Follow up…

I’m starting to get letters again, not because it has been awhile since I posted, but because everyone is wanting to know how it is going with the sewing lessons for my daughter who is leaving for camp in less than 24 hours.

Day 1…  Incredible enthusiasm.  Dove right into making that muslin.  I pulled out a cast off fabric and daughter declares, mom, that’s really ugly.  I explained the point of muslins.  Test garments.  To be thrown away when the garment is done.  Daughter replies, oh…  I explain about fit and size and how to grade up since the pattern is too small for her and how to alter the bust cup to something larger than a B.

Day 2, we test fit and tweak muslin, she is relatively happy.  At least I think she is happy.  She is doing a great job and is a meticulous sewer. (Yes I know the word is now Sewist.  Stupid word…)  I explain about stay stitching.

Day 3…  Brianna comes into the studio with a tote bag pattern, she meant to make up a sample for last year’s camp session, apparently the girl scout camp has a box full of kits to make tote bags and no sample.  There are two versions of the tote on the front of the envelope and a couple yards of fabric in the kit.  I ask, what about the jacket?  She says, she needs a break.  Huh? So I watch her make two tote bags, the first requires rattan ring handles.  Which she doesn’t have and neither do the girl scouts.  So she takes scraps and braids handles.  Clever.  But what about the jacket?  She is on a tote bag roll.  Makes the second version, there is enough fabric.  Finishes quickly and realizes she put the bottom on sideways so the bag doesn’t close properly.  She is frustrated and miffed at herself.  I encourage her to take it out.  She moans that she has already trimmed the seam allowances.  Really close…  I encourage her to take it out anyway.  Then I hear the dreaded words that seem to come easily for this generation, and I inwardly sigh.  “It’s good enough”.  I try to reason that a product sample can’t be incorrect.  But ultimately I leave the decision to her.  I was tempted for about 14 seconds to rip it out for her, but that would solve nothing and teach her nothing.  I turned back to the task at hand which was building the fall schedule for my online classes at Weavolution.com.

About 10 minutes later she smiles and says, “there…”  I look at the bag and she had taken off the bottom, re-seated it, restitched it.  I was proud.  She said, mommy my self pride was at stake.  Sigh…  My daughter…

Day 4…  What about the jacket?  At this point, we are in the middle of a sweltering heat wave, 100 degrees in the shade, maybe you read about it in the news.  My air-conditioning failed.  My studio was close to 95 degrees.  I wouldn’t have sewn anything either.  But Bri had seen a teddy bear pattern in one of my boxes, and she pulled it out, traced off the pattern and used some quilt fabric her Grammy had given her and made this…

But what about the jacket?

I realize at this point that my daughter is who she is.  She is good at whatever she does.  And she does a lot.  She is distracted by the next thing that flies past her vision, and like any 19 year old, especially with the internet and youTube, so much flies past her vision it is scary.  When she does a task, she does it accurately and with passion.  Garment construction takes time.  There are a lot of steps.  It is not instant gratification.  There is engineering the building.  Then there is actually building it.  She accomplished the first task and then just ran out of steam, and moved onto other things.  She will come back to it.  The hard part is done.  The jacket fits.  And it looks great on her.

In the meantime…

She came across Glass Harps on youTube.  What are glass harps I ask?  She showed me.  OMG!  There are a number of youTube videos of expert musicians with a table full of crystal wine glasses filled with all levels of water, perfectly tuned.  There was one video of  someone playing a Bach fugue.  OMG!  My daughter has found the next glittering bauble and wants to play the glass harp.  Sadly I don’t own a lot of crystal.  Not really my thing.  But there are two expensive crystal port glasses in the cabinet.  I hold them while she plays.  The sound is amazing.  I remember Thanksgiving dinner as a kid when my dad would “play” his wine glass.  My mom had real crystal.  I never thought about creating an entire orchestra of crystal wine glasses.

Last night I came downstairs and she found a dozen commemorative champagne flutes in an upper cabinet and took a turkey baster and played with getting the pitches right.  She spent all evening and ended up recording a song loosely based on the theme from Harry Potter.  It was enchanting.  If you are on Facebook you can see the link on my home page.  Check out the pros on youTube.

And so she didn’t finish the jacket, but she made lots of other things, and stayed busy in spite of the heat, and is mostly packed for camp tomorrow, which is more than you can say for me, I still have to pack for Sievers, I leave for the airport about 6:30am tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to my magical week at my favorite place to teach.

And in spite of the heat, I managed to finish weaving and wash my hand painted warp, I’m really  happy with it and already mulling over what to make…

I finished the Silk Chiffon handkerchief top to go over my new knit maxi skirt from Kohls.  It is hard to take a photo of yourself in the full length mirror.

And so, I’ve paid all the bills, filed all the paperwork, updated guild websites, made a batch of granola to take with me to Sievers, got the air-conditioning repaired, washed my laundry and put it on the line to dry, and submitted all the proposals for the fall online classes on Weavolution.com.  I know Erica and Oliver, who own Weavolution, are in the final stages of moving so most likely these won’t get posted for awhile.  I wish them all the best and huge hugs for everyone on the other side of the pond.  If you want to know the tentative schedule, I’ve put it up on my website schedule, but nothing will be official until they enter everything.  Stay tuned!