204- Sewing Lessons

I've probably written before about Mary Greiner, my 4-H Sewing Teacher. She was a wonderful little country lady who had a knack for vexing a bunch of 8-year old girls with her terrible pickiness about *How to Sew Properly*. I used to think she was just torturing us but as the years have gone by I have blessed her name many times that she taught me the way to sew! I've learned lots of wonderful shortcuts and trick, but when the chips are down and I needed to get that zipper into a wedding dress (with fabric that was as slippery as snake skin) I knew how to hand baste that puppy and then sew it in like a charm.

So let's fast forward almost 50 years (yikes!) *Little* Ashton, who is nearly as tall as I am, has a hard time finding skirts that are long enough for her long legs. Jessica asked me if I could make her some skirts. And then I had the bright idea... SEWING LESSONS!

Ashton and her new sewing box.

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We got off to a slow start. We went shopping for fabric and a pattern about a month ago. I gave her the homework of washing her fabric before we did any cutting. But the pattern we chose was just too difficult for a beginner (what was I thinking?). After our first lesson I realized that we needed to back this sewing truck up a few feet. I offered to finish the *too-difficult* skirt for her and got some different fabric to make a S-I-M-P-L-E skirt (say it, Grammie... simple!)

Today when Ashton arrived for lesson #2 I surprised her with her very own sewing box and the cutest little pink and black sewing kit! I was amazed how much Ashton remembered from our first lesson and how quickly she learns (but I don't know WHY I should be surprised, she's always been so smart!)



I drew her some pictures of the different kinds of skirts we could make and she opted for the full skirt (it was the twirling-feature that got her!!) We took her measurements with her brandy-spankin'-new pink tape measure and got to work with measuring, marking, ciphering (do you know how much math & fractions are involved in sewing?) and cutting. Today's lesson got us as far as pinning the front to the back and sewing one seam. Then we folded it all carefully in her new sewing box to wait for our next lesson.

I wonder if Mary enjoyed teaching us as much as I'm enjoying teaching my sweet granddaughter? I doubt it... we were just kids and, well, Ash is family.

Oh, to the joys of being a grandparent! I love it!