Sewing

Or not. Today Kelly and I embarked on the first steps in her project to supplement her book report on the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder with a doll in a hand-sewn prairie dress. Clever lad that I am, I suggested that we start with the bonnet, which would surely be simpler than a dress, and let us earn our chops before starting on something more complex.

However, the directions were cryptic, the pattern was larger in it's smallest choice than the head of our doll, and I spent the afternoon scanning patterns into Photoshop and scaling them down to 50% of the original. Finally, I swallowed my pride and asked Jean if she had any insight into the pattern we were trying to decipher. After much discussion, her verdict was Simplicity itself. That is, "what you should have done is use Simplicity patterns. They're much easier to use."

Turns out the bonnet pattern, by a company called Burda, was intended for advanced users. So simply limiting myself to a mere hat wasn't gonna make this a cakewalk. I have yet to look at the dress pattern, but have at least some mild hope of an improved understanding.