These sweet baby outfits were made by my friend Haydee, one of my students the last time I taught in Puerto Rico. http://www.janicefergusonsews.com/blog/2010/07/20/teaching-in-puerto-rico/
She speaks little English and I speak almost no Spanish. My entire Spanish vocabulary consists of “Donde est el bano?” (Where is the bathroom?) so it is impossible to communicate about our sewing projects except through photos.
For that reason, I can give you no information about her selection of fabric or embroidery design. Haydee did preface these pictures with the name of the pattern, Wendy Schoen’s Vintage Baby Bubble. www.wendyschoendesign.com
In my stash is some of the trim she used on the legs of the pink lamb bubble, so I can tell you that it is Swiss and was available from Martha Pullen.
Haydee is an incredibly talented seamstress whose accomplishments are even more laudable by virtue of the fact that she is relatively new to sewing.
When I met her in San Juan 2 years ago, she had been sewing only one year and her entries into the school project competition earned her a first place in two categories.
It was explained that a group of experienced sewists had taken Haydee under their wings. For the past year, these dear friends had invited her to join their weekly in-home sewing sessions,  tutored her in the basics and sent her home with magazines and books to study.
Haydee and her friends, dubbed “The Posse,” attended the event together, wearing specially made vests embroidered with Loralie’s Sewphisticats designs.
It was a joy to watch them interact. Ever so patiently, quickly, and quietly, they translated my instructions, asked questions for Haydee and made certain that she and all the other non-English speaking students were on the same page with the other half of the class. What a pleasure it was to teach these ladies!
Haydee, in Loralie design vest, partners with a member of “The Posse” in my class in San Juan.
Now, Haydee is a prolific seamstress, competent in all phases of construction and machine embroidery. You will see more of her projects in future posts. Even without the guidance of her friends, Haydee would have become proficient. But how long would it have taken her? Would the frustration of hard learned lessons diminish her enthusiasm? How much better to have careful tutelage and shared fellowship with like minded friends?
In the past, that’s how women learned to stitch.  Before the advent of sewing schools, needlework magazines, YouTube videos, topic specific dvd’s and how-to books, we all learned from our family and friends. It was just as the Beatles sang, ” I get by with a little help from my friends”. Many of us carry on that tradition as we teach friends, children and grandchildren to sew.
I can only imagine the satisfaction Haydee’s friends feel as they monitor her progress and sewing adventures.
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