A couple weeks ago Aria came up with the idea to sew every Tuesday. She’s been wanting to implement more of the Waldorf-style rhythm into our home lives, inspired, I believe, by both school and the Little House books, and has been assigning herself activities/tasks for each day of the week, mostly during her playtime.
That first Tuesday, Aria decided she wanted to sew a stuffed bunny. I found a bunny template online and cut out two pieces from a felted wool sweater (the thick fabric is easier for little hands to handle than thin cotton and holds up well to larger needles and beginner stitching), hooked her up with some embroidery thread and a needle, gave a brief lesson on how to anchor her thread and she was off. She’s done a bit of hand sewing before – the girls each have embroidery hoops that are most always accessible and she’s done some sewing in school. This was the first project she’s come up with on her own, though.
She sewed on the bunny for hours that day and inspired her sis to do the same (I cut hers smaller), then promptly declared Wednesday to also be
sewing day and worked diligently then as well. She got to the point she was ready to stuff and stayed interested – and relatively patient – when both I and my fave local yarn store ran out of batting and I had to order some. She worked hard to sew around the whole bunny a second time when the stuffing began coming out of some gaps in her stitches and even spent time adding decorative stitches when all sewn and stuffed. She’s quite pleased with the finished result and says it’s going to go to Rainbow (the girls’ name for the baby) when she’s born.
This week, she and Ani worked on Easter eggs (I eyeballed the pattern) cut from a brightly colored and patterned felted wool sweater. I gave Aria a quick tutorial on blanket stitch and she’s picked it up really well. Her stitches look pretty good and I think it will hold well when she stuffs it with the beans she wants to use for this one.
Ani has fun with sewing but does yet not have the attention span or stamina to complete a project like this quickly. She works on it in short spurts and doesn’t have a lot of control over where her stitches end up – all of which is totally to be expected at this age. She gets excited, though, when she gets the stitches close together or when she gets a good amount done in one sitting and she seems to enjoy the process.
We’ll be adding more creative rhythm to our days, over the summer, especially (I’m hoping to implement a few things before Rainbow arrives) and I’ll share as we go. I’m excited to see how these little changes will inspire the girls (and me).
Joining Seasons of Joy a little late for Waldorf Wednesday.
MOOGIELIGHT 