A Gift To And From Kira

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.”~Benjamin Franklin

It was the beginning of December, and Kira was in a transition period. She was preparing to go off to college in Southern California after taking a semester off and working. She had put in her notice at work and had time on her hands. So what does a 20 year old with extra time do, she hangs out with her aunt of course!

While visiting one afternoon she mentioned that she wanted a skirt to wear for Christmas. Well she sure did mention it to the right person! I told her go look through my patterns and see if there was one that caught her eye. She picked out this pattern, and some black linen fabric that I had, and I got to work!

So here’s the thing. December is incredibly busy! We had so much to do, I got easily distracted and neglected to take pictures of the construction of the skirt! Here’s one picture I did get of the darts marked, pinned and ready to be sewn.

I also managed to get a picture of the construction of the waist band. You can see the interfacing it called for, and here I’m sewing the edges.

What were we busy doing? We were also working on a doll house that Michael decided to build. Here’s Kira helping to paint the pieces.

Then Kira got a quick crochet lesson.

Then there was tamales to make! But we still had an even bigger event in our future.

David had written a script for a short film and his was selected to be filmed for his last class at Sacramento State. David had filmed and worked on his movie for the whole semester, and it was going to be shown at a historic theater in downtown Sacramento.

I had Kira’s skirt finished and ready to go by show time!

Here Kira, David, and Mia are in front of the theater on David’s big night!

Mia is wearing a dress that I had previously made her. (See blog post “New Dress, New Experience”.) David chose to wear his Great Grandpa Vito’s 1970’s tuxedo. He paired the tuxedo with a tie that belonged to his other Great Grandpa Bert. He chose the purple tie instead of others because purple was Grandma Joyce’s favorite color. Kira is, of course, wearing her new skirt!

David had to go into the theater and we had to wait so we walked a block to the State Capital Building.

It was decorated for Christmas!

Mia and Kira looked cute and fashionable in their homemade clothes.

Kira in front of the State Christmas tree. The skirt held up pretty good considering it’s linen and we rode in the car 2 1/2 hours before we took this picture.

One of the fun design elements of the skirt are the buttons on the side. Kira picked out the buttons she wanted on the skirt from my collection.

“K” for Kira!

Me and my girls! I wore two things I had previously sewn, my dress and jacket. (See previous blog posts “1967 Dress, Modern Day Problems”, and “Get The White Glasses”.)

Also, did you know, you can find blog posts by clicking on the persons name at the bottom of the page if you are reading from your phone, or on the top right side if you are reading on a computer? You can also search for posts using the “Categories” by year of the pattern.

It was showtime! So much family had come together to help David make his movie, especially his cousin Trent who agreed to be the main character. Lots of family showed up to support David on his big night.

Here’s David on stage introducing his movie. It was so exciting to see it on the big screen!

Here’s the link to David’s movie, Run For It. Starring Trent, Michael, and tons of other family members. See if you can recognize anyone, and check out those credits for “Costumes by CoCo”, that’s me! HA!

David had a great showing and Kira had a great skirt for the occasion. Kira’s skirt had another red carpet event though, Christmas!

Christmas Day it made it’s debut to the family members who couldn’t make it to David’s movie premiere.

Photo credit to Kira, and her selfie taking! HA!

Her skirt looked festive and fun paired with a green shirt!

Life gets busy and sometimes it’s hard to make it to every event, or even to see family and friends as much as you would like.

Kira’s gift to me this year was the valuable lesson that when you have time, make the most of it by spending it with your loved ones, learning new things, or showing up and supporting those you care about when they’re having a big moment.

When all the dust had settled from the busy month of December, the kids got together and had Kira’s back, literally, don’t drop her! HA!

My physical gift from Kira this year though was a “Franley” cup. I named it that, it’s a generic Stanley, and this beautiful red throw blanket that she made all by herself! I will cherish it and her always!

As for me, onto the next!