Making Mittens

I have been trying to teach Cammy some basic sewing. She has been really fascinated with costume design for quite some time now. Cammy's all time favorite toy has always been paper dolls. If she is ever in a book store you can guarantee that she is going to want a paper doll or sticker doll book even though she probably has five already. She draws fairy fashions all day long....pages and pages of them. Every time we are in the grocery store checkout she wants to get a fashion magazine so she can cut the dresses out for making paper dolls. Her most recent fascination has been with a young fashion designer named Claire Prebble.

I came across Claire Preble a couple of years ago online and showed Cammy her amazing costume designs immediately. Claire won first place in the WOW fashion festival in New Zeland several years ago. She got her first entry in at the age of eight. Ever since then Cammy will occasionally ask if we can look at that girls costumes again Mommy? Here is a link to the WOW page you have got to check this out. The costumes designs are incredible. You will never see your fabric scrap bin the same way again.
http://www.worldofwearableart.com/

2009 Winner Children's Section

The Dandelion Clock, Tracey Koole, Auckland

It's been tough going....she doesn't seem to have much patience for it. I am trying to encourage her by getting her to help me make some mittens for her sister and herself. I let her pick through my cloth bin which often contains some old clothing as well. She chose a pair of velvety red pajamas that were too small for Karma anymore. We traced the girls hands to make a pattern. Note: add at least half an inch to the entire edge of your hand pattern to make sure there is enough space to stitch your seam. Cammy got a good start on hers but is obviously having trouble keeping her stitches small and straight. She has never been one to follow a straight path what can I do? Hopefully I can coax her into finishing them before spring gets here. I got Karma's pair finished and she loves them although they are a little too loose in the wrist.

Sewing and Centering

I was feeling quite overwhelmed last night after a long day in the hot studio trying to get my pottery orders under control, so I got out the sewing basket. I sew a lot in the wintertime when it is too cold to go out to the studio without turning on the heat. Sewing is very relaxing to me because it is such a focused activity. This winter I started making the girls a set of alphabet bean bags....filling them with different kinds of beans: lentils, garbanzo, limas, black, pintos, black eyed peas, split peas and so on so that they will have a different feel with each one....some even have rice, barley or pasta. My goal is to have the entire alphabet done by christmas. I was going to keep them secret but I couldn't wait, they are happily playing games with them already.

I am also making Cammy a set of number bean bags. Each bean bag has an even and an odd number. For now my goal is to get all the numbers up to 20 made by the time we officially start our school year in August. I have a lot of fun ideas about how to use them with our math work. One of the things I like most about Waldorf is the way that they teach through movement to ingrain the knowledge deeply into the whole child...mind , spirit and body.