And so the Labour of Love Begins!

So, we've been through ballet dancing, singing, street dance, swimming, drawing and more, but the latest ambition of my 11 year old daughter is to become a designer. 
Unlike most of her other ambitions, designing/making is something that I love and can help her with. Although I don't expect this phase to last, especially with her off to experience the new world that is secondary school in September, this is a skill that I really want to encourage her with.

Pre-adolescent girls aren't necessarily the easiest to bond with and establishing boundaries between friendship and parent/daughter relationships can be quite difficult at this particular stage of their lives which is why I am actually really excited about our plans to spend time together 'creating' some fabulous items.

On a recent trip into town to find some oilcloth to cover our dining table (that has probably been fed as much as the kids have fed themselves!) I stumbled across some pretty cloth that I just knew my daughter would love. At a reasonable price, I snapped up a couple of yards of the material with no particular idea in mind other than the fact that this could be a great bonding experience.
Once I showed Mikhayla the fabric she was thrilled and instantly suggested we make a bag with it. 

At this point, what you have to remember is that other than the odd project at school, my daughter has absolutely no experience or knowledge of the sewing world at all, this includes operating a sewing machine.

We had a look at different styles of bags and we discussed what she would use it for, then it became quite clear that we were going to have to create our own pattern to make her bag.
Not one to be deterred, I thought I could use this as an opportunity to show her as much as I can about the world of sewing, which I loved when my grandma taught me.

I'm guessing this phase wont last for too long so rather than spending a fortune on materials that will then find a home in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere, we have used newspaper to create our pattern but that in itself was a...'experience' shall we say.

So as we embark on what I'm going to call a labour of love, I'm looking forward to the laughs, bond, memories and bag that will be created I have to admit that I'm not looking too forward to the fallouts, impatience and disagreements that will undoubtedly ensue.

Stay tuned for updates of this labour of love!

M xx