Ticker Tape Projects {Sewing with Children}
My husband captured this scene from the other night. Even though I’ve only been a mother for six years, and I try never to rush the time by, I have to admit, I’ve always been anxious for my children to sew with me. My older two have both made a couple projects, but now even the littlest is anxious to sew with us! I think this is mommy’s dream come true. Now, that I’ve gushed a bit, let me show you our project!
We started with a 8 1/2″ x 10 1/2″ rectangle and I cut some little pictures out for my daughter to glue. I have her a little dish with some washable Elmer’s School Glue (we have used a glue stick in the past too, but glue sticks are harder for her to use with fabric). She positioned the fabrics where she wanted them with glue, and then I cut some extras to fill in the empty spaces.
After they were all glued, I ironed a piece of Pellon SF101 (woven interfacing) to the back of the panel. Then, we sat together at the machine and stitched around each piece. You could use a zigzag for more finished edges, but I like some fraying, so we just went around each piece 3 times. It took a LONG time, but we had fun sewing together, and I let her choose which piece to sew next!
When we’d sewn around all the pieces, we sewed the panel into a little drawstring bag using Svetlana of S.O.T.A.K. Handmade’s Drawstring Bag Tutorial. Between the interfacing and glue, the front of the pouch felt a little crunchy, so I tossed it in the wash with some sheets and then the dryer and it washed up great. I then trimmed all the frayed threads, so our bag had neat edges.
And here’s my little miss with the bag she made. Sure, I did most of the sewing, but what I love about this, is that most of the creative positioning was done by her, so she really feels like she made it, instead of just choosing fabrics! Now, while I’m going through scraps I’ve been choosing cute pieces and pre-cutting some fussy cuts to make another (and another) bag!
The best quote from the whole experience was when her dad announced bedtime and my daughter said, “I don’t want to go to bed, I just want to sew all day!”
If you have children, what do you sew with them? I’m always looking for fun ideas that suit my children’s ages (my middle girl is 4).
This is adorable!
So sweet!! A grandmas dream come true too!!
That’s adorable! My oldest wants to sew, too, and when we have the chance I let her on my machine. She’s 7 so she can actually do some of it on her own, straight stitching pieces together. She and I actually made a doll dress for one of her fashion dolls. But the littlest one is impatient and hates to be left out, so our time to sew together (the oldest and myself) is pretty short right now. But it’s getting better, the little one is getting better about being by herself. Once she can handle a 30 minute stretch, I should be able to accomplish something with the other one. 🙂
I’m teaching my little sister to sew and one of the first projects we did was a garland. I just had her cut out a bunch of pieces of fabric in whatever size and shape she wanted and then sew down the middle of each one in a big long chain. She loved it since she could do every bit of it herself!
I love this idea- I have ton of scraps that could (and will) be fussy cut for something similar! My daughter(6) has sewn a few doll quilts and we have also done a pillowcase.
I loved her quote about wanting to keep sewing. So adorable, congratulations on a wonderful project!
She did an amazing job. She should be very proud which I am sure you both are.
Jenny that is sew sweet I love it. Your girls are so precious. I am looking forward to the day my niece’s are old enough to learn to sew.
Hugs
donna
This is so precious!! I am definitely doing this with my granddaughters the next time they visit me! Thanks for your awesome blog and constant inspiration!
What a sweet post. The bag is adorable. My daughter tried sewing for a bit around age 9. She is almost 15 now and has absolutely no interest in it. It makes me a bit sad. She is very artistic but prefers to draw or paint with acrylics. Oh well.
My daughter is almost three and we have a million throw pillows around the house so she “helps” me make envelope pillow covers. She picks the fabric, we cut it, then it’s just two straight lines to hem and two more straight lines to make the pillowcase! They can really transform a room too, especially in the quantities that we have lying about the couch and beds! The last time we were at the craft store she dragged me over to the “little fabrics” (fat quarters) and begged to have one. After she picked out the one she wanted she hugged it to her chest and said, “fabric makes me happy.” She’s not even three yet, but she gets it, haha.
This is so lovely – the picture of you all is gorgeous. You remind me of me – I always have my girls flipped onto me when I’m seeing. I think it more kids should get involved with sewing, it’s so easy and they just love it. Thanks for sharing. X
This is a the perfect little project! And I love that it uses scraps. 🙂
My boys are four too. Hmmmm…
What a great idea to get the kids involved with sewing! They must be so proud!