American Girl class: Josefina Week 2

This week in our American Girls classes, our craft was to make waist pouches, like Josefina wears in book one when she picks primroses. Our pouches were not leather- as Josefina's might have been- but made from vinyl which was easier to punch, cut and fold. 

I pre-cut the fabric for each girl, so the pieces were 16" X 6" and I cut a triangle in one end (measured about 3" down, made a point about 3 " in.) Then I folded them over and punched six sets of holes in each side. The holes needed to match up, and since we didn't have lots of punches or lots of time, I just punched all the holes ahead of class. The girls took some tan hemp, made knots and sewed up each side. There were also two holes near the top for tan yarn to go through- to tie it around their waist. Then we tied another slip-through knot and attached three beads to the tip of the triangle, on the piece that folds over. It gives it a little added weight to help it stay closed.  (I gave each girl one yard of tan yarn and one yard of tan hemp.)

MY POUCH THAT I MADE AS A SAMPLE...

GIRLS WORKING ON THEIR POUCHES...

 We discussed what we could put in the pouches... "All kinds of trinkets!" one girl told me. :-D

ALMOST DONE...

WORKING ON THE WEAVING AGAIN...

MORE WEAVERS!

 Here is the 2:00 class...

SEWING POUCHES- MY "MEXICAN" BLANKET THAT I
BROUGHT TO SHOW A WOVEN BLANKET....

MAKING WAIST POUCHES...

Some of the older girls said, "This is easy!" and just a minute later, one of the younger girls said, "This is hard!" My mom helper and I laughed... they were both sewing up their pouches!

HAND SEWING...

WEAVING BEAUTIFUL PATTERNS!

MORE WEAVING...

HARD AT WORK.... BUT IT'S FUN TOO!

For snack we had Goat Cheese and Tortillas, which moms brought. Most of the girls were not too crazy about the goat cheese! While they were eating, I discussed some of the Spanish words at the end of the book. It was a fun class! I enjoy working with them!

You can see Week 1 of Josefina here.