Sewing plans and projects

Daughter J has found a hobby!  She has begun to sew.  Now I have sewing 'skills' that date back to Home Ec class in the mid 60's.  I can close my eyes and see the emerald green shift dress that I made.  Yikes, it is an ugly memory and frankly it was an ugly dress.  But I spent good money on that fabric and I wore it many times.
However J has taste in fabric.  She sees things that go together in a way that amazes me.  I look at the fabric on the bolt and think 'really?' and she just knows it will work.  She made the decision to jump right in.  We generally work well together as long as I don't go straight to 'takeover' mode.  I think I did ok - I know she did great as the seamstress.

Her first projects were burp cloths for Baby G.  Cute fabric!  Some cotton and some flannel.  Lots of measuring and cutting and pinning and ironing and sewing, but they turned out very cute.

So fast forward a week and she is making dresses for her nieces for their birthdays!  The pattern is an updated version of the pillowcase dress.  J has sewing skills!  She cut patterns, sewed seams, did an occasional rip-out (but to her credit, only a couple times and she made three dresses in three days), ironed seams with the best of them and has finished dresses to send off to the little girls. Best of all - she loves her new hobby and is already planning blankets for the boys.  

There was one major discovery.  Thread makes an incredible difference. I had only ever used the old Coats and Clarks, but I am here to tell you there is a vast difference in how nicely the newer thread sews.  I have ditched the old threads for sure.  

Notice there are just two dresses in this picture.  J did make three dresses.  Here is the story:  The pattern had to be adjusted to accommodate the cute contrasting band at the bottom of each dress.  Since I am the one with experience, I measured and adjusted the first one.  Worked great!  I measured the second, cut it, and J sewed.  When it was finished it would have just about fit Baby G. Somewhere in my plan, I measured WRONG.  I totally take full responsibility for the mishap.  I am definitely not considering work in the design industry any time soon.  It about made me break out in a sweat to do the measuring for the third dress, but it went just fine. 

Luckily J has a friend whose daughter will turn one next month, so she gets a little dress too.