Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Make It!






















Making things. Hmmm. Craft, double hmmmmm.....I remember the last time I wrestled with a tricky Vogue pattern, expensive fabric and my sewing machine and ended up cutting 2 left fronts of a lovely Calvin Klein dress in expensive silk. The offending pattern pieces, useless silk and the sewing machine were shoved, unloved into the recesses of the cupboard.

I am a hasty person at the best of times, and have to consciously remind myself to 'measure twice and cut once'. Look before you leap, you know, all that mindfulness stuff. And the good news is that I am becoming a more patient person: I am ready to embrace a whole new world of making crafty things with kids. I must admit I am trepidatious, but I no longer am sewing at midnight after a long day at the office. This is different. This is fun sewing, mindful educative craft, with the kids!

We are following some ideas in a book called 'Make It!': learning how to recycle stuff that appears useless, but has a whole new life as something else. We are converting old jeans into bags. What-ho! There are lessons for me in remaining calm as my 9 year old drives my sewing machine wonkily across the bottom of a pair of jeans , and lessons for the kids in thinking about how to transform junk into something to treasure.






















And the results, are pretty cool too.!


4 comments:

  1. Very cool! I bet the girls are pretty pleased with their new bags - M certainly looks very proud in the pic!
    I admire your patience and commitment to letting them have a go...Eckart reckons that parenting kids IS your spiritual practice (you don't need any others!)...that is, practicing mindfulness with them is the most important thing you could do, for the development of your consciousness as well as theirs...

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  2. ohhh how fantastic! shes too sweet. does blogging give you impetus to complete? i find it a total motivator. LOL those bags are way cool!

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  3. Lovely Bags!!! Blue Jeans bags!! you will never find one exactly the same in the whole wide world!!!!!!!!!!!! Nanny XX

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  4. We think that they look very cool and are very impressed with Evie's and Simone's skills! They would make lovely presents as well!
    Kisses
    Luna and Ana

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