Learning to Stitch

A couple months ago, a member of the Marin Golden Threads asked for volunteers to help teach stitching to some Brownies and Girl Scouts. My Mom and I signed up to help the Brownies, ages 6-8, and today was the day. There were six adult volunteers and we all had a lot of fun.

There were around eighteen or nineteen of the little girls there, all chatting and giggling. The older girl scout teaching the class taught them the cross stitch first and then the backstitch. At first, it was just a challenge to make sure every girl was able to thread her needle :)

But, slowly and surely, the girls started picking it up and everyone was making little X's on their practice plastic canvas. Actually, a few of the girls had already taken a sewing class and were flying ahead of the teacher. They even learned how to do a satin stitch and Smyrna cross by the end.














Watching them learn how to stitch made me think of when I was little, my Great-Grandmother teaching me how to crochet chains that would stretch across her living room. I still have the first cross stitch design I ever made in a box in my spare bedroom. It was a small picture of a jar of berry jam with beads sewn on for the berries. I gave it to my Great-Grandmother one year for her birthday (or Christmas?). I like to think that she would be proud of all the things I've learned since then.