Mary Anne loves sewing. In fact, she's just started taking quilting and smocking lessons from an elderly neighbor, Mrs. Towne.
Then Mrs. Towne has an accident, and she really needs Mary Anne's help. Mary Anne is happy to do a few errands in exchange for her sewing lessons. But then it turns out that Mary Anne is doing everything for Mrs. Towne.
Mary Anne doesn't want to hurt Mrs. Towne's feelings. But she doesn't like being treated like a maid!
Summary[]
Subplot[]
Mary Anne teaches sewing lessons to Vanessa and Nicky Pike, Becca Ramsey, Charlotte Johanssen, Buddy Barrett, and Haley Braddock.
In chapter two it said that Kristy, Mary Anne, and Claudia were the charter members of the club and Stacey joined soon after. In the first book, Kristy's Great Idea, Stacey was at the first meeting.
Mary Anne she claims she has never really had tea before, yet would have 'special tea' with Mimi several times.
Mary Anne says that she wasn't allowed to have her ears pierced, however, it's said multiple times that she never wanted her ears pierced.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
In Maid Mary Anne, Mary Anne learns about sewing and needlework from Mrs. Towne. I was very excited to finally be able to write a book about my passions: sewing and needlework. I was seven when my mother taught me how to needlepoint. And I was eight when my grandmother taught me how to knit. I’ve had a love affair with needlework ever since. When I was a little older, I became interested in sewing, and my mom let me use her old sewing machine, which was old back then and is an antique now.
So by the time I was fifteen, I decided I wanted my own sewing machine, a new one. I baby-sat all summer and saved my money, and at the end of the summer, I brought a new Sears Kenmore, which I still have and still use. For a long time, I sewed a lot of my own clothes. But when I got older, and my friends and cousins started having babies, I turned to sewing for children. This led to learning different sewing and needlework techniques, such as smocking, ribbon embroidery, and heirloom sewing. In fact, sewing has become so important to me that recently I declared Mondays to be sewing days instead of writing days.
Trivia[]
Both Kristy and Stacey miss a BSC meeting for sitting jobs in this book.
Mrs. Barrett doesn't know how to sew.
Dawn talks about how much she misses California foreshadowing the next book.
Dawn drinks chamomile tea.
Mary Anne resolves to become less selfish in this book.
Mary Anne has a talent for sewing
Mary Anne thinks that Janine can be cool sometimes.
Claudia picks up some sewing skills calling it potential for her art.
Charlotte knows some embroidery stitches before her lesson.
This is the second time both of the Arnold Twins are on a cover of a book.