Half way through our "Sewing 101 day".

Kris and I are taking a short break from our "Sewing 101 day." I'm taking the opportunity of her brother being at scout camp to re-teach her how to sew. She was so excited about the idea when we talked last night. Her main comment though was "this time I will not sew so fast." Last time round she almost sewed herself to my machine and she gained some valuable experience from that :)

So what have we done so far?

1. Looked through all my fabric and re-sorted it. One large tote is now empty. All the scraps are in a small box and will be ironed next week.

2. Picked out fabric for her projects and made a list of what she would like to do. This list stays with her fabric in her own small box :)

3. Watched 1 1/2 sewing programs on PBS and learned about seams, what machine needles to use with the machine and why, how to felt sweaters (for me) and heirloom sewing (which she thought was fascinating).

4. Measured her 4 poster doll bed for a quilt, pillow and drapes and picked out which fabrics from her "stash" would work best with her bedroom color scheme.

5. Washed most of her fabric. Now in the dryer.

6. Re-taught her how to thread my machine and how/why to roll up my long tape measure. (I need to re-arrange my sewing area slightly so I can stand or sit comfortably at the back of my machine while she is using it.) 

7. Re-taught her how to do a dress-making seam and a quilting seam and had her practice.

8. Rotary cut the fabric for the top of her quilt and ironed it.

Our plans for later today involve ironing all her fabric and taking a photograph. Sewing her doll quilt and pillow together and if we have time make the bed drapes.

There is a twist to all this. She has some special needs and I'm "working" with a stinker of a head -ache but we are having a good time. She is looking forward to doing all her projects over time but announced that her schoolwork has to be done first.