4-H Adventures in Sewing

One of my daughter's 4-H projects is Sewing I. It's her second year in this project and she is making a top for her 4-H Home and Family show which is next week. So our big project over the weekend was to make the top. About a month ago when we went fabric shopping we bought two different fabrics because she couldn't choose which she liked best and we decided that having two fabrics would be a good idea so that one could be a "practice" shirt "just in case."

She worked on her shirt with supervision Saturday afternoon, took a break Sunday for an unexpected trip to grandma's house, and then worked on it some more Monday and Tuesday evening. Our goal was to have it finished for the Fourth of July as the fabric she chose was patriotic. She was zipping along quite well until she hit a snag Monday evening.

Monday evening she had put the facing in her bodice and was carefully trimming the seam allowance. I warned her to be very careful in cutting. All of a sudden, she cried out "Oh no!" Her scissors had slipped and she cut a hole in the back of her shirt near the nape of her neck. I encouraged her that it would be OK and she went back to trimming her seam. This time she turned the shirt around and was coming from the opposite direction. Then I heard "Oh no!" again! She managed to cut another hole at almost the same location.

She was sure her sewing career was over for good. However, since she also rides horses, I asked "What do you do if you fall off a horse?" As I expected, she responded "You get back on." So I steered her back to the sewing machine and sat her down to sew a seam on another section of her pattern.

Fortunately, the hole was easily mended by some zigzagging and is only visible if you know where to look. She finished the shirt and proudly wore it in the community parade.

We sure are glad we purchased extra fabric and that she has another week to make a new shirt.