There's been a wonderful little pocket of time that's emerged in the rhythm of our afternoons lately. With Harper down for his long nap of the day, and the boys outside making Flip videos of each other crashing off their handmade jumps and into mud with their bikes (good times)...Adelaide and I have found ourselves "alone" together. Wanting that time to be special one-on-one connection with her, and doing my very best to ignore the clean up I could be doing (or the laundry, or the dinner that could be started), I ask her what she'd like to do.
"Mama, I want to sew."
Well, twist my arm, sweet baby girl. We can do that.
"Sewing" for Adelaide means any number of things. She's a big fan of moving pins from one pincushion to another. Sorting through buttons is always a favorite (as is just sticking your face in a bowl full of them. It's cool. I get it.). Measuring - with every single ruler and tape measure I have - is super fun. Lately, she's been digging tracing her own patterns onto tracing paper. And of course, there's always sorting safety pins by size into vintage teacups (ah, now there's my fellow Virgo girl).There's plenty to do in Mama's little sewing space.
While she's busy with her sewing, she stops periodically to give instruction on exactly what I should be doing. Namely, telling me what to make her and what, exactly, to make it with. Ahem. (The girl knows what she wants, I tell you.) On this day, she had found the newly arrived Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross on the coffee table and requested the Flower Girl Dress. A quick and easy pattern, it was perfect for one of our little sewing sessions. (Though, a word of warning: check the sizing/measurements on this one if you're going to make it! It runs quite small - I made the largest size for Adelaide, who's an average sized 3 and a half year old). She was quite clear about the fabric choice too - this print from Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks line (she has good taste - I loooove that fabric too!).
We both worked together, with a constant stream of fabulous chatter the whole time (oh, I do love the way three year olds think...and talk). And when her dress was finished, it was deemed quite suitable for twirling and dancing, which, of course, we all know is what dresses are all about. I still think so, anyway.
(Later that night, this Mama snuck out for a little peaceful sewing of my own and made this second dress - repurposed from an old dress of mine. And yes...she's wearing a headband from the same book and same fabric in one of the photos above - I just cut an inch off everything in the pattern to make it fit her head.)
Like any rhythm in a family of six, I fully expect that this special little pocket of time of ours might shift soon: Harper will soon be awake more; the weather will be warmer and we'll want to be outside then too; the boys might tire of the mud (what?) and want to join us; she might actually want to do something else. Whatever it may be, eventually this little afternoon sewing session with my girl will shift into something else. And that's okay too.
But for now...well, for now, I'm loving it (and her) up. And treasuring our little afternoon sewing sessions dearly.