Teaching 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.

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

Roll up pencil cases

Lined and zipped pencil cases

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 a couple of years ago, 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.

To get your copy just click here.

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

Happy sewing and upcycling!

4 Things to make with Faux Fur

A few years ago I started making these cute little furry creatures, which I called Little Jems.  

They are made from a section of drainpipe covered in faux fur scraps, and can be used for holding all kinds of little trinkets,  or perhaps as a desk tidy, or even a novelty can holder!

This in turn led to more sewing with faux fur, and a house full of fluff flying everywhere as I sewed!!

I then found other things to sew with the faux fur. Pretty much anything I made was a hit with kids, and I have to admit to having lots of fun choosing from the amazing range of colours and patterns of faux fur you can buy!!
Here are some of the things I made - with tutorials in case you want to try making your own!!

Monster Pencil Cases

And Furry Animal Backpacks.

And last but not least I even made a furry fabric drinks holder for myself!!

Have you ever sewn with faux fur??
What have you made?


If you like the look of any of these sewing tutorials, why not check out all my other ones? There are over 150 Free Sewing tutorials available on My Free Sewing Tutorials Page.