She Made It!: a skirt (or two)

Late last year, just before we got inundated with birthdays and weddings and holidays (and an illegal camera placed on our property by the police, but that's a story for another day!), Miss M decided she needed a new skirt. Since the madness hadn't started yet, I let her pick out some fabric and sew herself a skirt!

She picked a pretty paisley baby wale corduroy my mom gave her and a simple gathered-rectangle type of skirt with an elastic waistband.

This was really the first time I let her use my machine on her own. She was very cautious about the needle...so much so that she sometimes forgot to guide the fabric, so focused was she on keeping her hands out of the way. But she soon got the hang of it!

Her favorite part was using the iron to press the elastic casing and lower hem. No pictures of that part 'cause my assistance was much needed.

She cut, pinned, stitched, and pressed all by herself! I was there the whole time to tell her what to do next, but she really did it herself!

Putting the elastic through the waistband gave her some trouble until she got the hang of it, but once she did, she managed to get all the way around!

Ta da! Her very own, one-of-a-kind corduroy skirt! She was SO proud of herself! The first thing she did was text a picture of herself to my mom. Hehe...

Fast forward a few months to January. Miss M got an invitation to her best friend's birthday party! But what to give her? Miss M decided she wanted to make a skirt for her friend too. So she picked out some fabric: a cute cotton print and some cotton-blend eyelet. She also picked some pretty pink fabric for a blouse (and picked the pattern too, Ottobre 2/2005, #11, but without the shirring across the front).

Of course, she had to try it on before she gave it away! I'm told the birthday girl was quite pleased with her handmade gift! And a bit amazed that a little girl just like her made the skirt.

Do you let your kids use your sewing machine? If your kid could make anything they wanted, what would it be?

I'm linking up to:

MFW ECC: What's different this time around?

I am so excited to go through Exploring Countries and Cultures again. The last time my kids were so little -- 3rd grade and Kindergarten. And now they are in 5th and 8th grades! They have grown so much over the past five years. As I began to think about our plan for this year, I realized two things: 1) my gifted eldest child remembers just about everything we covered in ECC the first time, and 2) my younger one hasn't had many of the basics that ECC covers. So I was faced with a dilemma -- how do I adjust ECC to suit the very different needs of both children? How do I shift the focus for my 8th grader to aspects of ECC that she hadn't spent time on before (such as types of governments, imports and exports, etc.) while also taking my younger child through the more foundational information that he missed when he was just a kindergartener? ECC is designed to be parent-led, family learning, with a supplement for 7th and 8th grade. But I came to the conclusion that I need to deco...

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Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

Hubby and the kids are huge fans of King's Hawaiian rolls. I was spoiled by homemade bread growing up, so I don't care for the processed taste/texture, but more than that, my pocketbook just can't take the hit on a regular basis! In order to make everyone happy, I embarked on a quest to find the perfect roll recipe. It had to be sweet (very sweet, actually!) to please Hubby and soft to please the kids. After quite a few tweaks and trial runs, I've settled on this as the perfect Hawaiian sweet roll recipe. Ingredients 1 cup milk 1 cup pineapple juice (can substitute pear or apple juice, or water for a less sweet roll) 3 large eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter, slightly cooled 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 4 tablespoons wheat gluten 1/2 cup sugar (white or brown, we liked it both ways!) 3 teaspoons yeast (3 1/2 if planning to freeze the rolls before baking) I made mine in the bread machine (as usual), but you ...

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