Miss K Is A Sewing--Third Finish for 3rd Quarter Finish-A-Long

Chef K eating the first dinner she cooked

Miss K asked to stitch a skirt. Since we make better progress when we are one on one, I invited K for a sleepover.

She was excited; but, she let me know that she would have to wait a day because she was cooking dinner for the family. I asked what she was serving. She said, "macaroni and cheese with tomato soup and vegetables. I'm cooking the pasta and then I think the soup will flavor the pasta just right. I'm taking out some pasta for J and then adding cheese for Mommy, Daddy and me. It's going to be so good!"

Dinner was a hit and her mama sent a photo to prove it!

The following day she arrived after lunch to work on her skirt. She approved of the pattern and we had fun taking turns cutting out 10 panels. She thought that 10 panels was a lot! As they were lined up on the ironing table, she was trying to figure out how to sew them together.

Tall enough to stitch on her own

I showed her how to pin the edges and then we started the sewing process. She has grown since the last time that we stitched together. She is tall enough now that she can provide the power to the machine. So she did and of course she LOVED being in control.  Her smile speaks volumes!

Project at the end of the day

After every step, she would take her project out to show her papa/granddad. She was so pleased with how it was coming together.

We stitched all the panels together. I serged the edges and we took turns pressing. She decided stitching a narrow hem was really hard; but she liked getting to stitch with a different presser foot during that step!

After about three hours of stitching, she decided that she was ready to call it a day in the studio. We almost finished. We needed to stitch the casing in the waist and insert the elastic.

She did this the following morning. She was up and ready to finish about 5:15am! I'm up around 4:30am. The early rising is a throw back from my full time working days, so her awakening wasn't too early for me!

Stitching the casing with the number 10D foot was fun. Manuvering the elastic through the casing was not! We made it work though! When she was almost finished with the elastic, she wanted to know how we were going to join the ends.

Triumphant finish

Good question because as she said, the way it was now, it wouldn't stay up around her waist. Good thinking ahead, Miss K! We stitched the elastic and then she understood how it worked. (She also was concerned that it wouldn't be stitched in circle. She has quite the mind in thinking of pitfalls!) She liked stitching the casing closed and loved putting on the skirt.

She didn't pack a t-shirt so I don't have a photo of her wearing her skirt. I asked her if she wanted to look through some patterns to see if there was a top that we could make. She thought it might take too long and she wouldn't be able to finish before it was time to go home. Valid point, Miss K

Besides, there was a bath to be taken, smoothies to be blended; blueberry muffins to bake and yoga cards and magnets to play.

We used 1 1/2 yards of fabric which means that I have now used 18 yards from my stash and I have 32 yards to go to achieve my goal of a net loss of 50 yards from my stash this year.

This was goal number five on my 3rd quarter Finish-A-Long list. There is plenty of fabric left for another skirt for the other grand!