Not so long ago, children were taught to sew at school. The sewing teacher was normally one of the nicest teachers around, until you made a mistake in the sewing class, or worse – broke the sewing machine. Suffering her wrath was enough to put anyone off sewing! These days, however sewing seems (no pun intended) to have been forgotten as it is not taught in schools anymore.
There are fewer and fewer young people able to sew. Parents rarely mend or fix items as we live in a throwaway society, but did you know that one of the fastest growing waste products currently in the world is textiles…?
So bearing these two things in mind and the fact that we can never guarantee the weather in the UK, how about teaching the kids to sew?
They can learn to make something they WANT to make, be creative and benefit from being still and calm and studious (you hope!).
I decided to do just this with my grandchildren aged 4 and 7. They’re both bright and quick to learn and I thought that sewing could be a nice bonding thing and they will always remember being taught by me!
I started by having a discussion around the benefits of sewing – you know, not many young children can sew and if you can learn to sew you will be very special – or even more special than you already are!
Plus, we would be helping to save the world of a textile invasion! That discussion went on a bit longer than expected as they were quite worried about the amount of clothing that is being dumped and of textile monsters growing in piles of discarded clothes. (My imagination ran away with me).
The other benefits I didn’t go into to are how sewing can help with dexterity – the eye to hand coordination used during the precision work of sewing, can really help a child.
Sewing can also help with concentration, having to really focus to get something that is a little tricky completed. Kids who focus will have a higher degree of self-control.
Problem solving can come into play here too as there may not be enough fabric to continue or perhaps they have jammed a machine or just sewn some bad stitches (it will happen).
Problem solving could also be in the form of measurements – sneakily including mathematics will teach them that numbers are used in everyday life too!
Relaxation – helping children to calm down after a busy day and just be creative ,sitting still and making something that is enjoyable.
Creativity – there is nothing more wonderful than seeing our children’s creations – however badly they turn out!
In addition – it is a wonderful way to get rid of any fabric scraps.
One of the joys for you proper seamstresses out there is taking young children into the sanctuary of the sewing room. I bet you usually tell them not to touch ANYTHING EVER and ‘don’t sit there’ because they will ruin that quilt, cushion or lampshade cover that’s laying over a chair waiting to be finished and would not be ruined if a small person sat on it.
NOW, you’re actually inviting them in and you have a place for them to sit and work with you!
Imagine how excited you would be as a child! BUT I feel I need to add my first tip – patience. You need lots of patience to sew with children especially your own.
Tip 1 Patience.
If you don’t have a sewing room and like me, you’re banished to the dining room table, it is still lovely to all sit around together. I do actually have a secret sewing box with some treasures in that don’t just include needles and threads. There are some buttons and beads that my Grandmother gave to me – the grandchildren like looking at these and it is a special treat, so far so good…!
Together with my patience head on – we’re all ready to start sewing!
You have told the children the benefits (not the maths bit – save that), you have told them they will be helping the environment and you’ve let them into the sewing room/box… now what?
You’ve done your research and already sourced some really easy-peasy things for the kids to make – there are plenty of sites online that have ideas and inspiration about what to sew but mostly it needs to be something that the child would want to sew. Make sure you have a good selection of ideas for example; a pencil case for school or perhaps a book cover or a wallet to hold their dinner money in. How about a gym bag or a teddy or a monster or dolls clothes?
That decided we then get onto what they need to know first.
Our first lesson was ‘How to thread the needle’ Use a blunt needle at first going double stranded, meaning securing both ends of the thread in the knot. That way the needle won’t slide off the thread while your child is sewing. With that done you can then show them how to do running stitches.
This will probably be enough to drive you to a glass of wine and for them to start moaning – lesson over
Tip 2 – keep the lessons short and sweet.
Once they get a little more confident at sewing you can then move on to slightly more complex things like sewing templates. This will most likely be more fun for them than you as they will be using the scissors!!!
Tip 3– if your child is left handed make sure you have left handed scissors.
If your child is prone to picking on his sister, make sure her hair is under a hat – no pony tails… my daughter hasn’t forgiven me yet!
Teach them how important the template/pattern is and let them practice on their own – they will enjoy using the scissors and remember it doesn’t matter if they make a mistake, remember Tip 1 Patience? it will be used mostly here.
One of the best ways to teach children to sew is to share tasks. Perhaps for the younger children you can thread the needle at first or make a start cutting out the template, maybe you can both do the running stitches, keeping it fun and relaxed and being guided by what they want.
After cutting the template, depending on how exhausted you are and if the scissors are being used properly, you may want to carry on. Personally, I was driven to the wine again and luckily the children got picked up by their parents – still we had found a design, learnt how to thread needles and used the scissors, next time the fabric……!
Tip 4 – When you are letting the kids go through your spare fabric – DON’T LET THEM RUMMAGE THROUGH BY THEMSELVES.
They will make a mess and there will be fabric everywhere and arguments may occur because they both want the same fabric. I suggest finding some fabric you have a lot of and letting them decide from a smaller pile.
Next lesson we choose the fabric. I’m not sure why my granddaughter aged 4 wanted to make her teddy out of the green camouflage fabric my grandson was making his pencil case with but hey ho, who am I to argue? – I just hoped there would be enough fabric for both.
I didn’t mention anything as I was in this surreal state of patience – almost like I wasn’t actually in the room or maybe it was the wine…!
They have now cut out their template and pinned it to the fabric and cut that out and are ready to sit and sew. All is going well today…. we had an audio book playing in the background and I think we found our groove. The session was calm and relaxed – just how I wanted it to be and now I think they are enjoying it, getting ahead of myself, I felt they had the basics and were now ready to use the machine!
They were very happy and did not want to leave when it came to home time, I bribed them by promising they could try the sewing machine next time.
Introduce them gently to the sewing machine. There is no reason why children can’t learn to sew on a full-sized sewing machine just make sure they know the basics and what they need to get going. Give them a safety talk and let them know that they are in control always.
Tip number 5 – do not let them loose on your state-of-the-art computerised sewing machine – just don’t!
If they are using a full-sized sewing machine, then it can be difficult to focus on pressing the pedal as well as sew, but I enjoyed teaching them this, this was the fun bit. They laughed when it all got out of hand. I was laughing on the outside…..inwardly I wasn’t but I did enjoy seeing their little eyes light up when they realised they could sew two pieces of fabric together.
Once again let them build up confidence slowly and share the tasks. My 4-year-old granddaughter is very bossy – I did what tasks she told me I could do!
Some children are less patient with their own parents or grandparent and can sometimes be better listeners when the speaker is not their parents. If this happens – keep the sessions shorter, be very patient and maybe sign your child up to some sewing classes – like the ones we hold at Eclectic Maker
Once the children have got to grips with the basics then things can only get better, children are so enthusiastic it may rub off on you!
My final Tip 6 is – Teaching sewing should be fun not a chore.
Try not to tell them off if they do something wrong. If their sewing needs to be corrected, it isn’t a big mistake and can be fixed, they will need to learn by their mistakes. Try not to be the school sewing teacher of my past!
Extra value tips….
Do your research – preparation is key, and research includes buying audio books or finding some good pod casts for the children to listen to.
Incidentally, if you are looking to buy your child’s first sewing machine – Janome is a good quality brand and so is Brother.
Sites to look at:
https://dabblesandbabbles.com/15-fun-and-easy-sewing-projects-for-kids/
https://so-sew-easy.com/fun-easy-sewing-projects-kids/
Very quick and simple projects here:
https://crazylittleprojects.com/quickandeasysewingprojects/
At Eclectic Maker we would love to see what your child makes – please feel free to send them over to us
Many thanks to Oscar and Arlo Holmes (who are not my grandchildren) for allowing their pictures to be taken during their sewing lesson
By Angela Parker