Thursday, January 19, 2012

A Mother/Daughter Project

I am a crocheter by nature. Most other crafty things are way beyond my radar. I try to knit but I constantly drop stitches or my knitting is way too lose. I try to hand sew and my stitches are loose and not very uniform. I try to machine sew and my machine and I just do not get along. My threads want to bunch up or break and I just want to throw my sewing machine out of the window. I am a crocheter by nature.

My oldest daughter on the other hand seems to be able to pick up on things rather quickly. She is very good at drawing animals, people, anime. She gets ideas to create things out of paper or a cardboard box and it turns out perfect every time. I am so impressed with her abilities at 12 years old I tend to just sit in amazement most of the time and watch her create and build and draw and whatever else she is doing.

My daughter came home from school a week ago talking about the quilted purses the girls at school had. She just loved them and she wanted one. We looked on line at the name brand ones on everyone seemed to have. The style and color my daughter wanted was $55. I couldn't believe my eyes!

So, we came up with a brilliant plan for her to make her own purse. We went to the library and checked out books about purse making. We watched videos on YouTube about purse making. Taking the bull by the horns, I went to our local grocer which carries some supplies and bought 2 fat quarters in the same purple tones, a zipper, some cord for the strap, some purple thread and some quilt batting. That afternoon I surprised my daughter with her new project.

She laid everything out on the floor and began imagining just what her purse was going to look like. She begged me to get started that night. She made a deal with me saying she would do all of the designing and cutting if I did all of the sewing. I agreed.

Three long, brain breaking trying to figure out how to sew these pieces together to make a nice looking bag later we came up with this........




Here on the back of the purse are two pockets. (sorry about the color differences...I think I was playing with the flash)



There are also two pockets on the front. One tall one for pencils and such and the shorter one for her cell phone.



There is a pocket on the inside as well.
 I learned a lot about my daughter and myself while doing this project. 
1. My daughter is an amazing designer. 
2. I can do anything I set my mind to.
3. I learned how to put a zipper on something. (I always thought it was way too hard)

I am really proud of her for having the insight to design this purse. I am also proud of myself for letting my technical side shine and really using my brain to figure out how to create my daughter's design. Making, pinning, and sewing this one, single purse showed me that I am more than what I give myself credit for!

Oh and now she wants us to make them to sell. The materials were $25. She wants to sell them for $40. We have no orders yet! Maybe we can make some to sell at some festivals! I dunno...it's an idea!



Now for my picture of the day. Here is a picture of my dad's side of the family minus two members: Aunt Hazel who wasn't there and Uncle Jack who is deceased.
From top left: Aunt Brenda, Aunt Vergie, Uncle Johnny, Uncle Floyd (or Butch), Aunt Rose, and Aunt Linda (My family says I look a lot like her)
Bottom from left: My Dad Rick, my Grandma Rosa, and my Uncle David.


Be Blessed y'all!

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful! And what fun to do it together. I would give almost anything to have my children young again and close enough to do things together. Cherish this time you have.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are such a good mother to support your daughter's dreams.. and help her make something like that! Let us know what her friends at school think of her work of art! Great photo of your family! I hope you get to spend lots of time with your dad.
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fabulous purse, well done to you both, you obviously work very well together.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Team work! How great and handmade is very very cool! I think you may have a talented entrepreneur on your hands...I feel an Etsy Store coming on! I could not make that at 40 years old so if your daughter is 12 her skills will go from strength to strength. I am very impressed with the project.

    ReplyDelete