Geetle and I had some alone time last weekend. She wanted to do something momentous, something important. We could not leave the house, since Giggles was asleep upstairs, so our options were limited. She decided that we should sew something.
I have a nice sewing machine. I hack around with projects. But I am no expert, especially on pattern reading. Especially when a 5 year old is breathing down my neck helping me. The pressure gets to me.
But, I wanted to make her happy, so we started to make a lamb, from a quick and easy pattern. Right off the bat, the lamb became a bear, because I cut out the wrong pieces. Then I cut 2 of the pieces wrong side up. Then I screwed something up on the seams and he is pinched and tucked in odd places. Finally, due to that cutting error, half of the bear is inside out…yes, inside out. In the end, we made BaBa Bear, Geetle’s newest friend, who likes to sleep on her pillow, I am told.
As deformed as poor BaBa is…Geetle loves him. He was born on Saturday. On Sunday he went to Wisconsin. On Monday he slept on her pillow all day. On Tuesday, he went to Movie Night at her school. Everytime I look at BaBa, I am embarrassed and want to explain that I made him in less than 20 minutes and that Geetle ran the gas pedal on the sewing machine and that hand-sewing is not my best skill and that I could do better if I tried harder and had enough time.
Everytime Geetle looks at BaBa, she tells me that she likes the way he is white on one side and purple on the other, and that he likes to sleep on her pillow, and that his name is not Bubba, its BaBa.
BAGD says there is a lesson in there for me.
I hate it when he is right.
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Maria said,
March 20, 2008 @ 10:21 am
I think it’s nice.
When I was a kid, we were kind of poor and my mom tried to save money by sewing all our clothes. Since my sister and I, who are 16 months apart, were basically the same size, she usually sewed two of everything. People thought we were twins.
Anyway, when I got to be about 8 or 9 and was playing with Barbie dolls (remember?), I wanted new outfits for my dolls. That was not in family budget. But back in those days, they made patterns for Barbie doll clothes and that was in the budget, along with fabric scraps from those silly outfits my mother made us. So I learned to sew young.
I don’t know how old Geetle is — I admit I don’t follow your blog and was referred to this post by BAGD (via Twitter) — but it’s great if you can teach her to sew when she’s old enough. It’s a wonderful skill for a mom to pass to a daughter (or son). That skill and my grandmother’s ancient Singer (electrified via belt drive) certainly cut my clothing bills when I was fresh out of college and in the workplace years later.
Rachel said,
March 20, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
I think that the bear looks great.
So what if he’s not perfect looking? He’s still soft and cuddly and best of all, made by you. I can remember making things like this with my mom when I was a little older than Geetle. They may have not been the most perfect things on earth, but I made them with my mom and that’s why they were special to me. 
beagoodmom said,
April 1, 2008 @ 9:06 am
I do like that she loves BaBa. She is a pretty good audience. She’s the kid who screams “Yeah! Cool!” when I say “who wants to make pudding?”. She’s a cheap date and she appreciates the small things in life.