A couple of weeks ago I held my last Young Women in Excellence as YW President. Since it was my last time and I love to sew it was a no brainer to have a sewing inspired YWE. When I found another post about Personal Progress a Pattern for life I just had to jump right in.
I started with this adorable invitation I purchased on Etsy. I changed the info and made it work for my ward. The invite was perfect. I had several mothers who absolutely loved the invites!
Next up was the decor. We decided to go simple. Ironing boards, sewing machines, quilts, and dress forms. I had some of my leaders bring projects they had done for personal progress.
For dessert we set up a table with milk and cookies. We bagged the cookies and used cut stickers. The etsy shop I bought my invites at also had a sticker pattern for dessert but I decided to make my own. Mine said sew yummy.
For my take home I purchased small travel sewing kits. I found them on Ebay. I used a quote from my talk as the printable for the kit.
Click on Photo to download printable page
Sewing and Pattern Analogy
I wrote my talk to suit my girls but my analogy went like this. The idea came from a post on sugardoodle.
We begin our life beautiful and perfect in every way. Our Heavenly Father created the gospel, a pattern and instructions to help us and lead us back to him. In sewing, we place our pattern on our beautiful fabric. We use scissors to cut away the unwanted fabric. In the gospel we are given The Word of Wisdom, the Strength of youth and other principles to guide us.
When piecing a pattern together we us pins to hold the pieces in place. If not pinned properly the pieces will not fit right. And your garment lays uneven and fits weird. When we don’t follow the guidance of our parents and church leaders we also finds ourselves not feeling comfortable in the world.
We have needle threaders to help us with the difficult task of threading a needle–sometimes we have to try a few times to get the needle threaded. You have been blessed with parents and leaders that are willing to help you just as the needle threader helps.
The stitching of the garment is important. Everyday scripture study and prayer are like the stitches of a pattern. It is important to not skip steps. If don’t do these everyday stitches then your stitches become far apart and leave gaps in your project. Keep your stitches close and consistent, one stitch at a time. It is line upon line, precept upon precept.
A thimble is one of those tools that doesn’t seem necessary all of the time but it is a great tool keep close by, to push us through the hard times. Having good friends is an important part of life. They can help lift and push us through the bad times and find joy in the the good times. A good friend is always there when you need them.
When completing our personal progress experiences and projects we become one step closer to achieving goals. We develop our divine nature, realize our individual worth, increase our faith and knowledge, doing good works to share our beauty with those around us, and becoming that woman of virtue and integrity.
One last tool in my sewing kit, and the most important is the seam ripper. In sewing your seam ripper is your best friend. Sometimes we mess up the stitches, but we have a seam ripper to help us repair the mistake. Sometimes we may have to redo a part over and over to get it right, but we have a Savior, he is there to help us as many times as we need to correct our mistakes. He is our best friend.
I finished off my talk with a gift for all of Young Women who had received their Young Womanhood award. Each of the 15 girls a were given a handmade temple envelope for them to used when going to the temple. I found this cute poem online and printed it out onto some beautiful wedding announcement paper from Hobby Lobby.
Our evening ended with showing off projects and a video of our past activities, temple trips, overnights and girls camps. It was the perfect evening. My girls are amazing. They are so much stronger than I ever was as a teenager. My stake leaders were in awe of what my girls had accomplished in just a year. So many beautiful talents are being developed.
I have loved working with the Youth of my church. They are so strong in heart, mind and testimony. I have been blessed to learn and grow from these girls. On my last Sunday as president 8 of my young women received our Young Womanhood awards and/ or the honor bee. I am so proud of all of their hard work.
