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Boo made this felt purse to keep all her Summer treasures in... She is always collecting things on our walks, feathers, shells, special shiny stones, leaves....
We started with a felt square. Yellow is a Summery colour we thought :)
We folded it in half and cut straight down the middle.
We folded one of the pieces over leaving about a 2" gap at the top to make the "envelope fold"
Starting at the bottom of the fold for neatness sake Boo began to blanket stitch both sides of the purse.
Once both sides were stitched. I penciled in a simple embroidery design for Boo to follow.
Boo chose a button.
And finger knitted a cord so that the purse could hang around her neck and not get lost when she goes on her big treasure hunting adventures.
And here is one Matilda made a little while back...
Simple, Vintage Bookmarks! An easy first time machine sewing project for kids!
( This project only uses super easy straight line sewing)
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First choose the scraps, trims and pieces of leftover fabric you want to use.
This is a great way to use up those leftover odds and ends at the bottom of your sewing box!
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Boo made this felt purse to keep all her Summer treasures in... She is always collecting things on our walks, feathers, shells, special shiny stones, leaves....
We started with a felt square. Yellow is a Summery colour we thought :)
We folded it in half and cut straight down the middle.
We folded one of the pieces over leaving about a 2" gap at the top to make the "envelope fold"
Starting at the bottom of the fold for neatness sake Boo began to blanket stitch both sides of the purse.
Once both sides were stitched. I penciled in a simple embroidery design for Boo to follow.
Boo chose a button.
And finger knitted a cord so that the purse could hang around her neck and not get lost when she goes on her big treasure hunting adventures.
And here is one Matilda made a little while back...
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( This project only uses super easy straight line sewing)
*
First choose the scraps, trims and pieces of leftover fabric you want to use.This is a great way to use up those leftover odds and ends at the bottom of your sewing box!
Take a piece of lace to use as backing and start laying the other trims over the top. When you find a design you like sew each trim on separately, one by one.
The back stays clean looking as it is white and lacy.
light coloured trim like this powder blue sequin scrap hide the top stitching when layered over the top.
Keep the ends of the bookmark a little raggedy :)It adds to the charm!
Some Victoriana style buttons finish the bookmark off nicely...
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Emmy had a lot of fun making these... They are so simple, fun, quick and easy for children to make when first starting to sew.
Emmy is going to give each of her friends one of these as a leaving present before they all go off to high school this September.
I think they make a pretty gift.
Here is another design using the same technique...
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Sew a Simple Summer Skirt with your little one!
Some fabric found at a local charity shop for £1:99 (This fabric has gone a long way. So far, it has made two peasant blouses, one head scarf, a paneled dress for Emmy and this skirt... and there's still more left over!!!)
First we measured out the fabric. Bujana is an average sized 5 year old. We measured out 38 inches for the width and 14 inches for the length. These measurements took account of all seam allowances and too be fair they were pretty unscientific, as in they just "kinda looked right lol"
I would say the width would probably have to be increased somewhat for a longer length of skirt though.
We pinned and hemmed both the top and bottom of the skirt ( turning the fabric over twice to enclose the raw edges)When we sewed the top of the skirt we left about a 1/2 inch gap between the top of the fold and the stitching so that the elastic would be able to work it's way around easily.
We hooked the elastic onto the end of a safety pin and carefully drew it through the 1/2 inch gap we left in our seam,
Here is Bujana pulling the elastic through the folded seam at the top of the skirt. She liked watching how the elastic ruffled the fabric up as she inched it through! Tilly seemed interested for a little while too. Peter rabbit was less bothered it has to be said :)
We doubled over the side seams too to hide raw edges, also called a french seam, although if you are very clever (with a very clever machine unlike my "vintage" cheap as chips, slightly clapped out old singer) you might serger them, which would probably make them feel less weighty.
Now for the homeschool bit...
Here is Bujana drawing out the instructions so that she'll remember what to do next time :0)
This was a simple, fun sewing project for Boo. She was so excited that she was actually making something that she would actually be able to wear!
All in all the skirt took around 40 minutes to sew up, Boo on the machine (with a little guidance) me on the pedal. And it incorporated so many different skills...Measuring, visual, spatial skills, hand eye co-ordination, creativity, putting a set of instructions into an order of semblance...plus it was a lot of fun with a pretty summery skirt to twirl around the garden in at the end of it all.
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Sewing for Littles
Matilda
loves to sew. I recently bought her a small piece of cross stitch
canvas and she chose some nice big chunky buttons to sew onto it with a
thick needle.
Tilly's felt star ornament made with favourite bits and pieces from her very own scrap box has found it's own place among our treasure box of very favourite things. I love the happy colours.
Here is more of my little Tilda's sewing :)
We made these beautiful Autumn weavings using nothing but a forked tree branch and some scrap yarn.
Simply make a few notches on either side of the brances and criss cross your warp yarn through them.
Then thread a thick darning needle with yarn scraos and weave away!
Finger knitting is a wonderful first crochet or knitting lesson for children .
They can make braclets, necklaces and garlands with their finger knitted creations!
If you have a piece of thick rope, some raffia and a darning nnedle you can make coil rope baskets! My girls love making these. Simply start from the inside loop and work outwards using and over stitch to wrap the raffia around the rope.
Just draw around your little one's hands and get them to trace around the outline with some thick embroidery cotton and a thick darning needle!
Here are some simple bookmarks we made out of recycled leather.
Just trace around a pencil box to make a rectangle. Cut around and make a fringe on both ends of the bookmark. Then hole punch along the both lengths and weave a thin piece of leather through the holes
To hold it secure let your child choose a machine embroidery stitch to pattern the widths.
A button box and/or a scrap fabric basket is a wonderful way to inspire children's imaginations.It helps them to learn about colour, texture and composition. Simply allowing the lovely bright buttons to move around sparks a collage of creativity...Even in me :)
Bujana's Button Box...
Matilda
loves to sew. I recently bought her a small piece of cross stitch
canvas and she chose some nice big chunky buttons to sew onto it with a
thick needle.
A great way to teach children the basics of sewing is to dye some dried
penne pasta shapes with food colouring. My girls all loved to thread
these beautiful chunky beads into necklaces and bracelets.
Tilly's felt star ornament made with favourite bits and pieces from her very own scrap box has found it's own place among our treasure box of very favourite things. I love the happy colours.
To make one yourself, simply trace around a cookie cutter onto felt with a piece of chalk and cut out your design.
Then let your little one sew away with bits of trim, beads, buttons etc...
A detail of blanket stitch around the trim is a perfect way to finish off this ornament.
It looks so pretty as a Christmas tree decoration!
Here is more of my little Tilda's sewing :)
All that is needed for this small but beautiful little work of art is a
simple embroidery hoop some embroidery silks, a thick needle and some
nice chunky buttons.
.
Tilda had so much fun.
We made these beautiful Autumn weavings using nothing but a forked tree branch and some scrap yarn.
Simply make a few notches on either side of the brances and criss cross your warp yarn through them.
Then thread a thick darning needle with yarn scraos and weave away!
Finger knitting is a wonderful first crochet or knitting lesson for children .
They can make braclets, necklaces and garlands with their finger knitted creations!
If you have a piece of thick rope, some raffia and a darning nnedle you can make coil rope baskets! My girls love making these. Simply start from the inside loop and work outwards using and over stitch to wrap the raffia around the rope.
Just draw around your little one's hands and get them to trace around the outline with some thick embroidery cotton and a thick darning needle!
Here are some simple bookmarks we made out of recycled leather.
Just trace around a pencil box to make a rectangle. Cut around and make a fringe on both ends of the bookmark. Then hole punch along the both lengths and weave a thin piece of leather through the holes
To hold it secure let your child choose a machine embroidery stitch to pattern the widths.
A button box and/or a scrap fabric basket is a wonderful way to inspire children's imaginations.It helps them to learn about colour, texture and composition. Simply allowing the lovely bright buttons to move around sparks a collage of creativity...Even in me :)
Bujana's Button Box...
