Well, yesterday two of my daughters decided to join me in sewing.  Hannah is sewing up her sundress using my new Babylock Crafter’s Choice machine, and Isabella is learning the all-important skill of hand stitching.

Hannah is working on Vogue 8380.  It’s her first foray into sewing something for a real person – she usually works with my scrap box for the Barbie and American Girl collections in our house.  But I decided it was time she actually put a garment together, so she chose the pattern and the multi-hued cotton fabric peeking in the right foreground of the picture.  I had to dig out my old Pfaff Hobbymate from 1987 to work on my stuff so she could use the newer machine!

Isabella wanted to sew once she saw both of us starting in on projects, and asked if she could do some embroidery, which I spend a lot of time doing.  Hannah suggested Mary Frances Sewing Book:  Adventures Among the Thimble People since it has simple things to start with, and goes over the basics of hand stitches in a storybook format.

So we started with the apron.

Then she started work on a handkerchief, using a piece of handkerchief linen from my scrap tote.   She’ll be making four of them:  one for each American Girl who lives at our house, and finishing them with a blanket stitch in DMC cotton embroidery floss in the colour of each doll’s choice – LOL!!