If your mom and dad encouraged you to sew at age three it might not seem too unusual that at age 12, you'd help write a sewing book. That's exactly what happened with today's guest. Please welcome Sophie Kerr and her mom Weeks Ringle who join us via Skype. Sophie and Weeks, good to see you.
Both
Nice to see you too. You got off the bus, Sophie and now you're on television, how about that?
both laugh
Both
I just was so impressed when I saw this book "A Kid's Guide to Sewing," and knew that Sophie you worked with your mom and dad, Bill to put this together for other kids to learn to sew. At age 12, I didn't have a clue about working on a sewing book. Was it fun working with your mom and dad? Yes, it was. Did you kind of guide them saying, I'd kind of like to sew pillow cases or I'd like to sew totes? Yeah, I did, for like a quilt or a minky throw. That was one of the things you really liked doing. Minky isn't that easy to sew with. You're doing pretty well. It's pretty slippery and lofty. Right, we used bicycle clips. Bicycle clips to hold it together. Now, at age three. What did you sew at age three? A pink and green placemat. Your mom tells me that you sat in her lap. Yep. I think that's the way a lot of kids learn to sew. My boys sewed and pulled out the pins and then they'd get bored and run away. Did you run away? I don't remember! In putting together your book you worked with some of your friends. You maybe taught them a few tricks, too. Yes, I did. That was part of the fun of it, right, the social part? Yeah, it was. Did you sew at your house or at their houses? There are some fun photos in here showing sewing with your mom and dad and your friends. At our house, and then we took some pictures over at different places. You have fun projects in here. What is your favorite project of all that you helped write about? The minky throw. The same thing, the minky throw, okay. Every 12-year-old now is going to be making a minky throw just from your recommendation. Although she uses the messenger bag daily. Yeah. That was a favorite too, right? Yeah, it was. You had the unique combination of your mom and dad being interested in sewing. What part does your dad play? The design part. In the book, the design part. The design part, okay. He helped me with some of the projects. How long did you work together on this project? Um... About three months, right? Yeah, about three months. We thought it was going to be about six or seven months. Then the publisher wanted it a little bit earlier than we were expecting so we had to work pretty quickly, didn't we? Yeah. I write a lot of sewing books. Three months wouldn't do it for me! You're much better than I am! We worked very hard to do it. In sewing and some quilt projects what do you think it teaches? Have you learned something from it other than making a blanket or a messenger bag? Weeks, I know you work with girls, too. What do you find that they didn't have better hand-eye coordination or what satisfaction levels do they have? Well, this came about because we were doing a charity quilt for Sophie's school as a fundraiser. We invited kids from the class to come over in sessions and work on the quilt. Bill and I were really surprised at how few girls, or boys for that matter had had the opportunity to sew before. One even said, they looked at the iron and they said, I think we've got one of those at our house. We thought, you know, sewing had skipped a generation. Sure. We need to make it accessible to kids again. I think hand skills, in particular because they're not learning cursive necessarily anymore. I think the hand skills in particular. Other than their thumbs. They're really good with their thumbs!
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Both
General hand skills definitely improve with sewing for sure. Sophie, what project are you working on now? I'm about to start a polka dot and zigzag table cloth. A table cloth. How do you pick fabric out? I see your mom has just a few fabric selections behind you. You have them right at hand, right? Yeah, but we got some more. These are the fabrics that we've designed. You know, these aren't necessarily of course, these aren't the ones she wants. You always want something that's not right there. That's the way it is with me, too. But she got some jelly rolls that she's going to work with. Your friends, are they continuing to sew? The friends that worked with you on your project. They don't have a sewing machine at home except for one but it's not really, I mean, it's not a big fancy one. Sometimes when they come over to hang out they like to sew little projects or at sleepovers, that kind of thing. Well, what a great, great way of introducing, Weeks kids to sewing, and Sophie, to be a spokesperson for the 12-year-old and 13-year-old set. You're doing a great job and maybe my job could be yours some day.
both laugh
Both
Thank you so much for joining us and for making an exciting project book for kids. Thanks for having us, Nancy and thanks for being such a great role model for girls. You're sweet, thank you. A special thanks goes out to Patty Young for being our guest during this two-part series. You can go to nancyzieman.com for more information. Thanks for joining me. Bye for now.
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