Ok, live and learn. I invited 6 little girls over to make doll jeans in three hours and oh, what a party! I have to confess at the end of the day I'm glad only five showed up or else we wouldn't have finished in time. Also, one angel mother of one of the girls stayed the whole time and helped (or we wouldn't have finished in time) AND we glued instead of fused embellishments on, and we skipped the faux fly step, and we didn't even get close to emboidery or beading, and the girls only sewed 3 seams of the pants each. Near the end of the party I quickly whipped up each pair from the waist onwards myself. All those fudge factors, and we just barely finished in time! So it's back to the drawing board.
I got some great feedback from the moms, and I will definitely incorporate their tips into the next workshop. I learned that 8 years is just a little too young to use even a small rotary cutter. Age seven is out of the question and age 9 proved to be a huge improvement in coordination. I learned that I should have pre-fused some Heat'n'Bond onto the fabric swatches I provided, and that fabric spray paint and store-bought appliques were the hits of the party. I learned that a curved seam is a lot more difficult for a beginner than I remembered -- and that was only ten years ago! Admittedly I took on more than I could handle sharing in an afternoon. What's new?
The good news is I think the girls had a blast! A couple of them took to sewing immediately and seemed so happy to finally get to try it. We practically had to pull them away from the machines at the end! They were just playing around with scraps, not even sewing seams, just stitching to stitch and having a terrific time of it. I can relate, because I know how mesmerizing it is to run the machine and watch the thread march out in a line as if it had a life of its own. If nothing else I feel I opened the door a crack for a new creative outlet for the girls. I loved listening to the comments about the various fabrics and colors, and I was bowled over by how cute the jeans turned out. The girls made them way more fabulous than I ever could have imagined! Besides learning a little about nurturing creativity, I was inspired by their youthful energy and fresh perspectives. As a result I'm thinking of new ways to use fabrics myself! So what's next?
Should I pursue this? I'm quite exhausted, truth be told. I'm not even convinced it's a good concept based on the difficulty of the mechanics and the limited time frame. Should I try this with older kids? Smaller class size? Somewhere public? A mom/daughter party? So much to consider at this point. But just look at their finished projects! Pretty cute!
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