Miss Mae

Press Here to find out more about this lovely early 20th century painting.

Today  I would like to post a wonderful success story about a little girl who has been home schooled from her earliest days.  Her mother had allowed the daughter, Miss Mae, to come to my home at the age of 8 years, to learn how to sew.  She learned on a piece of checked fabric, called gingham, how to make a perfect hand stitch by following the little squares on the printed fabric.  She first learned how to thread a needle and tie a knot.  I chose a needle with a large eye, and used coloured quilting thread, because it is stiffer and easier for a beginner to handle.

I chose this painting again, by Emile Vernon, because it so exemplifies the innocent joy of Miss Mae, who has been coming each week for 4 years.  

No matter how basic the lesson, I made sure that she went home with a finished project, even if it was not perfect. She made a square pincushion on day, an a round decorator pillow another day. From there she graduated to making simple bags with ribbon handles, table runners and things for the kitchen that required a minimum of sewing.

  One day she made a skirt, just by folding the gingham in half, sewing up the back seam, folding over the waistband and inserting elastic.  She was so thrilled, that she insisted on changing into it and wearing it home. When her father came to get her, he was so pleased that he took her to a fabric store and bought her some fabric. He, however, did not know the difference between the need for one yard and the need for 10 yards, so he bought her something like 17 yards of fabric. He was grinning from ear to ear with the knowledge that his daughter was sewing.  Miss Mae ended up with a huge amount of pink gingham fabric, which she eventually used for things like bedroom curtains, table covers and bedroom accessories.

Her parents have a business that takes them all around to repair equipment in fabric stores and farm stores. Miss Mae accompanies them when they meet their appointments. In one fabric store, she sat silently while her father conducted business, and listened in on a quilting class. Since she is only 12 years old, no one paid any attention to her, but she came home with a wealth of knowledge on the subject and applied it when she got her scraps together.  In other fabric shops where her father repairs equipment, she looks around for new fabric. Each week when she comes back to my house she gleefully shows me what she got. We still have not been able to get her father to be moderate in buying fabric. He's just so happy that she sews, she has to restrain him from buying the whole bolt.

At another place where her father repairs equipment, the proprietor offered to exchange a product for the labour, and told her to choose two teapots from the gift shop.  She chose a yellow one and a pink one with hearts on it. She was so happy that on the way home, she stopped by my house and gave me the pink teapot.

Perhaps the most unique results of Miss Mae's passion for sewing, is that she has gone way ahead of me from the ages of 8 to 12. Because of her interest in this art, her mother has provided her with a very nice sewing machine that runs well. Miss Mae never comes to her weekly homemaking class without sporting a brand new dress made with a Jennie Chancey pattern. Her favorite is the "Romantic" gown, from Molly Gibson's dresses in the movie series, "Wives and Daughters." Miss Mae has made several of these, and gleefully surprises me at the door wearing the dress with a matching bonnet and handbag.

Her progress is not limited to sewing, as once she was taught to follow a recipe, she was able to go home and put on full afternoon high-tea, and meals.  She shows up at the door with various confections made from tea magazines and Taste of Home magazine I have shared with her.

What is perhaps the most dramatic difference I have recently seen in her is her toughness in social situations.  While other girls go around in dark jeans and gray hoodies, standing around like depressing, strange and gloomy creatures in the rain, Miss Mae wears her cheeful tiny prints in public. Girls may dress in the dull garb that I described so that they may look tough, but Miss Mae is the one who is really tough. It takes a lot of confidence at 12 years old, when there is tremendous pressure from the prevailing society, to wear the common clothes put out by the manufacturers to make girls look like boys.  Miss Mae wears her home sewn garments out shopping, out to eat with her family, and everywhere else.  It does not bother her to get the strange looks from people; it seems to amuse her instead.

I often see headlines on magazines at checkout counters about how to turn heads or stand out in the crowd. Miss Mae does not dress this way for that reason, at all. She does it because she loves to sew and the clothing makes her happy to wear, and her parents are so pleased with it.  One day, I asked her if she knew other girls her age. "Yes," she answered, "But they are interested in boys, and I am interested in sewing and cooking."  She gets more attention and favour from adults just by being interested in real life, the kind that matters for the future; the kind of interests that will be useful to a girl into later years.  She will, I am sure, get the notice of some other family who is raising a young man just for a girl like her, and it will be a wonderful thing to see.

Miss Mae is now learning to play the piano when she comes to visit, and she also is branching off into other interests. Sometimes I do not have anything special planned for her, and give her the option of staying home. She says it does not matter, and that she will do whatever I am doing and does not have to have a lesson. She likes to watch me make a soup or a stew from fresh ingredients, and sits eagerly in a kithen chair near the stove, waiting for a sample of it.

If you were to talk to her parents, they would express their delight in raising Miss Mae and seeing her interests in the home increase. They would tell you that she is a great blessing to them and that they have confidence in her.