Beginner Projects

Excellent ideas, to start. Go to

for some additional ideas, and also and click on the "Consumer" section--lots of how to sew, lots of projects. All free.

One thing to remember, always stay with your child while she/he is sewing, and do any ripping for them. Also, what is acceptable to them might not be acceptable to you, but lower your standards. You'll find their enthusiasm will quickly drain away if you insist that they sew at your level. Remember, you were a beginner once, too.

Have fun. You are creating lovely memories with your child!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Isn't that wonderful. We have to keep recruiting or our art will die out... My kids have started with pillows and aprons. They picked out a nice motif to embellish the pillow with and then sewed around the edges. Now I almost wished they weren't so interested. I can't keep them out of the sewing room!!!

Kirsten Sollie Heimdal, Norway

I agree with everything Karen told you. Think small the first time out. She may think it's Marvelously Interesting to watch you do all the sewing stuff. She may not stay with it when it's her turn. 10-15 minutes is a long stretch for a 4 year-old. So keep that in mind too.

When my DD was very small, I started her on hand sewing. Get her some felt. Felt doesn't fray at the cut edge, so it works well for this. She can do tons of things with felt. We did Christmas tree ornaments when my DD was about this same age. She used red and green felt, red and green embroidery floss, and a yarn needle. You want a needle that is big (easy for small fingers to hold) that has a large eye and isn't too sharp. Yarn needles work great for this.

HTH

Sharon

When I started my daughter on sewing at a tender age, we started with her sitting on my lap having her hands over mine while I sewed. Then after a while, she sat on my lap with my hands over hers (to correct errors) as she sewed. Eventually she was doing it herself.

But I don't think I started her on my [electric] machine before she was

1. A handcrank is much safer, though.

Thanks for the suggestions, I didn't even know there was something called a hand crank, LOL. I'll look around for one.

DD uses sewing cards now and has done felt puppets by hand already. I love the idea of felt X-mas crafts.

Thanks again, Sharon

You can search on Ebay for "hand crank sewing machine" or check treadleon.net to see if anybody is selling one in the Classifieds (Make sure you send any seller the packing instructions from Treadleon and insist that they pack the machine that way -- otherwise, it will arrive in more pieces than you really wanted it to be in)

If you can't find one, buy any second-hand machine in good order (use it for a project yourself before giving it to the child, just to be sure) -- and lock up the power cord. Then when she's a little older, you can give the power cord back.

Joy Beeson