Monday, April 26, 2010

Over to the Kids


Started the girls on sewing lessons last week. Not Kate,
who is still dangerous around... well, things, in general.
I mean Jenna and Emily, who, at the ripe old ages of 3
and 5, were willing and excited.

We did some
simple embroidery - the running stitch.

Emily did a flower

and Jenna did a heart.

Real (pointy) needles, white twill, small embroidery

hoop, and stitches marked out in fabric marker ink.
I wanted them to start out using the same real adult
sewing stuff mom uses. Unfortunately, they were
working on two ends of the same piece of fabric,
so they had to take turns (and they were a bit impatient).

What were they making?


Something for Grandma Mae, far away in Singapore.

Something for Mother's Day.

Their part was easy. My part - sewing it into this case -

was harder than it looks. A lot of basting, and working
inside out around a small opening. But the girls loved
that they made something for grandma!


23 comments:

  1. So cute! Great idea! My 5 year old has been begging to learn how to sew by hand. She has a Hello Kitty sewing machine which she's been practicing sewing straight lines and curves on. I know kind of young, but I sit next to her the entire time she uses the machine. Thanks so much for posting this idea!

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  2. have I said that I wish that you were my mum? I love your ideas, and the fact that you let your children express their creativity.
    Good on you.

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  3. Grandma is bound to love it! So cute! They have been doing exellent. I also think it is great that they get to use the "real" tools!

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  4. OMG...that looks lovely...what an awesome work by the little ones. I remember my early days of doing embroidery...doing 5 petal flowers with laisy daisy...

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  5. What a great idea for mothers day, I wonder if there's still time.... I've been meaning to make cases for my girls sunglasses for ages, but haven't got around to it. I was just going to close it with a drawstring, but yours look so well finished - where did you get the closure from?

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  6. Welp, they're officially better at embroidery than I am ;)

    That's something I'd like to teach my kids. My oldest two have learned to stitch on plastic canvas, just to get a feel for holding the needle and thread.

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  7. Great ! My daughter (she's 4 now) has been asking me for a while now... I gave her some burlap in a circle, variegated thread, and she is getting good with the straight stitch. I will show her what your girls made, it's a great inspiration. Thanks !

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  8. Looks GREAT! I think Grandma Mae is going to love it! I want to teach my girls to sew, too, so I might try something like this! Love your blog- my 4yo is wearing a Raglan sleeve nightgown right now from YOUR directions and pattern! Thank you!!!

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  9. What an awesome gift! I'm sure Grandma Mae will love it.

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  10. So sweet! I've been in the process of putting together an embroidery basket for my 2 for longer than I care to admit. And now Seth has already started doing embroidery at school so I must finish it up soon.

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  11. wow, that is some super-impressive handiwork for just having started! their grandma is going to love this gift!!

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  12. This is lovely!
    I think it is time to teach my 7-year-old daughter to stitch.

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  13. Wow, they did a great job! That is awesome. I can't wait to teach my daughter once she gets a little older.

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  14. Oh so cute! What a great first sewing lesson!

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  15. How sweet is that!! What grandma wouldn't love a gift like that! The girls did a beautiful job... they must already have some of their mommy's talent.

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  16. Those turned out so cute! The girls did a great job and I love the eyeglass cases. Grandma will be thrilled. Love & blessings from NC!

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  17. Lovely! They did an awesome job!

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  18. Cate: I think I got the spring-loaded frame from www.ahkwokbuckles.com. Or else from etsy. Wish I could remember. Sorry this is so unhelpful.

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  19. I did the same type of embroidery with my 5 and 6 y/o for teachers christmas presents, but I framed them with dollar store wooden frames! Good job!

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  20. How did I miss this post??? These are super cute!!

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  21. what a clever idea to actually mark the stitches. When my daughter wanted to sew, I told her to sew along the selvedge line, but I can see that actually little dashes would have helped her along.

    That is a sweet case, too.

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  22. Their embroidery is beautiful! I need to let Emma try this...

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  23. My kids would love this!

    We have some sewing materials at Playcentre, so I will try marking the stitching marks next time! Last time I did it with a 4 year old, she enjoyed sewing beads on her material. Can't wait to teach them the running stitch!

    thanks for the inspiration!

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