If you're a fan of our blog, then you've likely gathered that my 6 year old daughter loves to sew. (See here, here, here, and most recently here for example!) At the drop of a button, literally, she'll come running up asking "what are we making mama?" If ever I'm contemplating sewing a project for myself, she'll want to join in and the project inevitably morphs into something for her. That's all well and good of course, but if I'm every going to get any sewing done, she needs some of her own dedicated hours behind the machine to whet her sewing appetite! More practice will also allow for more independence, and I'd certainly welcome the opportunity to sew in tandem, she at her very own machine. So, we decided to schedule a kids sewing hour, with my son Aidan and his friend Annika joining in as well. I found this simple tutorial from Skip to my Lou on how to make fabric bookmarks, a great project idea for our inaugural meeting!
Of course, the kids couldn't decide on just one fabric - if you walked through our labyrinth of shelves here at the shop you'd understand why! For the sake of simplicity, I encouraged them to narrow their picks to just two fabrics. However, I quickly realized that wouldn't in any way diminish the complexity of their overall designs. Their drawings above were a bit ambitous, but who wants to curtail a child's creativity?!
Annie's design alone called for a lot of seams so I called for backup from our wonderful staff. Our Meaghan happily assisted Aidan with his half square triangle design.
Not only does this 8 year old boy like to sew, but as you can see from his t-shirt he's completely mad for The Beatles. He's going to be quite a catch one day! Our manager Becky took point with Annika. She appliqued a wavy piece of fabric on top of her floral book mark, making for a sweetly whimsical design.
I worked with Annie, and with her intricate design we definitely had our work cut out for us! Once we had all of her pieces cut out, she really wanted minimal instruction...and more speed. Luckily our machines have a speed setting as she's got quite he heavy foot!
If anyone has any suggestions for our next kiddie sewing hour, please leave us a comment!
