The Bermuda Shorts
Mariksa has her play area next to where I have my sewing "studio" set up. She actually has more space than I, even though some may beg to differ. Anyway, typically she does her thing (dance, play school, play house, read, do arts & crafts, WATCH TV, Watch videos, mess around with the train tracks on the train table, do Hannah Montana impersonations, do Cheetah Girls impersonation, practice for her debut on American Idol, play dress up - anything from Power Rangers to Belle to a vampire & I do mine -- sew.

On occasion she shows great interest in what I am making, especially in the art of it all as she really likes arts & crafts. Her art teacher at school has recently gotten her into modeling with clay. Mariksa really enjoys it. She's totally in to sculpting with different tools and everyday objects. This week she brought home the coolest clay turtle she sculpted & painted totally on her own. Her teacher told her it was the first time she let a 1st grader start working with clay.

This past week when I created the new pattern for my blouse out of the old blouse & then drafting & adjusting a new pattern, Mariksa was quite interested in how it all worked. She asked a lot of questions & watched me intently at times. She said it was kind of like clay. (Yeah, I guess it is, especially when you realize one has to work around a lot of lumps and bumps on me!)

I drafted a simple pants pattern for Mariksa Tuesday night & made up a pair of sleep pants for her. When completed, she commented on how I must be really good at art because she just can't figure out how I can make all this cool stuff sometimes. (Wow. What a great compliment!) Anyway, she decided she wanted to make some pants herself. I helped her make a simple bag once, but this is the first time she's been interested in making an article of clothing. She even reminded me that she was almost 7 now and I told her when she was 8 years old I'd teach her how to sew. So her logic is 7 is really close now and 7 is also close to 8; so she can learn now. Who was I to argue?

So last night I traced the pattern for her on a fabric of her choosing (leopards!!) and I did all the ironing, but she did the rest - carefully cutting out the pieces; learning how they go together to curve around & fit the body; serged the edges of the waistband & hems; serged up the seams, sewed the hems in place, sewed the waistband down, cut the elastic to fit her waist, stuck a safety pin in the elastic (and her finger in the process!) and then "threaded" the elastic through the waistband, sewed the edges of the elastic together, added a size tag (7!) and then closed up the seam.

VIOLA! Her bermuda shorts. And was she ever proud! She had me make a collage of the photos & print it off so she could take that with her to school to show she indeed, made the shorts she wore to school today.