Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Louisa, the sewing machine, and using up old clothes

Recently Louisa got her very own sewing machine. I didn't even realize she had an interest in sewing, but one day we got some amazing tween/teen craft books from the library and she immediately set to work sewing all sorts of handbags, t-shirt bags, etc. It was great watching her go. I kept loading her up with t-shirts and jeans that I couldn't use anymore.

She has since slowed down with the book crafts. She went to spend a few weeks with her grandparents and they have a sewing machine. She had used one in Home Ec this past school year, but I didn't know how serious her interest was. Apparently, it was big, and serious.

She made herself and her brothers real authentic sock monkeys. They are so cute! She did great.

Now that she's back home she has a sewing machine of her own. She's been busy learning how to sew straight lines (not as easy as it looks!) and create one of a kind pieces. Her first projects were these draw-string t-shirt bags. She used an old shirt of mine for her own bag, and Drew picked out a too small shirt of his for his bag. Hunter kept picking out shirts that were still very wearable, so he finally settled on a Hershey Niagara Falls shirt. It's wearable, but he inherited two from his older siblings, so we could sacrifice one for the sake of a bag and a happy Hunter.

Louisa's next project is a gold and red striped Harry Potter Gryffindor scarf for Hunter. He has a Harry Potter costume robe that he wears all the time, so of course he needs a scarf in the house colors! This will take her a little more time, but she's getting there.

She is also teaching herself how to crochet. She's very excited with a, um... "hat" she's making ;) I'm glad she's having so much fun being creative! We'll see where all this leads.