Sewing Lesson

 Kalina has been wanting to learn to sew. Her mother suggested that she offer to do some chores for me in exchange for lessons. I asked her what chores she would be willing to do and she offered to mow our lawn for us. We have a riding lawn mower. Since my children have outgrown their fascination with our lawn mower by now, I accepted her offer.

 I asked Kalina what she wanted to learn to make while we were on our trip to Leavenworth expecting to hear that she would like to make a skirt or a top. She decided she would like to make a traditional Bavarian costume! I told her that was a little too ambitious for a first project, but that we could make a peasant top and a skirt or apron. She realized that she already had a long full skirt, so we made a top and an apron.

 Kalina did all of the cutting out AND all of the sewing( except for one little mistake I helped fix). I just helped her figure out the instructions. She even threaded the sewing machine( I still threaded the serger).

Didn't she do a great job? She was especially happy to realize that she had made a top she could actually wear anywhere, not just a costume. As she was leaving she said to me " This is so great! I got to learn something I wanted to learn (sewing) in exchange for doing something I really wanted to do (riding the lawn mower)". I got to teach someone a valuable skill and got my lawn mowed. We also got to enjoy Kalina's company for a couple of days.  A win win situation for both of us!