Teach your kids to sew



Over the years my two girls have shown an interest here and there in learning to sew. This interest comes and goes but I always make sure to grab the moments when they're keen and interested and help them give it a go and learn. I believe that learning to sew - and other crafting skills are valuable ones for kids to learn - you can read my reasons why in my post:



But back to my girls sewing. Over the years, they've made a few things pencil cases are always a favourite:






I've encouraged them to design their own things too - here's ...well..ok, another pencil case, designed by my younger daughter:

And a cuddly turtle, designed and made my by youngest.


There were other things they made - it just seems to be the pencil cases I took pictures of!

Then last year, I decided to put together an e-book which was a short course for kids to learn to sew. Something with a bit of structure to help kids (or indeed adults) learn some basic sewing skills which would enable them to sew all kinds of different things - particularly learning to follow tutorials as there are so many great tutorials available online now - you can learn to make just about anything!

My girls agreed to be the 'pattern and tutorial testers' for my book. After I had written each individual tutorial, I would give it to them to try and follow and make the item themselves. They would then be able to give me feedback on what they found easy or difficult and I could adjust the patterns and tutorials accordingly.

I decided to incorporate my favourite thing and one I'm passionate about into this learn to sew book too - clothes upcycling.  So the contents of this e-book can be made using an old pair of jeans and some co-ordinating fabric.  

My girls both had a pair of coloured jeans that they'd grown out of that they wanted to use - and they chose their own matching fabric to use with them.  
We had a lot of fun with creating this e-book together, and the girls learnt a lot about sewing too!


Here are all the things they learned to make following the tutorials in my e-book. Those in the picture below are the ones I made as examples while I created the tutorials - and I also used a coloured pair of jeans!


This e-book is available as a FREE PDF download 

Simply click here to get your copy.

So why not help your kids learn a useful lifelong skill and make some fun things along the way.


Happy sewing and upcycling!



7 comments:

  1. That's very cool idea! I like the turtle your daughter made, so cute! Mine are a bit too young (4 and 5) to actually sew, at least not with my sewing machine because you never know if it goes nice and steady or at full speed. But they have ideas and they have made some small things with me. Whenever I turn over a project it is like a magic trick for them. First it was pile of fabric and then it suddenly looks like something!

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    1. Thank you!! My girls have always been by biggest sewing fans. They love even my sewing disasters!!! So good for my self esteem! That's great that your kids are taking an interest in your sewing too!

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  2. Hi Jill, that is great that you are teaching your girls to sew!!
    Thanks for sharing this at Cooking and Crafting with J & J.
    Enjoy the week.
    Julie xo

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  3. Kudos to you and your girls, Jill! It is obvious when it comes to being talented and ingenious, they didn't fall far from the tree(their lovely mother)!

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  4. Thanks Jessica - I'll pop over and share it now!

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