Last Wednesday while Hayden was napping, I pulled some fabric from my stash and sewed a little skirt for Magen. I created my own pattern from a sheet of newspaper (The Philadelphia Inquirer, actually) and it turned out just fine — only because it’s pretty much the simplest skirt ever. Two side seams, a casing for the elastic waistband, and a machine-stitched hem. Magen watched and followed along as I worked, and even fed the elastic through the casing all by herself.

Next time I sew a skirt for her I want to make it a bit more fitted around the hips to reduce some of the fullness while still maintaining some flare, but this was the first time I made clothing for someone other than myself, and considering how quickly I made it, I’m content with the outcome.

The sparkles are fairly subtle, so here is a closeup shot of the fabric.

When I first showed Magen the fabric that afternoon, she said, “Are you sure this is good fabric for a skirt?” I wanted to say, “Actually, it isn’t, because it’s going to wrinkle and I try to avoid ironing,” but instead I just said, “Sure, it’s green and sparkly! It will be cute!” By the time the skirt was finished, she liked it so much that she put it on right over her pants and twirled and danced around the living room.

Magen was so intrigued by the process of making the skirt that I offered to teach HER to sew a skirt sometime in January. When I told her that we would go to the fabric store together so she could pick out the fabric, she said she wanted to get fabric with holly on it.

Holly? This could be interesting…