Sewing a Garment

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."  

-Eleanor Roosevelt 

If I am ever asked to name a woman I admire, Eleanor Roosevelt is the woman who instantly occurs to  me.  In so many ways, she embodies a leader, activist, visionary, and woman of conviction. Such role models are important for all women of yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

I think a lot about the stories I want to tell my granddaughter and of the stories she herself will fashion.  I wish for her a future that contains challenge yet hope, big dreams only slightly tempered by soft realities, a cause she believes in, her own art, safety, a passion for justice...kindness, laughter, faith in something bigger than herself, and the abiding love of her family.  I pray for this for her (and for my two grandsons) daily.

 I want her to know that making a mistake is not fatal and often the way to learn lessons, some hard some not so.  I don't fear making mistakes as much as I used to, but I am sometimes slow to tackle something because I don't feel quite up to the task.  One of my New Year's resolution this past year was to make a dress for Rosie.  In my project box, I still have the pattern and fabric Alexis and I picked out the same day we bought material for the curtains now hanging in Rosie's room. Daunted by making button holes, I put off making this sundress and now it sits over yet another season or two.

Last week while working out at Curves (where one learns a lot more than physical fitness!), the topic around the circuit was a simple sewing pattern that two members have been making. Mel brought in examples of her work.  It  looked simple enough, it was super cute, and both seamstresses extolled the ease of this pattern. It seemed perhaps this offered a foray into sewing a children's garment--no buttonholes, only snaps!

Trying to silence the inner critic, I am seeking to relax into my making and learning, so I gently noted a few things to change for next time I make this jacket (it is sized from12 months to size 4T). And while this doing of the thing I thought I might not be able to do is nowhere near the scale of championing the emerging civil rights and women's rights movements, it marks a small step on new path of discovery, one that feels a bit thrilling right now.