Thank you Kiley, The MVP

Back in December, I saw on Facebook that a girl that my kids went to school with, Kiley, needed to borrow an electric keyboard. Since David has one, and was too busy with college to play it, I told him about her post, and he said of course she could borrow it.

Upon delivery of the keyboard, I got to talking with Kiley and she said she was entering another pageant and needed to practice for her talent portion of the competition. This wasn’t surprising to me, I knew that Kiley had been in several pageants, winning some, not winning some, but pageants were her thing. I told her I might hit her up someday to model a creation for me, and she said, actually, I’ve always wanted a pink, women’s suit. Well say no more!

To my patterns I went, and Kiley picked out this vintage pattern from 1959.

I already had this light pink linen fabric that I had picked up on sale. I knew it would come in handy.

Anytime I use a vintage pattern I have to make sure that all the pieces are still in the envelope. Thankfully, all of the pieces were still there.

I laid out and cut the jacket and the skirt all at the same time.

Check out this handy little feature! A built in ruler for shortening the pattern!

While I get to work sewing, here’s Kiley winning the title of “Miss Dos Palos”.

No slacking, back to the sew.

The jacket was coming together nicely. Kiley didn’t like the collar on the pattern, so I was going to have to improvise!

Pocket welts! They almost need their own tag! I was feeling like an expert at them at this point.

This pattern had the sleeve be continuous off of the front and back of the jacket. Things I’ve sewn in the past had separate sleeves that I had to attach. I was liking the look of this jacket though.

Here I am, marking the elbow darts.

Guinevere came in handy again. I needed to see how the jacket was looking thus far.

Time to cut out the lining!

While I mess with the liner, here is another picture of Kiley, winning First Runner Up in the “Miss May Day” pageant.

I was getting a little nervous. Kiley said she might wear the outfit for her upcoming pageant during the interview portion of the competition. I told her she could always change her mind and wear something else, no pressure to wear my outfit. But boy did I really want to make something nice for her!

Pinning on the jacket facings.

Trying to get it all together.

I went off the pattern instructions to assemble the liner. I had at this point done several other liners, and decided to do one of the techniques from a previous sew instead of what the instructions said.

Picture break! Last but certainly not least is Kiley’s picture from winning the title of “Miss Merced County”. No pressure on me, right? HA!

Back to the sew.

Hand stitching. There was so much hand stitching in this outfit! The cuffs of the sleeves, the entire inside hem of the jacket, plus the skirt hem!

But that was all to come after I got the skirt assembled!

See…pinning and repining to hand stitch the skirt hem.

Then, Kiley’s pageant got cancelled, whomp, whomp. I was sad for her, she worked so hard to prepare for it. At least she was coming away with a new talent.

I knew from first hand experience that Kiley didn’t need any pageant to tell her that she’s beautiful or talented. You can tell that from the previous pictures. What those pictures don’t show you is what a sweet and beautiful heart this girl has.

Let me back track for just a second. When I asked David if she could use his keyboard, he said of course, but he also said, “she’s one of my MVP’s”.

During junior high David went through a period of time when he was made an outcast and was picked on by a lot of his classmates. As a parent it’s heartbreaking, and you feel so helpless. He said that during that time, he had three people stick up for him; his cousin Mateo, his best friend Ronan, and Kiley. She stayed his friend and team mate on swim team all the way until David graduated high school. I would see her on the pool deck and she would laugh at his jokes, and roll her eyes at him when his jokes were corny, (which was a lot) but she was always kind, she was always his friend. She might not even know it until now, how much her friendship and kindness during that hard time meant to David, and to me.

How do I ever thank her for being a genuinely kind person? A lot of hand stitching I guess! HA! I would sew anything for her!

Here’s Kiley’s backyard photo shoot of the finished outfit!

I love the shirt she chose to pair it with!

She wanted pearl buttons, and of course, I just happened to have some vintage ones laying around!

We both decided that a shorter skirt than the 1959 length would look better.

We both loved the way the detail of the slits on the front of the jacket turned out!

Whether she wears it to a future pageant, or just lets it hang in the closet, doesn’t matter to me. I’ll never be able to thank her enough for being kind to my son when the world was not.

Just being kind could make all the difference to someone. I’m sure Kiley would never guess what a lasting impression her kindness in junior high would mean to a classmate, or his family, even after all of these years.

Kiley is 100% the Queen of Kindness, she’ll always be an MVP, no crown needed.

So be kind today, for no other reason than it’s the right thing to do. Put some good out there and see if it grows! It might be exactly what someone needs.

As for me, onto the next!

UPDATE!!

Kiley wore her outfit during a competition in March, and both she and the outfit looked amazing!