Future quilter or fashion designer?

Now that my husband works full time at Quilt Addicts Anonymous with me and this little blog has turned into a full blown business with a ecommerce and brick and mortar store, that means the entire family spends most Saturdays at the quilt shop.

At 3-years-old, the future quilter does really well at the shop. It is basically a second home for her. We have a section behind the counter with a kids desk and toys, her kids tablet comes to the store with us and she is a little ham with customers. She will sit quietly occupying herself and then the second someone comes in, she is out on the floor saying hello and bringing over fabric bolts, just like mommy.

I am not quite sure she understands that mommy supports the whole family with her quilt pattern designs and sales of her carefully curated fabric collections that line the shelves. But she definitely understands that mommy makes a lot of stuff, and that mommy has a shop.

She also understands that if there are three or more people in the shop at once, and she brings me a bolt of fabric asking for a dress, that the answer is yes. I would much rather feed her creative juices and avoid a meltdown than say no and save a yard of fabric. This doesn’t happen every Saturday, but it happens often enough that she is getting a collection of handmade garments.

She is actually getting pretty good at matching prints as well. She spotted this mermaid fabric from Neptune and the Mermaid by Tokyo Milk and had to have it, asking for a dress. Mostly because she is three and mermaids are everything when you are three.

So I told her we needed to pick a coordinating fabric out to go with it for the top of the dress. I explained what coordinating meant and walked her over to the line of fabric and told her to pick what she liked best. She did pretty well choosing a dark blue and pink floral that worked great and coordinated perfectly with some bias binding I had in  my notions stash to use for the sleeve and hem finishes.

And the best part? She was really interested in the sewing part, sitting next to me for hours and even “helping” feed the fabric through the sewing machine. So I may not have a future quilter, but a future fashion designer. I would be thrilled with both outcomes.

Are any of you sewing with little ones? Or sewed with little ones when you had little ones? Are they still into it?

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Comment (3)

  1. My 7 year old has been playing with fabric or sitting on my lap “helping” for as long as I remember. She designed her first dress at 4, using a tank top for the bodice and gluing fabric around for a skirt. I helped her trim an edge and went over the glued seams with a sewing machine later, but that’s it. A few months ago I let her sew fabric down (basically raw edge applique) independently for the first time. At Christmas she received her own sewing machine (a hand me down from Grandma) and a stack of fabric I’ve promised to help her turn in to a quilt. It’s magic.

    My two year old is still making collages and sitting on my lap in the sewing room. But, she loves “helping” me.

  2. When my granddaughter was 3 I was finishing up her halloween costume and she asked me if I could get her sewing machine out. I was puzzled and said that I did not have a sewing machine for her yet. She replied that I did and went over to the shelf and pointed to the sewing cards I had gotten her. Animal shapes with holes around the outside that she could sew colorful shoestrings through. She considered that her sewing machine. ;). Bet your little sewer would love those.

  3. I had been making clothes for my oldest granddaughters since they were small. But now they live too far away for me to sew for them anymore. Last summer, they were both visiting me (one from Nevada and they other in New Hampshire). They found my dress form and asked if they could “dress her up”. I pulled out my fabric stash (set aside for doll clothes) and let them have at. They are both 10 and they came up with some of the cutest outfits. I overheard them talking that, when they grow up, they will both move close to me so they can be fashion designers together. Yes I did a “fist pump”! They had the best time playing in all that fabric. I can’t wait to see what they do.

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