It took 2 years of it lying around the house before Gianna picked up Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love
The project she fell in love with was “the Mermaiden”. (You can download this project for free on MarthaStewart.com.)
Gianna did as much as she could on her own – choosing the fabric, tracing, cutting, pinning, and hand-sewing. Then, she sat on my ever-shrinking lap while I sewed the parts together. (The tight curves where too much for her 5-year-old hands to manipulate.) This book is not designed for children to sew, but if you can let go of perfection, it can make for some really wonderful parent-child projects.
If I am perfectly honest though, I have to say I had a really hard time letting go of my ideals and letting Gianna take charge. Why is that? Why is it so hard to step back and let our children do something imperfectly? For me at least, this project was an exercise in patience and love. I’ve got a long ways to go in learning to mother well. The result was wonderful though. Gianna has such pride in her project. She tells everyone that she “did it all by myself!!!!”.
If that is the case, I will let you hear more about this Mermaiden from the maker herself.
I made up a song of my mermaid. And I just… and the first step, I made the body. Then the next step, I made the hair, and the next step, I made the fin, and the next step, I made the flower.
I’m going to sing my song. Can you type my song?
[singing] “I love my mermaid. She makes me happy. When I.. because I found her. and I love her. And she makes me happy, because I love her. She makes me happy, because I love her and I made her and she is my favorite doooollllyyyy!!!!!”
[Referring to the picture background] I made some waves and I made some colorful clouds. And I made a pretty rock, that someone painted and dropped in the water. And I made the sun BIG. I made star persons.
I named Millie because that thing I made is a Mermaid and Millie starts with the letter “M” too.
After seeing Gianna finish up her project, my boys have started browsing through Wee Wonderfuls* to
choose what they are going to make. I predict many virtue-growing hours of sewing ahead of me.
How about you? Do you find it easy to let your children take charge in their projects? No matter the result?
* The links marked with an asterix (*) are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for purchases made by clicking through them. See blog disclosure for more information. *
Awwwww…. that is fantastic 🙂 LOVE LOVE LOVE 🙂
I Looooove it, so beautiful, the doll, her song & picture. I would have a very hard time letting go of my standards, but seeing your daughters pride & joy in her own doll, I can see it’s worth working on. My 4 year old is desperate for me to teach her to sew but I’ve been holding out as long as I can so she can be a bit more ready. Following your lead may help me give it a go.
It’s hard, but worth it. Break down the project into doable chunks so you both don’t get frustrated. We did this over a course of a few days.
Gianna did such a great job! I love the mermaid!
I love it! Gianna did a great job creating Millie. =) I also have a really hard time letting go and allowing things to be done differently than I normally do it… not just with my children either. I want everything to be perfect. Been working on that one… =)
Gianna did an awesome job, and so did you by letting her do as much as possible herself. You and Gianna were such an inspiration, that I went online and purchased the book for myself!!! I cannot wait for it to come in. I am making a suitcase dollhouse for my niece for Christmas, and these dolls are going to be perfect for it.
Thanks for sharing and for the inspiration.
Have a great weekend!
Wonderful! Have fun!
What a cute mermaid! And what a lovely explanation she gave, too.
Oh, I have such a hard time letting go, which is a problem with Beadboy2 because he’s a little control freak (wonder where that comes from) and has his own ideas about how to do things.