"Future Mothers Camp" Workshop Leader, Tristen Miller

 This is an article written by Tristen Miller. She will be the workshop leader for our embroidery projects at the "Future Mothers Camp!" I am thrilled to have Tristen teaching for us. She has a special talent and is very patient to teach young girls. This will be a great class! 

Tristen Miller with her family.

"Ever since I was young, I loved to sneak into my great grandmothers sewing basket that my mother owned. I have been sewing for about fifteen years. I have always had a passion to sew for baby's. Starting with simple blankets, burp cloths, etc, and then branching out and learning more from there. I quickly discovered my love for creating with fabric. When I look back at how I really began to sew, I am inspired. When I was expecting my second daughter nearly eleven years ago, I enjoyed making quilts and other things to prepare for her arrival. I remember searching for months for a blessing dress. The thought of sewing one myself had never crossed my mind. That would involve a pattern, which had never appealed to me. To me, a pattern read like a foreign language. It has really only been in the past few years I have gotten comfortable with them. I like to do my own thing. Probably because all my sewing skills were self taught. An amazing thing happened. It is a day I will never forget, which was very powerful to me. I awoke early one morning. I had had a sleepless night with the most vivid dreams I will never forget. All night I saw pieces of fabric, how to cut them, how to put them together. It is like a light bulb went on, and I just knew how to make a blessing dress. I got right up and went to work. I had had some old white fabric my mom had given me. I ran to the store for a few supplies and by noon it was finished. I can still remember how stunned I was over the whole thing. Looking back, the dress was not made in any of the proper ways of sewing, and if I was to make one now, it would would probably look much better. The thing that absolutely stuns me still today is that I was able to make this little dress with no experience or assistance other than my Father in Heaven.

 Fast forward about 6 months later. I had learned more about the humanitarian efforts of the LDS church. I felt a strong desire to make up some baby quilts. With a four year old daughter and newborn baby in tow, I went to work again. I miraculously came across a super cheep fabric sale that enabled me to buy supplies for ten small quilts. Within weeks I had them finished. I did not know what to do with them. I remember feeling puzzled weather or not I should take them to the humanitarian center. That same week in relief society, it was announced that a couple from the ward was adopting a baby from orphanage in a third world country. They hoped to take at least ten small quilts to give to the other children while they were there. Sitting in the back of the room I nearly burst into tears. I knew that is where my little blankets were to go.

These two experiences have had a powerful effect on my desire to sew. I know that my ability to create is a gift. I love to share that gift also. It has given me a passion for humanitarian work. Teaching my own daughters to sew has brought me much joy also. When we cook together, there is just something special about putting on our homemade aprons and getting to work. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my nieces wearing a skirt I made them, or seeing a baby wrapped in a blanket I've sewn. I am so excited to have the opportunity to teach some hand sewing and embroidery to the girls at Future Mothers Camp. I strongly believe that mothers are what turn a house into a home. When a girl can make something on her own it creates a feeling of accomplishment. I hope to give them a new skill that they can enjoy.