The sewn purses

We made purses. I had received a sewing machine for Christmas and had sewn a few bean bags. We had a visitor in town who was 10. Attempting to find an activity that was rewarding to both a 10 year old and a 3 year 0ld, I thought we would sew purses. This idea was flawed because what is interesting to a 3 year old for more than 20 minutes is not always interesting to a 10 year old for more than 5 minutes and what is interesting to a 10 year old for more than 20 minutes is not always interesting to a 3 year old for more than 5 minutes.

But with a little fanfare, I can usually pull it off. That is, if I am not dealing with the other major flaw of this idea. I have never actually done this before and I am a novice sewer. So I am managing the disputes of who gets to push down the foot pedal (while really, I ought to be doing it myself, given that I really should give my novice sewer self the advantage of keeping my own pace), trying to keep it interesting to my 3 year old even though half the time she has to wait patiently while the 10 year old does hers. Add an iron to the mix, and here comes disaster.

The only reason this worked is because really, the 10 year old and the 3 year old are amazing kids with patience beyond their years.

The girls pretty much picked their own fabrics, with some veto power from me (too thin, too thick). That was an adventure in and of itself, as my 3 year old picked out hers in 30 seconds, but we spent 45 minutes in the store. I had forgotten that after age 7, shopping isn't necessarily so simple.

Here is the 10 year old's purse, the stitching was picked by her, the cool zig zag. I was not really excited about this choice because my mistakes would show up more, but she had faith in my abilities after I warned her, and it turned out pretty cool.

And here is M's purse.

Afterwards, we got fabric paint, and the girls painted them.