Training Another Seamstress

It seems that I'm inspiring others to sew. Which, I must say, is pretty darn cool. A friend of mine has mentioned sewing her own skirt. I, being the sewing addict that I am, encouraged her to do so. I also encouraged (ok, begged) her to call me if she needed any help. I'm no expert, but I've come leaps & bounds in my sewing.

I got the call Friday night. She was hoping I could come over. Her exact words were "I'm trying to read the pattern, and it's like it is in a foreign language." Boy have I been there. So I fed the baby, put her to bed, kissed my husband goodbye & off I went.

It was too cute. She had her pattern laid out (not cut or anything), but was stuck on which diagram she needed. Fortunately, I had anticipated this would be the case, so I had packed up my book Sew Everything Workshop & my 1995 edition of the Reader's Digest Guide to Sewing (I also happen to have the 70's edition). We talked about pre-washing her fabric, grading her pattern up, RTW sizes vs. pattern sizes, selvages, stay-stitching, lions & tigers & bears, oh my!

The whole scene was so familiar. I remember being shocked at how little time I spent actually sewing versus cutting, pressing & pinning. She also mentioned that she'd hoped to have the skirt done by Monday. I couldn't help it. I laughed. It was so me a few months ago. When I set out to start sewing, I was so naive that I didn't know how naive I was. :)

Anyway, I left her with the assignment of pre-washing her fabric & reading Sew Everything Workshop, starting with Chapter 4: Layout & Cutting. I also encouraged her to read through the pattern & look up the words she didn't know in the books I left her with.

She knows the basics of her machine, & has been mending & altering RTW for a few years now, but starting a project from scratch is...well, you know. I made sure to mention that I didn't even know how to thread my machine when I started. And then it was her turn to laugh at me. :) I think that gave her a confidence boost.

I'm very excited at the prospect helping someone else find a love for sewing.