m thankful her eagerness is keeping me motivated :)

I will keep you posted on how things are going. This will be a slow and laid back process because we are only able to go once a week which is every Friday. We practice at home and do the homework she gives us so that helps.