September 13, 2011

KID ACTIVITY: First Sewing!

Posted by Ethne~

Sewing and crafting are something that Thrifty Nana (my mom) and Crafty Grandma (Lori’s mom) have done since we were in utero.  You might say it’s in our genetics.

Thrifty Nana made this flower girl dress for me
when I was 2-1/2 - only the beginning
TN basically incorporated sewing into her parenting.  When I was old enough to be safe she showed me how to thread her trusty Pfaff sewing machine and let me at it.  I sewed Barbie clothes which were halter tubes, and Barbie bedspreads.  Even then it was DIY clothing and home décor.  Plus, it was total ‘crash my stash’ for TN.  Give the kids a way to get rid of her old scraps.

In scouring Pinterest as I love to do (follow our Pinterest boards to see what we find!), I found a suggestion about having kids sew little pillows with fabric and a large needles threaded with embroidery floss.  So that’s exactly what I did.  And guess what?  It was FREE!

I cut hearts out of the large collection of felted wool I have (it’s thick enough to hold and won’t fray).

The materials - pretty basic

I let the girls each pick a color of floss and threaded the biggest needles I have (darning needles).

The next step required me to LET GO and RELAX.  I needed to simply show them how to do it and assist only when the needle needed to be re-threaded.  I wanted to hover over them and give suggestions at every stitch, but that’s where I had to let go.

KD sewing
Easy Mac stitching

They turned out so cute and I gave the girls lots of praise and encouragement.  They were really proud and so am I.  I hope I instill the sewing bug in them, at least enough that they will have the skills to mend.

KD's is on the left; Easy Mac's is on the right
KD posed with her first stitchery; Easy Mac not so much

Unlike the Pinterest suggestion, though, I am not going to make mini pillows out of these.  I am going to buy shadow boxes (using coupons at JoAnn’s) and pin these into it as another of the girls’ “firsts” along with a lock of their hair from their first hair trim and some things I haven’t thought of yet.

Do you have any suggestions for other “firsts” that I could use for my shadow boxes, Friends?

2 comments:

LeaAnne said...

The first sewing I had my kids do was a button sampler, (got rid of a few buttons and scraps), cut them in a round, and hung them on my sewing bulletin board. Start them early on the crafting path!!! My boy did one, too, very different from the girls. :)

Unknown said...

What a great idea! My kids are still a bit young for even that, though.