It is so sweet that she is so taken with my sewing that she would like every piece of it as a present for herself. Be it a quilt, a wall hanging, a set of patchwork pictures...
And sweeter still when she wants to sew something herself. Anything at all. A quilt, for instance. Well, obviously you do not take on such a big piece of work with a child. Afterwards grandmother is left pottering away to finish it and the child is bored. A quilt for a doll, then? But there are quite a few of those at home already.
How about a skirt? Let us make a skirt.
Out came the jersey, the one with the black, white and pink pattern. Flowers and butterflies and an imitation lace pattern. A very pleasant, soft, sweet fabric.
We took the measurements, the waist and the length of the skirt. Since the skirt has eight panels, I divided the waist measurement by 8 and added 2 cm to the width of each panel for gathering and seam allowance. We made the pattern, laid the 8 pieces of fabric on top of one another, pinned them and cut out the 8 skirt panels.
We sewed the panels together on the overlocker. In a pair, of course, so that somebody's foot would reach the machine pedal. With the panels joined, we sewed up the sides.
We found a soft, wide elastic and cut it to the measurement of her tummy plus 2 cm for the overlap. The elastic was turned in once under the waistband and sewn with a three step zigzag. White lace along the bottom edge with the same stitch. The ends of the elastic were sewn with the same stitch too.
A couple of hours of working away together, a little unpicking as well, and the skirt was finished. The child was very pleased. A young lady otherwise stingy with praise kept stroking her skirt and telling me how much she liked it and how lovely it was that we had made a skirt like that. Next on the list are short leggings and long leggings and a countless number of skirts of all kinds. And we must start sewing quickly, because she is going home soon and there will not be time to finish them all. 🙂
