She picked out the fabrics herself. She arranged them herself. She sewed the seams together herself. And she quilted the lines by herself (I drew them on with washable marker.) I did the cutting and pressing and we basted it together.
She also hand stitched the binding down herself. This took her hours. She never once complained or wanted to quit. She just kept on going. I'm pretty proud of my girl!
She wanted to take pictures of her quilt. "I know how to take pictures myself, Mom. I can do it!"
Yes, she certainly can. There were 13 pictures of her little quilt on my camera. All different angles, the back, closeups. I wonder where she gets that from?!
A question for you mothers out there. When did you start teaching your kids to sew? What types of projects did you start with? I'd like to do one more sewing project with my oldest two kids this summer. What should we make?
After reading some of the comments I thought I should specify that one of my older children is a boy. I'm not sure he'd like to sew a skirt for himself! :-)
I am so impressed!
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed! If it's clothing you are talking about, a simple skirt with an elastic waist is where I started.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! A real credit to you Alisa. She's obviously learning from the best :) Well done Melissa!
ReplyDeleteLooks good! I think I started with a doll that mom helped (a lot) with. After that was a simple long skirt for church. - Linnet
ReplyDeleteThat is fabulous! You should be very proud. I am so impressed by her determination. My children aren't sewing much but I remember learning from my mother. One of the first things I made was a simple skirt. Perhaps that would be good? I made lots of pillows too. I stayed away from doll clothes because the small size makes them harder. Enjoy sewing with her!! Congratulations to you daughter.
ReplyDeleteshe did a fabulous job. my daughter has and wants to quilt more but for me it is like pulling teeth. she has not quite got the coordination needed.
ReplyDeleteWith my 2 older ones I started with pillow cases, then pj bottoms and then skirts and tops, since you have a boy shorts would also be great. One year my 17 year old brother made his whole summer wardrobe of shorts. He and a couple of friends did it together. They loved showing all the girls what they made.
ReplyDeleteAs far as "teaching" goes, my mom let us all use her sewing machine to practice and make whatever we wanted without hovering. We were probably 7 or 8. In the begining it was sewing around the (uneven) raw edges of fabric we had cut, but it gradually grew into shorts and such. The main thing was she let us "practice" whenever we wanted and always told us how "great" everything was. She never tried to "fix" anything unless we asked her to.
ReplyDeleteEveryone's suggestions are great: Pj pants, elastic waisted skirts, pillowcases are great starter projects. Let your kids make 100 of them if they want. Your son might also like making drawstring bags in varying sizes for his Legos or action figures. Good Luck!
Forgot to mention how cute Melissa's little quilt is. She did a great job!
ReplyDeleteWow!! Great job!
ReplyDeleteMy older guys are 9 and 7 and I think they started about a year ago maybe. They like to make little satchels (a la Indiana Jones), pillows for gifts etc.
My older two made a charm square bag. It's nice for the beach, sleepover's, day trips, piano lessons etc. They did most of it on their own, but I added an extra zipper pocket in the inside.
ReplyDeleteHarriet
I think I got the pattern from the moda website.
Super cool quilt, Melissa! I hope you have a picture of you proudly holding up your first quilt too!
ReplyDeleteSewing ideas...I liked the pillow case that someone else mentioned. Your son would have more fun with that then a skirt:)
Wow! She did a great job!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is 7 and last year I started teaching her by letting her sew the long straight seams on a pillowcase. She's done that several times now and two weeks ago she finished her first apron. I cut the pieces and did the ironing. She did the pinning and sewing and had a big say in the design of it. Now she's set her sights on a small lap quilt. (She bought a bag of scraps at a quilt shop and she's coming up with all kinds of ideas for them.) We'll probably get started, but I suspect that once school starts the project will get put on hold.