Do you remember your first stitch?

I wish I could. But since sewing has been a part of my life since I was nine or ten years old, my early days are a bit fuzzy in my memory.

I do remember my mother making beautiful clothes, gifts and home decor during my childhood (and she still is an amazing sewer and quilter).  I was fascinated with her ability to transform a fabric into something amazing and I wanted to learn very much.

So my mom purchased an old Singer 201K hand crank sewing machine for me and I have had it ever since. When I was given an electric Brother sewing machine for an early graduation gift during my senior year of high school, I packed up the Singer. But I could never bring myself to part with it. 

That old Singer moved with me from home to home during the past twenty years but sat unused in it's case all that time. That is until last month when I had my husband bring it down from the attic and I cleaned it up for my middle daughter, Anna, to learn on.

Anna had asked me a few times last fall to learn to sew but I thought she might be a little too young at eight and a half. She asked me persistently and I finally set aside the time to teach her a couple of weeks before Christmas. She got the hang of basic sewing right away and loved it!  

Before Christmas she made three little doll pillows - one for herself and two for gifts. The smile on her face not only when she completed each pillow but when her gifts were received with delight by her cousin and little sister was such a joy for this sewing mom! Most certainly one of the highlights of our Christmas!

When my youngest daughter, Emily, received that little pillow for Christmas - she decided that she HAD to learn to sew as well. And soon!

And yesterday was the day. My friend and I and our little girls had quite a day of sewing and fun! Introducing Emily on the left (age seven), Anna in the middle (age eight), and their buddy, Elinor on the right (age seven).

We started with the basics and went over the parts of the sewing machine, safety, pinning and cutting out patterns, and how to use both hand crank and electric sewing machines. Pinning proved a little trickier through the printer paper pattern for little hands but they got the hang of it eventually.

My friend, Anita, brought over her Singer 221 Featherweight and I set up my "new" Featherweight (thank you hubby for the amazing Christmas surprise!) and we let the girls try them out, along with the Singer 201 hand crank, an electric Elgin 999F and a Bernina B530.

Anna took to sewing on an electric machine with a little more ease than the younger girls, I'm guessing because she had the past couple of weeks to practice sewing on the hand crank. 

 But really, all three girls did well and had fun making doll dresses. A few thread jams, a little bit of whining over who got to use what machine, a break for lunch and another for trampoline jumping. But other than that, it was a terrific day and each of them made almost the whole dress themselves with minimal help from Anita and I. The pattern we used was found HERE at Skip To My Lou.