As much as I've loved creating with glass this past year and a bit, I've really missed fiber. Yarn, fleece, roving, fabric.... As creative media, fibers of all sorts are so much more tactile-ly pleasing than glass. My fingers itch to play with it all. Unfortunately, time and ambition have had me focused on glass and the rest have fallen to the wayside.
Rowan recently picked out a hat pattern: The Santa Monica cap by Lila Tueller Designs. The plan was for her to make the hat herself; she did start it, but didn't get any farther than the first few steps. Two weeks later, she was out on the boat and I was sick of looking at all the materials and sewing machine sitting out. I decided to finish it for her.
Now, normally I wouldn't complete a project for my daughter. I firmly believe that she needs to learn to see projects through to the end before she gets the satisfaction of the finished product. However, I also know that this theory is why she's been working on a simple four-patch quilt for at least two years. I didn't have the patience for the hat to take so long.
This decision turned out to be a good one. The hat was really beyond her beginning sewing skills. I've been sewing for over 30 years and I still had to sew the brim on twice. Happily, she was just thrilled to have it completed and didn't mind at all that she didn't make it herself.
It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. I'd do the brim differently next time. It came out much narrower and pointy than the photo on the pattern envelope indicates. I'd like it to be wider and rounder.
Hmm, I just realized that she picked fabrics very similar in color to the sample in the pattern photo. That reminds me of me picking out patterns and fabric when I was a kid. I always wanted my dress to be just like the one on the pattern envelope. Mom thought it was because I had no imagination. I like to think it was that the color attracted my attention at least as much as the style. Like mother, like daughter, I guess.
It was fun to practice my sewing skills again. Now I want to dig out a project for me!
