We got Issy a pretendy sewing machine for her birthday. Part of doing that was that I was going to be World's Greatest Mother and do lots of sewing with her - how idyllic? Everyone and everything would be cooperative and shiny and lovely.
So at which point did I think that buying a craptacular pretendy toy sewing machine would be a good thing? What I really wanted was this:
But I couldn't find anyone then who would ship here (though excitingly I just did!). What I ended buying as a stop gap was this:
Which is just awful. It's kind of cool, in that it works off two bobbins, it has a light, a variable stitch length, forward and reverse and slow/fast mode. Except that it's not cool. Because I use a Bernina. And it spoiled me for everything that isn't the world's greatest sewing ever.
Ignoring the above, what was super cool was how excited she was to do this with me. She did some cutting out (with The Good Scissors):
What really impressed me was how strong an idea she had about what she wanted. I wanted to make a reversible skirt with one of the (hideous) prints she chose on one side, and the other (marginally less hideous) on the other. She had other ideas. She didn't care about reversibility, but wanted a pieced skirt with one print on top and the other for the lower half of the skirt. She was disarmingly forthright about showing me with large gesticulations how things should, and shouldn't be.
And we ended up with this:
So at which point did I think that buying a craptacular pretendy toy sewing machine would be a good thing? What I really wanted was this:
Which is just awful. It's kind of cool, in that it works off two bobbins, it has a light, a variable stitch length, forward and reverse and slow/fast mode. Except that it's not cool. Because I use a Bernina. And it spoiled me for everything that isn't the world's greatest sewing ever.
Ignoring the above, what was super cool was how excited she was to do this with me. She did some cutting out (with The Good Scissors):
And some actual sewing, though she liked doing the pedal operation and keeping her fingers away from the needle. I may have been over zealous in my warnings regarding the ferocity of the needle :)
What really impressed me was how strong an idea she had about what she wanted. I wanted to make a reversible skirt with one of the (hideous) prints she chose on one side, and the other (marginally less hideous) on the other. She had other ideas. She didn't care about reversibility, but wanted a pieced skirt with one print on top and the other for the lower half of the skirt. She was disarmingly forthright about showing me with large gesticulations how things should, and shouldn't be.
And we ended up with this:
This is absolutely the worst and absolutely the best thing I have ever made. It was worst in terms of fabric choices and execution (it is shockingly made) and absolutely the best because she chose it, designed it and mostly made it. It's crappy beyond belief inside and she doesn't care. I love it :)
I love the way you describe "The Good Scissors". My dressmaking scissors also hold the same reverence in this house.
ReplyDeleteMy Mum used to have them too and I thought she was soooo silly to be all precious about scissors...now I have mine and woe betide any child who tries to cut paper with them! Hahahaha...
DeleteOoooooh the Hello Kitty machine looks really cool - are you going to get one???
ReplyDeleteIssy is a star seamstress - just look at her go! And I don't think you can ever give too many warnings about the needle - that thing is scary!
Isn't it gorgeous? I am not sure if we will get one. The sensible bit of me says she is a bit young, it's a bit expensive, she can use my spare, it's kind of me because I like it and how silly am I...the non sensible bit of me says it's fab, it would be great for her to have longer term, she might get years of use out of it and if she doesn't it's surely resellable :). I asked Mum to go in with me for Christmas and she seemed up for it, so perhaps a team effort means it's less ridiculously expensive for a small person...
DeleteThoughts?
The best thing about doing this was that she took what she had made to Show and Share at school the next week - she was sooo super proud of herself it made me teary...getting very sentimental in my old age!