Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Book that Alysha wrote

For a couple of months one of my sewing girls has been busily stitching a fabric book. Earlier this year the stork delivered a little sister for Alysha; Velvet. To be just a li'l bit different, we thought a fabric book would be a wonderful present for Velvet. A present that would provide hours of fun and imaginative, conversation and play; a present that could be kept forever.....a unique keepsake, a unique heirloom.

As Alysha lives on a farm with her family, Alysha thought a book with a farm theme could be the setting of the book.

After a lot of thought, and a li'l bit of planning (we tended to make it up as we went along) Alysha started to stitch.




As I guide my kiddos along the yellow brick road of stitching, I am always thinking of fun activities they can stitch and make. My memories of sewing at school are those of which horror stories are written. Sewing teachers of my vintage seemed to have possessed a secret delight in making sewing lessons as irksome as they possibly could. The sewing teachers of old (at least mine were) always seemed to be utterly boring, with no exploration down little paths of  delightful discovery, creativity and ingenuity. I cringe when I recall Mrs Colditz's shrill-like screech....(many a parody was made of that name...not nice I know, but alas, true)....regarding the imperfections of my sewing...."that might be good enough for you, missy, but it is not good enough for me.....do it again.....and again....and again!!!!!" She would look at me and my sewing rather menacingly with a rather large ruler in her grip ready to strike one's knuckles if my stitching wasn't to her liking. Oh, she was a horrible woman!

But to get back on the happy and inventive path that the kiddos skip down at the Kim Sharman School of Stitching Excellence......with a lot of clever stitching from Alysha and with a li'l help from me, Velvet's book has been published!


We thought it would be fun it this was to be an inter-active book. A book where a small child could have lots of fun opening a house door or a barn door, to see who or what was waiting inside to say "hi".








We wanted to add a tactile touch throughout the book. The lamb has been sewn with woolly fabric; the clouds with felt to add a sense of fluffy, white clouds etc.


Alysha is one of seven girls! Mmmm.....seven brides for seven brothers, perhaps!



On washing day, the clothes can be taken out of the clothes basket and hung on the line to soak in all that glorious sunshine.



There is something not quite right about this page......can you guess?





Velvet's farm is a place filled with whimsical critters....lady bugs, li'l birdies, fluttering butterflies, sliding snails, buzzy bees and a garden filled with oodles and oodles of "Jack in the Beanstalk" rainbow-filled flowers (mmm...perhaps another storyline for a book??) Velvet's favourite place is her mummy's garden....it is a place of make believe; a fanciful place filled with a child's imaginative play.






Deary, deary me......me thinks that this 'li'l' birdy (along with the other critters)  has just flown in from the land of Brobdingnag of Gulliver's Travels fame; just to check out Velvet's floralicious garden. I hope she doesn't "fall off her perch" and land on Velvet's daddy. That could be a wee bit uncomfortable!







After a busy day of playing with the animals, helping her mummy hang the washing on the line and supervising her daddy as he drove the tractor; Velvet has snuggled with her kitty kat on the comfy sofa and fallen asleep. Yes indeedy, living on a farm is exhausting business!



The stitching of this book was the best fun. Alysha loved all the free hand machine stitching. As always I am amazed how the kiddos take to free hand machine stitching as if they  have been doing it forever. Alysha was tentative for the first 'ten minutes', but then she was off, whirring and drawing away to her heart's content. This form of stitching is so freeing and as this book was from the outset, meant to be a child's book, complete with a whimsical story and pictures, it didn't matter one iota if Alysha stitched crooked lines. Indeed, the more wiggly and naive the  lines, the better.


So there you have it. The Book that Alysha wrote! The transformation of a simple idea; the drafting of the story, the search and collation of just the right fabrics for each component; the clever stitching of each thought by a very clever girl to the stitching together of each page. Yes indeedy, a truly unique book which will provide oodles of fun-filled moments for Velvet as she escapes into  the far away land of make believe.
                THE END

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!



27 comments:

  1. That is quite possibly the most adorably little book of all time! Way to go Alysha (and Kim)!

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  2. Oh my goodness...that is just precious! :0) mari

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  3. Simply breath taking! I love what you have guided Alysha to. The story is so much fun and the stitching is amazing.

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  4. Absolutely delightful! I LOVE it! What fun to create and so beautifully done from the choice of fabrics to the stitching and the story. Now that tractor with all the details and perspective must have had your input - it's a work of art in itself! One of seven sisters - Alysha must have an interesting life for I know my own 6 daughters are such fun.

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  5. Way too cool...love it..super effort all round!

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  6. I am in utter awe!!! This is the most amazing book I have ever seen. Sheer joy reading those pages...I really, truly looove it!!!!

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  7. Oh Kim! This post was delightful! If only my sewing teacher was as wonderful as you. I may have stayed in class instead of transferring to woodworking......
    The girl on the swing is perfection Alysha ; ) My five boys watched seven brides for seven brothers over and over. Favourite movie!

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  8. Fantastic,very sweet <3!
    Wonderful book,beautiful story!
    Happy weekend.:*

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  9. I posted yesterday but it must have gotten lost having to travel all that far..... Once again you do it KIM..... What an awesome teacher you are..... and you have really inspired this young lady! Me too for that matter....I just oohed and ahhed as I worked my way through the pages.

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    1. Well.....it is such a long, long way for your lovely comments to travel all the way down here at the bottom of the world, Beth. I'm surprised they don't get lost more often! This cyberspace lark is a bit too much for my pea brain! Thank you for your sweet comments!

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  10. What a great idea and wonderful execution

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  11. Hi Kim, what a sweet idea the book was and how lovely it has turned out. I bet
    it was fun for Alysha. I am amazed that our vintage had teacher's like that and still
    managed to get through it and still love the craft!!! We had teacher's like that and we
    also made some lovely.......parodies, not so nice (chuckle, chuckle) about them too.
    Cheers, Anita.

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  12. Wonderful book amazing story and beautiful stitching :)

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  13. This is amazing! It will be such a treasured gift. Those little girls are so lucky to have you teaching and encouraging them :)

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  14. Kim, it's absolutely amazing. What a beautiful present!

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  15. Alysha is a wonderful big sister and what a great present for Velvet!! That is a fabulous book, so pretty!

    -Soma

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  16. W.O.W. I am in total awe of this child---AND you---and I wanna come to Ms. Kim's School of Sewing Excellence, please :)

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  17. Amazing and oh so sweet! What a perfect gift and you are a peach! Thanks for being you ,

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  18. Está muy lindo, tanto trabajo! me gustaría saber coser así.
    Un abrazo

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    1. Gracias por lo mucho , Eugenia ! Qué bonito tener usted visita mi blog . -Es Un placer conocerte !

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  19. What a 'Gem' you are Kim - the students of 'Kim's School of Sewing Excellence' are truly blessed. And very talented young sewers too - the book is delightful!!

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    1. Aww....thank you, Kerrie. My kiddos are extremely talented! I will tell them you said so...they will be quite chuffed!

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  20. Oh my, oh my, oh MY!! Reading through this post with all its beautiful photos brought tears to my eyes. What a work of art! It is truly amazing - I am touched by Alysha's persistence, thoughtfulness and love for her sister in creating such a precious heirloom. You are such a wonderful teacher and friend to the children in your care. I think Alysha is very blessed to be one of 7 girls - what fun!!

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  21. A home-stitched fabric book...a treasure to behold and to have FOREVER.

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