I am looking at a picture on Instagram of Michael Gardner and his 9-year-old daughter, Ava.

They're in front of a bright blue brick wall.

He's doing one of those cool Instagram squats.

She's leaning against his shoulder, and they are wearing coordinated outfits.

Sunglasses, black sweatshirts, and matching pairs of joggers in the same big botanical print.

The caption says the fabric is from IKEA.

It's funny, I just was in IKEA the other day and saw that the fabric is still there, and I'm like,

I want to buy some more for some odd reason.

Michael made these pants.

He taught himself how to sew when Ava was little and has been sewing clothes for her ever since.

Then he started making things for himself too, with some encouragement from Ava.

These pants started out as a project for him.

And then I was like, oh, I'm going to make you a matching pair.

And then I kind of got hooked, where I'm just like, now I'm looking at fabrics like, okay,

do I have enough where I can make myself something?

His Instagram is full of pictures of the two of them rocking matching outfits in bright bold colors.

She loves that we can kind of do it together now.

Usually we will take pictures and do TikToks together, so it's another way to be kind of bond,

and she loves it.

Hello, I'm Meg Kramer, and this is NPR's Life Kit.

This episode, we are talking about teaching yourself to sew.

Maybe you're like me, and someone in your family taught you how to use a sewing machine when

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