For The Kiddo

My daughter LOVES Cons… as in Kumori-Con, Sakura-Con, Comic-Con etc.  This weekend is Sakura-Con up in Seattle and she had plans to make some costumes.  She loves and dresses like Pikachu from Pokémon… and has for a long time.  So she wanted to make a third Pikachu outfit so she could stay in character all three days of the Con.

I know a lot of quilters out there are stay-at-home-moms… and I just don’t know how you do it. I am in continual awe when I hear stories of creating things with young children.  When my daughter was younger, she would not take any advice or help from me AT ALL.  Any creative project led directly to tantrums for her and quite a bit of frustration for me.  I would end up doing things for her, she would destroy it, and then fail in school when she didn’t have a project done. I have a closet full of packaged projects we couldn’t even start.

So imagine my amazement when she asked for help on this Pikachu project and actually took direction and helped!!  This is what we worked on together for the last 2 days:

She bought a hoody from American Apparel and we changed it. We cut off the sleeves and tapered the upper portion of the body to be more form fitting, added ears, tail, cheeks, back stripes, and ruffles on the pockets.  She was the one to hand stitch the stripes on back, the cheeks, the trim on the pockets, and even the ears!  … and with NO complaining!! 

I think she did an awesome job for her first sewing project!  It’s about time too ~ she’ll be 21 in July, so I had to wait a loooong time for this.   The cherry on top was when I was driving her to the Greyhound Station, she said to me:  “Thanks so much for helping me ~ I’m glad I grew up enough to let you help me.”  So I cried on the way home feeling like a good mommy.