Skip to main content

Sewing with Velveteen

I made the mistake of letting Kristen dig through my fabric scraps box during her visit last week. She found some red velveteen and some pink satin. I'm not even sure where it came from--probably included in some yard sale purchase. This is what she wanted to have made into jackets--two of them because she has two 18" dolls and they apparently want to dress alike to go to the "hip hop club."
It took all day but I did manage to finish two jackets suitable for an evening at a hip hop club if you happen to be an 18" doll. What a miserable job sewing velveteen is! It shifts as you try to complete a seam. Lint flies all over but particularly gums up the bobbin case. Thank goodness I did not attempt this construction while the grand children were here because there would have been no way to keep the swearing under control. Little ears just don't need to hear that kind of stuff.
At least Kristen really does appreciate the doll clothes. So it gives me a kind of grandmotherly satisfaction to make them. Her mother, for whom her grandmother made beautiful outfits, was a doll undresser. I was forever finding naked dolls strewn around the house. Of course I would pick them up and dress them before putting them away, but my daughters first act when going to play with them again was to take off all the clothes. Her dolls had tattoos and punk hair cuts which, now that I think about it, should have given me a clue about what we were in for during the teen years...
Now sewing clothes for Kristen to wear herself is another matter. She is and always has been very fussy about what she will and will not wear. Now that she is in school (going into third grade) there is apparently a very strict code of what is considered cool enough and woe to those who don't get it right. I'm not sure I could take the rejection after putting in the effort if whatever wasn't acceptable to an eight year old fashionista.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Updates

 On September 29, I had the closing on my condo. Everything that was not going to the buyers was out and packed in the ABF moving truck which had by the been taken over to the storage units. Don thought it would take him until Wednesday to finish packing the truck with the help of his son. It took him until late Thursday with Chris' help and mine. Kevin was supposed to help load as well but he was in a mountain bike accident and wrecked his shoulder the week before. That added driving him to doctor appointments to my to do list and dong some shopping for him plus jobs around the house that might need two functioning upper limbs.  We stayed with Kevin on Friday night after the closing and then had a suite in an extended stay place for the coming week. This was the worst possible time to have to get a room because the prices balloon during leaf peeping season if you can even find a room at all. But it was close to the storage units where we were working and it was dog friendly. We ju

Wedding

 Don and I drove to South Carolina to attend the wedding of my step-grandson, Will. Will Will and Katie The wedding took place on Dataw Island, a beautiful outdoor ceremony followed by a reception in the country club. We stayed in a tiny cottage in the historic center of Beaufort, rented from Vrbo. Since the wedding was at 5 p.m., we had time to explore the area a bit. I really like the low country scenery and historical charm. Sitting quietly in the curtained gazebo I was visited by multiple cardinals. They came to visit the feeder, not me, but I can always pretend! How I will always remember Will!

Rest In Peace

 In a summer that has been so wet, Sunday was a reprieve. The humidity dropped and the sun came out. It was a day that could have been special ordered by the family of a friend's husband. It was the day they had arranged his celebration of life ceremony set on the shore of Lake Champlain. I was not looking forward to the gathering, even couched as a celebration. This is a family fraught with relationship tensions. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony. A Catholic priest gave a brief but meaningful homily and two Air Force members played "Taps" and presented the American flag to my friend. I am not a Christian, but I do know about Christ Consciousness. That priest's word's filled me with such a sense of peace and love. I hope it did the same for the family members and neighbors who attended.