Learning How to Sew
Sky and Leaf
By Debra VanDeventer
Spring green Palo Verde leaves sway against the backdrop
of a brilliant blue sky
and a long forgotten memory stirs on the breeze.
A mother’s hands smooth out two pieces of fabric,
sky blue and leaf green.
Not willing to sacrifice one for the other, both are chosen
and a skirt is designed for her child.
Stitch by stitch, mother teaches daughter.
Together they create
a magnificent skirt
born of the mother’s imagination–wraparound, reversible
sky and leaf.
First Steps in learning to sew
My mother taught me to sew.http://seamslikeastory.com/about-debra/ I don’t remember those first steps in learning to sew, but this memory of a blue and green, wrap-around skirt recently came to mind.
One joy of sewing is the ability to pass the skill on to others. One joy of retirement is you have time to do so. A few summers ago, my (then) eight-year-old granddaughter, Lillian, came to visit for a week. As a former teacher and current sewist, I was delighted when she expressed an interest in learning to sew. Here’s how we began…